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The story
Blu-ray, launched under Sony’s leadership as DVD’s successor, surpassed DVD in both resolution and storage capacity — yet it faded from mainstream use before DVD did, as streaming services and large-capacity memory became widespread. This phenomenon sparked discussion on the Hardware/Industry (Geha) board. The thread kicked off with the jab “it’s because it’s a SONY format,” then moved on to a string of practical reasons: its limited value as game install media, the technical weakness of a thin protective layer that hurts durability, and the high cost of annual licensing fees and disc pressing. Meanwhile, some pushed back with “DVD hasn’t really survived either,” and there was disagreement even over the basic premise of which format actually died out first.
What people said
People simply never needed the higher resolution or bigger capacity.
Wouldn't it be an advantage for games, though?
It's the almighty SONY we're talking about, you know?
Huh? The only real benefit is that you can resell it used.
Isn't it the large capacity?
That's basically it.
That's the cause right there.
Digital downloads don't make you worry about capacity at all,
since you're installing it anyway.
So basically, it just lost to the times.
Blu-ray's basically junk now.
All that's left now is sales of movies, anime, and games, but that alone probably isn't enough to keep the whole Blu-ray format afloat.
LaserDisc…? Never heard of it…
Right
We're in the era of watching video via streaming now.
With the internet's development and the rise of large-capacity storage media, discs themselves became unnecessary.
• Only Full HD
• No HDR support
With streaming, you get 4K and HDR freely!
Though it's weird that DVD managed to survive.
DVD hasn't really survived either, though.
HD DVD's advantage was having the same durability as DVD.
Its protective layer was the same 0.6mm thickness.
It could even be resurfaced/polished.
Blu-ray's layer is only 0.1mm, and if you're unlucky it can die within a year.
and use a key-disc system.
Wouldn't a CD work fine for that?
buying a Blu-ray would come with a DVD copy included too.
Those still exist today — bundles like DVD+BD and BD+UHD-BD. Just looking at the retail (sell-through) editions alone shows how little Blu-ray actually caught on. As distribution media or for everyday use, the BD format was useless across the board — DVD is still what gets bundled with CDs and books most of the time. On top of that, USB drives and SD cards got bigger capacity, and HDDs were cheap and cost-effective, so Blu-ray doesn't even get used for primary storage.
Wait, is it discontinued?
Neither of them is discontinued.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Blu-ray is an optical disc format led by Sony that won the format war against Toshiba’s HD DVD to become the dominant standard around 2008. To accommodate recording time and copy-protection needs, its protective layer was made thinner than DVD’s — about 0.1mm versus DVD’s 0.6mm. This was a deliberate trade-off made possible by scratch-resistant hard-coat technology, so the thread’s complaint about “weak durability” isn’t just a vague impression — it reflects a real design trade-off. Also, post #28’s claim that “Blu-ray doesn’t support HDR” technically refers only to the standard format; a separate format called “Ultra HD Blu-ray,” introduced in 2016, does support 4K and HDR, and it’s worth noting the two are easy to mix up. Demand for recording and data storage uses faded first thanks to cloud storage and cheaper HDDs, leaving packaged media sales as the only thing propping up the format today — so the thread’s counterargument that “DVD might actually have died first” isn’t clear-cut either, depending on when you measure the decline of recording use.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry [Geha]) thread “Blu-ray: “I’m clearer than DVD, bigger capacity, a SONY format” ← Here’s why this thing died out before DVD did”.
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