Sony & Blu-ray...some news

[kfbkfb]

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...to-a-close-sony-shuts-its-last-factory-in-feb

I don't know what to make of this, maybe I should go out and buy another Sony X700 player.


Kirk Bayne

 

[stereoptic]

Unless I missed it, there was no mention of SONY stop making players in that article.

 

[AnalogTape]

Excuse my ignorance, let me get this straight, is Sony going to end the production of Blu-ray players or physical discs? If they are going to end the production of physical discs, then does that mean there will be no more physical Blu-rays of Rhino's Quadio (Quadraphonic) program or commemorative boxes with Dolby Atmos?

 

[kfbkfb]

Seems like Sony is ending the production of Blu-ray discs, not Blu-ray players.

I don't know how many factories there are worldwide that manufacture Blu-ray discs (and possibly UHD Blu-ray discs).


edit:
https://www.sony.jp/rec-media/info2/20250123.html
(Google Translate works well on this)

edit2:
https://highdefdiscnews.com/


Kirk Bayne

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

So if I'm reading this right, this is the planned obsolesce of the BD-R discussed a year ago...but Sony's wording here makes it WAY more ambiguous than it needs to be.

Sony isn't even the #1 maker of BD-Rs, AFAIK. It was Verbatim or something.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

I don't know how many factories there are worldwide that manufacture Blu-ray discs (and possibly UHD Blu-ray discs).

From Sony, you've got the Europe plant and the Japanese plant. In America you've got Technicolor. Those are the major drivers. Everyone else makes squat in comparison.

 

[sperezmore]

Check the link for clarification,

https://highdefdiscnews.com/2025/01/23/editorial-sony-discontinues-recordable-blu-ray-media/

David Mackenzie (CEO of Fidelity in Motion):

“This story has been inaccurately — and, I would argue, irresponsibly — reported by some media outlets apparently unaware of the key distinction between home-recordable media (BD-R and BD-RE discs) and the professionally replicated Blu-ray movies you buy in a store (BD-ROM). The latter is unaffected by Sony’s Storage Media division deciding to phase out home-recordable discs.

While the decline in recordable optical discs for computer data storage isn’t a positive sign for optical disc as a whole, it has no impact on what 99% of people associate with “Blu-ray”, which is packaged movies on disc with near-master image and sound quality.

To clarify, professionally mass-produced movies (whether on BD, DVD, or CD for that matter) are stamped in replication facilities rather than burned onto blank media. This efficient, high-speed manufacturing process is carried out in factories using machinery worth millions of dollars and remains entirely unaffected by Sony’s consumer division phasing out home-recordable discs. To use an analogy, it’s akin to the difference between a home-printed letter and a professionally printed and bound book. If an office supply company decided to stop selling blank paper to consumers, it wouldn’t signal the end of traditional book publishing.

Even from our perspective as a company that specializes in mastering movies for physical formats and outputs hundreds of titles a year, this decision has almost no impact. At Fidelity in Motion, writing data to a recordable disc is something I do less than once a year. For efficiency and faster turnaround times, we transitioned to pre-screening projects from HDDs and flash storage over half a decade ago. We encouraged our clients to do the same and helped them make the shift.

In the unlikely event that blank BD-Rs become completely unavailable – which is still far off, since Sony is not the only manufacturer – we will ensure that any of our clients lacking the necessary hardware for pre-screening from HDDs or flash storage are fully equipped.

Finally, I’ve noticed some reports linking Sony’s decision to the “rise in streaming services,” which is misleading. A more accurate explanation would attribute it to the increasing adoption of cloud storage and flash memory as modern computer data storage solutions.”

Regards,