Physical media might be back in vogue when it comes to music, but the love has not been shared in the home video department. A quick search inside a local Target Superstore down here in Florida prior to my ongoing therapy revealed that big box retailers are bailing on Blu-ray and UHD 4K titles with very little fanfare.
Best Buy is moving on and an FYE that I visited in Palm Beach Country was having a huge sale on DVDs (yes…people still buy those), Blu-ray and UHD 4K titles. Your local Barnes & Noble might be one of your best options going forward along with Amazon.
As we discussed in our recent look at Sony’s decision to terminate its support of recordable Blu-ray Discs — consumers are not buying many physical movies anymore in either format.
And shame on everyone who didn’t focus on the “recordable” part of that announcement and started sitting Shiva for Blu-ray. I can’t even go away for 3 months of inpatient care without people losing their minds.
Why so Blu on Blu-ray?
Believe it or not, Blu-ray has been with us for eighteen years. Debuting in 2006, Blu-ray was intended to replace DVD as it offers playback of Full HD video, whereas DVD is a standard definition format that only supports up to 480i/p Standard Definition resolution.
Even with the increased presence of streaming, physical media (Blu-ray, DVD, Vinyl Records, CDs, etc…) remained more popular in Japan than in many other markets. However, that trend is now subsiding, and with reduced demand for physical media home recording, Sony has made the decision to end recordable disc products.
Streaming is king and while demand for new titles on DVD, Blu-ray Disc and UHD Blu-ray fell by almost 25% in 2024, there were some high points. Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune 2” sold over 132,000 copies worldwide on Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray Disc. And specialty labels like the Criterion Collection continue to support physical media with their excellent high quality restorations of classic films onto 4K UHD Blu-ray Disc. But blockbuster movies and the efforts of specialty labels are unlikely to be able to sustain physical media indefinitely.
With LG and Samsung no longer offering physical 4K Blu-ray players, it sorta made sense for Sony to stem the flow of new players over the past few years. The well-regarded Sony UBP-X700 was not discontinued and one can find it rather heavily discounted ($168 at Amazon) at this point — but there wasn’t a lot of enthusiasm in Japan to develop new players.
Back to Samsung for one second — the Korean manufacturer still offers Blu-ray players in other regions like Korea, Japan, and select markets in Europe.
Lesser known brands Reavon and Magnetar continue to release new models and R_volution provides Disc playback – and even disc ripping – on some of its 4K and 8K Media Players. Audio/videophiles were sad to see venerable OPPO Digital stop making their universal disc players players in 2018 (although they still provide limited support for their existing products).
All of that changes right now with the announcement that the Sony UBP-X700/K is forthcoming for around $300 USD.
$300 for a solid performing 4K Blu-ray player doesn’t sound too crazy in 2025, but when I fished around for some of the details in regard to this new player — there are some omissions from the previous iteration that might make one wonder why the price is more than the model it is replacing.
No Streaming?
The Sony UBP-X700/K looks almost identical to the previous iteration and does all of the things you would expect it to do like play UHD 4K and standard Blu-ray discs, as well as DVDs. It supports the latest audio formats such a DTS:X and Dolby Atmos and video technologies such as HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, as well.
Same remote.
No streaming. Zero Wi-Fi support although it does offer an Ethernet port for firmware updates. There is also no longer support for screen mirroring or Spotify Connect.
Can I be frank? Nobody buying a Blu-ray player in 2025 which will be connected to a Smart TV is using that player for Netflix, ESPN+, Disney+ or Amazon Prime.
The Bottom Line
The decision to offer the Sony UBP-X700/K for $300 feels like a win-win for those of us who still prefer to watch movies the old-fashioned way. In the backyard with a portable projector, outdoor screen, and pro audio speaker system with the beef and chicken on the Braai and who can’t wait to watch The Empire Strikes Back or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off for the 40th time.
Price & Availability
We expect to see the new Sony UBP-X700/K 4K Blu-ray hardware over the next 45 to 60 days from the usual sources like Amazon, Crutchfield and participating Sony dealers in North America for around $300 USD.
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ramain
March 17, 2025 at 11:37 am
Man why not give the player a different look ? and update the remoted look ? dam it so easy to do yet they made sure to take away the wifi . If they had added a nice look and just something i might have brought another yet not needing another .. Come on Sony you can do better .
Remember the 400 blu ray disc player
Ian White
March 17, 2025 at 2:46 pm
I’m with you. This feels like such a lazy design. The rear panel is bare bones. I don’t even care about the Wi-Fi because most people have a Smart TV or Roku/Apple TV and don’t require the streaming apps on the player.
It should have been something interesting with an aluminium top and better looking screen and drawer. I think people would have paid for that.
Oppo players going for crazy prices again.
IW
ORT
March 17, 2025 at 12:59 pm
I recently rid myself of my Sony 400 Disc Blu Ray Changer. Why? Because no matter how thoroughly I cleaned that thing out, it still refused to many of the read discs it had read for DECADES!
Yes, it had become the Joe Biden (aka – “The Living Roomba”) of Media.
As Curly Q. Link would say, “I’m a victim of soicumscision!”
“SIGH”…I bought a $150 Sony 4k player. Well, I actually bought 2 of them – 1 for me and 1 for my older brother. I forced it upon him as I had just given him 12 films on Blu Ray but one of which, (Casablanca!) was a 4K transfer.
Another convert to quality was made.
I just watched “Stand By Me” and thanks to this article, will now be watching “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” as soon as I buy it! Jennifer Gray should’ve left her nose alone…What a beautiful babe she was. She’s still pretty but she’s not my cup o’ tea and her age is irrelevant as anyone in the know nose.
In related aside, I hope to make the Pilgrimage to Brownsville, Oregono this summer for the annual “Stand By Me” Feastivl of Fun along with my brother, his wife and a former co-worker that lives not far from them. I’ve only been to it once but that’s because I am now such a physical wimp, LOL!
Long live the passion for physical media and if Sony and others farce us into having to buy ChiCom 4K players, I will do so to keep using my discs for my enjoyment.
gORTh Volbeck
Ian White
March 17, 2025 at 2:51 pm
ORT,
Ferris Bueller holds a special place in my heart. Always will. She was great in “Dirty Dancing” and this film and is now unrecognisable. Sigh.
I could never get into the changers. The reliability issues would have drive me mad. Poor choice of words considering where I am typing this from right now.
Before I was admitted, I went shopping at the aforementioned Target SuperStore in Boynton Beach to stock up on some essentials for my time inside and I went looking for the BDs and there were none.
Taylor Swift records they had. Dozens of them. Zero BDs.
I already shipped about 25% of my movies down to Florida because I couldn’t afford to lose them with some clumsy mover and they will stay with me until I’m dead.
IW
keith creason
March 17, 2025 at 4:30 pm
Sony should make the new player load disc quicker that would be a plus and amazing picture maybe 8K like the high-end players do now
Ian White
March 17, 2025 at 6:53 pm
Keith,
With you on disc loading times, but I think Sony developing an 8K BD player right now is very unlikely. I think we’d like to see a $500 4K BD player with the best possible image and sound quality that offers 8K upsampling and will last.
I have 2 slightly older Panasonic 4K BD players that need to last. I also put my Toshiba HD-DVD player in storage about a decade ago and I’m glad that I did — I was one of those crazy people who supported both formats at the time and have over 75 movies in that format.
I will not buy one of the new expensive players from brands that might not be here in a year. If somehow, I win the lottery…I will rip my entire collection (3,500+) to a Kaleidescape system and never have to worry about this nonsense again.
But that’s not happening.
IW
Joe Rusn
March 18, 2025 at 3:42 pm
Apparently they also dropped 3D from the new model. Hard pass…I’ll go for the older model, if at all.
STEPHEN FLESCHLER
March 20, 2025 at 2:16 am
Great Video!!!
I have not recorded BluRay or 4K discs. Most baby boomers still use DVDs, so I send my friends and family DVDs. However, I have nearly 900 DVDs, BluRays and 4K discs; particularly, historic film (such as 1920s, 1930s comedies and 1940s to 1970s film noir, opera, etc). Much of my collection is unavailable on YouTube and premium pay channels.
When I “digitally film” a concert in various halls for serious (classical & ethnic music) in Los Angeles, it is saved digitally. I hand out thumbdrives to those who prefer that to DVDs. I do the same for CDs as well.
This player is very inexpensive for the quality of the pictures on BluRay and 4K. If it is durable, I’ll buy two of them.
Keptman
March 20, 2025 at 3:51 pm
I’m old school. I don’t mind the availability of streaming. Buying a movie or music I’d rather have a physical copy. Anything online isn’t permanent. I’ve had several movies in my collection that are no longer available through vudo, moviesanywhere etc. My dune digital loaded to my account and vanished 3 months later. Tried reducing code and it said already applied. Even after emailing them about it. No longer available.
Anyways I digress. Owning your own media is a no brainer if you have the system to use it with. Along with the want for quality. I have a full audio system, now running a 9.1 setup. Sound is not the same streaming vs disc. Besides the fact that streaming isnt always perfect in playback.
Too many people go along with the now, in availability. Corporations have made streaming easy. The younger generations have less personal property. So they don’t feel the need to own physical things like this.
I’ve got well over 600 movies from SD and BD. never converted over to 4k as the price to me was overboard.
The market has taken a dive in sales due to the part of companies deciding not to sell the products. You mentioned barnes&noble as a seller but truth be told there way overpriced. I used to carry a columbiahouse membership. Droped it after 2020 as they weren’t even carrying a lot of new movies. Just a selection from certain production studios. Pretty sure this was due to contracts that have come up like the streaming platforms have.
My kids will definitely have to decide what to do with my collection when I’m gone.
Ian White
March 20, 2025 at 4:02 pm
Keptman,
Same with my children. But I told them that my entire Criterion Collection (including the laser discs) has to be buried with me. They won’t listen.
I have over 3,500 movies on DVD, BD, LD, and UHD and I have kept buying them because I prefer ownership. And if streaming ever goes down…I have my own personal video store.
Barnes & Noble is expensive, but that has to do with the quantities that they order and the profit they need to make (in-store) to keep it viable.
The B&N closest to me here in FL does have physical movies and I shall be spending the extra $5 per Criterion Collection film if they have what I want on that specific day. I can do without the one extra cup of coffee — which people should be making at home.
IW
STEPHEN FLESCHLER
March 20, 2025 at 8:06 pm
The primary reason to own the physical video is the same as the two mentioned above (here today, gone tomorrow) or will never be streamed. Another example is that Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman. The earlier video had an early or original music score which perfectly matched the comedic action. I saw this version live in the 1980s with Gaylord Carter at the organ (famous film organist). Hysterically funny. The current BluRay release has a so-so music score and the incredibly hilarious bathhouse/dressing room scene lost it’s impact. Youtube has many versions. I downloaded the original/earlier version to DVD/thumbdrive for future viewing.
Ash
March 22, 2025 at 4:19 pm
Why pay more for something with less features?
What a rip-off!
Ian White
March 22, 2025 at 4:29 pm
Ash,
That seems to be the growing consensus. People don’t want to pay more for less. Oppo never should have left us hanging.
IW