Sony will ship its final Blu-ray recorders this month — exit from Japanese market the end of an era for the segment
Source: Tom’s Hardware
Image credit: Sony
Sony ends Blu‑ray recorder shipments
Kyodo News reports that the final Sony‑branded Blu‑ray recorders will be shipped this month, marking the end of Sony’s recorder business. The devices have primarily served the niche Japanese market for recording broadcast TV. Sony will continue to ship Blu‑ray players “for the time being.”
Context
Sony stopped manufacturing Blu‑ray recorders and recordable discs last year, so the remaining shipments have been operating on limited inventory. The final units target the domestic Japanese TV‑recording market.
Outlook for Blu‑ray media
- Players: Sony and other manufacturers will keep supplying Blu‑ray players.
- Drives: Asus, LG, and Pioneer still offer internal and external USB Blu‑ray drives.
- Media: Panasonic and Verbatim continue to produce Blu‑ray discs.
Blu‑ray format status
The Blu‑ray optical disc format celebrated its 20th anniversary. It was introduced to consumers at CES 2006 and quickly gained support from major movie studios. While streaming services such as Netflix now deliver UHD video at around 16 Mbps, Blu‑ray can still provide up to 100 Mbps video quality.
