LG has discontinued all of its Blu-ray players, including its UBK80 and UBK90 UHD Blu-ray players, according to FlatpanelsHD. Remaining stock will still be available, but the company doesn’t have plans to make more. This decision isn’t surprising, as LG isn’t the first company to pull out of the UHD Blu-ray player market.
UHD Blu-ray is a separate format from standard Blu-ray, as the former has a maximum resolution of 3840x2160 pixels (4K). Blu-ray is 1920x1080 (FHD) instead.
The UBK80 and UBK90 UHD Blu-ray players were introduced in 2018, which was also the year Oppo exited this market. Samsung would make its own exit in 2019, giving consumers even fewer choices for UHD Blu-ray players. Even though LG is discontinuing all of its Blu-ray players, LG Korea has confirmed in a statement to FlatpanelsHD that a total exit isn’t what’s happening, as the company as a whole is leaving the door open for a comeback if demand grows.
There’s a bit of a silver lining for the UHD Blu-ray market still. Magnetar’s UDP800 player can handle the format and more, even functioning as a hi-fi audio player. Plus, the PS5 can also handle the format, but it can’t play Dolby Vision, a favorite of high-end video enthusiasts. And the Xbox Series X only plays Dolby Vision for games and streaming apps, not optical discs.
Streaming has only become more popular by the day, and many people no longer own a functioning CD player, much less a Blu-ray one. With demand being so low, it’s not hard to see why LG decided to discontinue its Blu-ray players.
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