The Beginning of the End for Blu-ray

Blu-ray will not play as long as floppy disks.

Blu-ray has a maximum storage capacity of 125GB.

The PlayStation 3 (2006) was in many ways the consumer launch of a storage medium that had triumphed over HD DVD in 2008. Sixteen years later, there were no new battles between physical storage media. In fact, Netflix had started streaming movies and TV shows the previous year, ushering in a new era. In many ways, it was dead for the storage format as far as video was concerned even then, except for enthusiasts and Sony consoles. The company, like Microsoft, offers Blu-ray and digital versions of its latest consoles.

So it’s no surprise that Sony has now announced that Blu-ray discs with write functionality will be phased out by a company that neither produces nor develops new technology in the area. Those of you who use Blu-Ray for storage should stock up – everyone else can relax for now:

“We will continue to sell B2B products, and for consumer products we will determine the specific end date in the future through discussions with distribution partners such as retailers, but we will continue to sell them until further notice.” So you will still be able to buy standalone Blu-ray players, if you are someone who wants the most quality.

Tom's Hardware points out that it's not all positive news for consumers, with discs and SSDs lasting an average of five years, while Blu-Ray discs can last for decades. The paper describes the optical storage situation as “bleak, at least for Sony.” The company is known for creating many of its own storage formats (Blu-ray was created in collaboration with Philips and Pioneer), so when they think it's time to phase out parts of the technology, it's inconceivable that others will do the same.