Blu-ray Turns 20 and Somehow Still Matters
Remember when we thought streaming would kill physical media? Twenty years after its CES debut, Blu-ray is hanging on stronger than anyone predicted.
Scout Team
Okay so I just realized Blu-ray hit its 20th anniversary yesterday. Twenty years! I remember being at CES 2006 when Sony was showing off those first players that cost more than my rent. Everyone was buzzing about the format war with HD DVD, and honestly, most of us thought both would be dead by now.
But here's the thing - Blu-ray is still kicking in 2026. Sure, it's not flying off shelves like it used to, but walk into any Best Buy and you'll find a decent selection of 4K discs. Why? Because streaming compression still sucks for certain content. Ever try watching a dark scene on Netflix and notice all that blocky garbage in the shadows? Yeah, that's why film nerds keep buying discs.
The irony is that Blu-ray survived longer than most of the companies that launched it. Remember when every TV manufacturer had their own player? Now it's basically just Sony, Panasonic, and a handful of budget brands keeping the format alive. PlayStation 5 still plays them, which probably helps more than Sony wants to admit.
What really gets me is the collector market. Limited edition 4K releases sell out in hours. Criterion Collection Blu-rays go for stupid money on eBay. Turns out owning physical media became cool again when people realized their favorite movies could vanish from streaming services overnight. Who would've called that back in 2006?
Twenty years later and I'm still buying the occasional disc. Not many, but for movies I actually care about? Yeah, I want that uncompressed audio and pristine video. Streaming's convenient, but sometimes convenience isn't everything.