Major UK retailer says its 4K and Blu-ray sales are rising, and it should be a wake-up call for ad-riddled streaming sites

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Physical media sales, including4KBlu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD, are on the rise according to major UK retailer HMV(reported via BBC).

According to Phil Halliday, HMV’s managing director, “physical visual” sales have increased overall, citing that “4K and Blu-ray have been doing particularly well”. Reported figures suggest that HMV’s “visual category” has seen a rise of 5% in the first half of 2024 (as told to the BBC by a spokesperson).

Despite this rise in physical media sales for HMV, the digital entertainment and retail association, Era, reports thatDVD and Blu-ray sales have dropped by 4.7% in the first half of 2024, meaning that sales overall are still in decline.

However, it is still positive news for the physical media market and follows other positives for the ‘declining’ format from earlier this year, including news thatSony will take over distribution of Disney’s physical media productionafter fears thatDisney were aiming to kill 4K Blu-ray salesafter stopping sales in Australia last year.

There was also confirmation earlier this year thattwo major US retailers have committed to stocking 4K, Blu-rays and DVDs in their stores– Gamestop and Fred Meyer – meaning new places to physically buy 4K Blu-rays.

Although sales are still in decline, it’s undeniable that there are a lot of efforts to try and keep physical media alive and in some cases, namely HMV’s, some retailers are seeing rising sales. When streaming is so theoretically easy and convenient, why is this?

Streaming sites aren’t all they’re cracked up to be

Streaming services have overtaken physical media in terms of popularity due to their vast libraries available with zero impact on your space, as there’s no need for physical discs. But, in the last year or so, there’s been a lot of negative backlash to some of thebest streaming services, such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney Plus.

The main issue is price. Since the start of 2024 alone, we’ve seen aneye-watering price hike at Disney Plus in Australia & New Zealand(separating into two plans, with the Premium costing an extra AU$48 / NZ$48 per year), we’ve been warned tobrace ourselves for another Netflix price increasethis year andMax may also increase its prices in the US– up from the $19.99 it already costs for its 4K plan.

It was also reported in 2023 thatDisney Plus and Netflix’s price increases meant that streaming costs more than cable TVfor a lot of household, when saving money was one of the primary reasons to ‘cutting the cord’ from cable in the first place.

Another issue is ads. Streaming sites have now provided ad-supported tiers for less on their streaming sites, but some of these are as pricey as their standard, ad-free tiers used to be. Prime Video defaulted users to this new ad tier when it switched, andunless you pay an extra $2.99/£2.99 a month, you’ll be getting these ads– something that’s not going to happen with 4K Blu-rays.

Finally, another issue people face is the changing libraries. Too often, when people go to stream thebest Netflix moviesorbest Prime Movies, they find the movie they want has disappeared, due to changes in business agreements. It’s frustrating to rely on one of these sites to store your favorite movies, only to find it’s disappeared months down the line – hence why people are turning to 4K Blu-rays and other physical media, so they can have a permanent copy without fear of it disappearing. Even in cases where you would think there’s no chance of a movie disappearing, it happens – the likes of Disney Plus and Max remove movies and shows that they themselves produced, for business reasons that are often left officially unclear.

Blu-ray revolution

When I tested the same movies on Blu-ray vs Netflix & Disney Plus, I found that picture quality wasn’t the main difference (although it was still superior on Blu-ray as shown by the comparison image above withJohn Wick 4showing Prime Video left and Blu-ray right), but rather sound quality – which was leagues above on Blu-ray. It’s another fundamental reason why keeping physical media alive is so important: to give home theater fans the best-possible quality at home.

Combining thebest 4K Blu-ray player,best TVandbest soundbarsgives a much more immersive experience than streaming really could and with streaming sites locking certain features such as 4K, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision and more behind more premium prices, it adds even more value to 4K Blu-rays which carry a large chunk of these features on one disc.

Final thoughts

It’s great to see that there is some hope for the physical media industry and although sales may still be falling overall,I believe 4K Blu-ray isn’t dying. There’s efforts to keep it alive fromSony, retailers such as GameStop and HMV, and not forgetting the great work by companies such as Arrow Video and Criterion who provide excellent restorations, remasters and re-releases of classic movies, givinghome theater fans the releases they’re looking for.

It’s important to provide an alternative to streaming websites that seem to think they can constantly change pricing, put in ads and change libraries whenever they feel like it. Now more than ever, physical media is important, as its success should send a message to these sites that its users have a limit on how much they’ll put up with.

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James is the TV Hardware Staff Writer at TechRadar. Before joining the team, he worked at a major UK based AV retailer selling TV and audio equipment, where he was either telling customers the difference between OLED and QLED or being wowed by watching a PS5 run on the LG 65G2. When not writing about the latest TV tech, James can be found gaming, reading, watching rugby or coming up with another idea for a novel.

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