Why Isn’t 4K UHD Blu-ray Selling & What Does The Future Hold?

Even though the 4K UHD Blu-ray format launched in 2016, it still is not selling at anywhere near the pace of physical media formats that came before it.

Let’s explore why this may be with feedback from you, my own hunches, and market research and talk about the future of this format and why I think it still has a bright future!

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#Bluray
#4K
#physicalmedia

[SkulShurtugalTCG]

For me, a 4K UHD is only worth buying if it's a must-see film with a terrific transfer. Anything less and I'll pick the Blu-ray. I have a feeling most people feel the same way.

[ANDREmang]

Not many people in the world are movie or home theater enthusiasts. For the few that value the movie-going experience in the best quality, salute to y'all for buying physical movie disc!! Let's keep the culture alive !

[bloodydominations]

I agree that newer movies don’t benefit greatly from 4K (I’ve seen Top Gun Maverick on both formats and both look great). However, watching older films that have been restored with a new 4K scan of the original negatives and graded for HDR is an incredible experience. It’s like going back in time and seeing it for the first time.

[BB-edom]

The point about marketing is spot on. I remember the push for blu ray, it was everywhere. I think the reason for that is simple. These companies didn’t want to continue producing physical products when they can just upload a file. Very little overhead. They did next to no marketing for hdr or 4K blu ray. Luckily companies like shout, criterion and arrow are going to save the format for us collectors, as they know their market. It will just be a small niche that isn’t going anywhere.

[MovieMadness]

The main problem is, we built up our collections on DVD and had to upgrade because blu ray was such a big deal, and now they want us to upgrade yet again, companies like Scream Factory and Criterion, who are rereleasing the same movies over and over again is what’s pushing people away, we already bought Halloween, we already bought dawn of the dead, we already bought all the classics on criterion, and now they want us to buy them again for a newer transfer so we have to upgrade and sell our old collection yet again, it’s just a rinse and repeat, how many times can these movies be released, 8k will be next and we have to do it all over again, it’s just become a money grab

[droopdiggity]

I went all in on 4K in the summer of 2018 after doing a lot of homework. One of your videos explaining how the quality of 4K physical media is different than streaming VOD, and blu-ray (1080) was very educational and influential in my decision. Thank you for that video! I'm also very passionate about movies, so I didn't mind spending the money on top notch hardware when it came time to make the jump to 4K. Here are some reasons I think 4K UHD has been slowly adopted:

1. Niche market (4K physical media seems to be more for "collectors" than the average person who will defer to whatever is easy to understand and convenient such as VOD)
2. Upgrade fatigue (Existing fans of physical media may be tired of upgrading their collection after going from VHS to DVD to Blu ray)
3. Cost of hardware upgrade (4K TV, 4K player, 4K discs)
4. Consumer confusion (what is 4K, what's Dolby Vision, Atmos, HDR)

[SuperCollectorClark]

4K Prices are crazy high here in Japan so I only bought when they were on sale but they no longer do much sales. They are easily over 80USD...

[Reginald_Harrison]

The truth is, 4K TVs that most people buy aren’t capable of showcasing the benefits of UHD Blus. If you own a $500 65” 4K TV it’s not going to be able to properly display HDR. The bump in resolution (especially on most transfers pulled from 2K intermediates) won’t be enough to get people to spend extra for the UHD.

It didn’t matter what type of TV you had when DVD came out, you can easily see the improvement over VHS. It didn’t matter what HDTV you had, you could see the difference in quality between DVD and BluRay. It’s just not the case with UHD. You need an OLED or a flagship LCD with a solid dimming feature.

[Ivelostmymind]

Standard 4K blurays were only £10 - £15 new in 2018 & mostly came in slips. Now they're £22 when first released & dont have slips. It's an insane price increase.

[island]

As a movie collector since the VHS days, having owned many of the same films on tape, Laserdisc, DVD and Blu-ray, I do feel a bit of "upgrade fatigue" when older films are released on 4K. As good as the format is, I have reserved most of my 4K purchases for newer films or those that I have not owned on any of the earlier formats.

[HawksJHawks]

I recently got the Deep Impact 4K-BD and was blown away by how much of an improvement it was over my old BD. I put in the old BD after watching the 4K-BD and it was night and day. As you said, the older movies are probably where the new format is benefitting the most.

[crashbant.f.s.b]

Physical movies will never die for one huge reason. People are scared of losing their movies. At any time a company could just remove the movie from the digital platform and or from peoples accounts and poof. It’s gone from existence. There will always be that fear. Movies on Disney+ that have no physical nor buyable digital release recently got removed.

[NoMereRanger]

I’m really glad you mentioned the PS5 because I think the PS2 helped sell DVDs and a similar trend happened with the PS3 and Blu Ray

[pretentiouscameron]

I agree with the restoration part. I also believe that films shot on film benefit the most from 4K. All these newer films shot digitally, look fine on 1080p Blu Ray.

Side note: Disney isnt helping the market when they decide to only put IMAX ratio on Disney+ Their physical copies are inferior

[ulysses]

I would say it's the price for me. I have only purchased a few 4k UHD movies, and those were my favourite films.

With DVD, and Blu-ray, the prices dropped each year consistently. 4K UHD has been around for a little while now, and no significant price drop on the discs, at least not where I live in the UK. The prices have been stuck at £20 per disc for a couple of years now.

[hehhehe]

4k UHD is just a niche thing.
But DVDs and Blu-rays are the market leaders there is no replacing them.
And to all the 4k UHD lovers, this is not a format war DVDs are gonna rule forever.

[entertainmentwizard]

I agree upgrading to 4K is expensive and there have been times where 4K scans are really bad but when it's done right it looks incredible!

[raphaeldelaghetto]

Yep. Nailed it. Blu ray looks really good and for most people that’s enough.
Even as an enthusiast, I don’t bother buying most titles on 4K. Only my comic-book movie stuff (mainly b/c I collect steelbooks) and the sci-fi and action movies I loved as kid. Personally, I don’t care if a comedy or drama is in Ultra HD at all.

[BBC]

For me I'm highly selective when it comes to buying 4k only my most favorite films get that upgrade because I already own most of what I want on blu ray which honestly still looks incredible even to this day.

[daveclark]

Because after throwing away my VHS and DVD collections, I've FINALLY learned my lesson not to waste any money 'collecting' 4K blu-rays. Especially since I haven't even taken the wrappers off 80% of my Blu-rays yet. They still have Circuit City and Fry's Electronics tags on them.