Now we all now of the big fuss about the PS4 Pro not including an internal UHD blu ray drive and there have been very conflicting opinions for and against. I happen to collect full-HD blu rays(1080P) and I love the medium. Films from the 60s-today happen to look greatly improved over their DVD counterparts. The original Planet of the Apes looks amazing on blu-ray. Batman 1989 looks amazing on blu ray. Alien looks insane on blu-ray. Yes there are a few films that do not look great(Aliens which was shot on a new negative at the time that was flawed and replaced the next year) and Predator which was DNR'd to oblivion, but when restored correctly, we see great image quality. However with the current slew of limited UHD blu rays, it seems only very recent titles are being released on the medium. Many of which were filmed at 4K but 'finished' on a 2k(1080P) digital intermediate, only to be upscaled back to 4k for the UHD edition. We are not seeing older films(pre-2012 or so) being restored to 2160P/UHD. Are the results simply not worth the effort and financial expense over a 1080P transfer? Will we only see current big budget films transferred onto UHD? Is UHD a niche within 1080P blu ray, or a replacement for blu ray? Whre do you think it will go?

I think it will happen. UHD is still in its infancy and since UHD TVs are selling more and more YoY, UHD Blurays will follow suite. We already have plenty of movies in UHD and I think there will be more and more. Idk about old movies though.

It will prosper but not at DVD levels. Physical media is NOT dying like some near sighted people would have you believe. It is shrinking though and I think that will continue for awhile. But as is the case with audiophiles, there will always be a healthy sub current of people who prefer the "best" and physical media provides that in every area outside of storage space so I think it'll always be around.

UHD will have its place. It will definitly have even smaller marketshare than Blu-ray, but there will be a still be the core movie collector market, and the physical media crowd to keep it healthy.

I think it will be passed up quality wise in a few years by streaming and 4K HDR downloads. With so much more money in the digital media space, the innovation will happen faster, and eith the studios all pushing their own 4K services, they will not be constrained to a maximum spec for bit rate.

The problem with streaming is there are bandwidth issues in North/South America and Europe will streaming top quality 4K content, so physical content is still relevant. Like there's not much point in wanting 4K for better image quality if said quality of video stream is like 4-5 mbps. You may as well just have bought a 1080P TV in that case. 

People that want the best quality will keep supporting physical media, the market will go down a little but it will stabilize and for me personally the physical movie is very important.

Bandwidth caps can be increased with far greater ease than say... reopening brands of Video stores and reopening music/Dvd/BluRay shops which have almost all closed in my town of close to 24k people.

This is the point where online shopping comes into it... but again you are going to the internet for the media why not just take that extra step and go to Amazon or Netflix instead then, if you're willing to wait a few days for the thing to be shipped out for you surely you would wait for a minute to let a 4k file buffer?

Obviously, if you have poor bandwidth or caps then streaming is not for you, however most movies today come on DVD (still massive) and Bluray which the PS4 and PS4pro (upscales to 4K) will play. What the PS4 and Ps4pro won't play are 4K Bluray disks since the content and the market is still very small.

If you compare the difference between streaming using say the H265 codec compared to the older H264 codec the actual stream is anything up to 60% smaller and I dare anyone who is human to tell the difference. Even if the streaming service does reduce the quality which they do most people won't be able to tell the difference unless you did a side by site comparison against a 4K Bluray player and even then most people won't care since all they want is to watch the show and move on to the next one.

Sure a videophile may be able to tell the differences and are willing to pay for the best but they are very much in the minority against people who are quite happy to stream or just play a Bluray at 1080p and in the case of the PS4pro upscale to 2160p if they have a 4K TV. Actually, there are still many people who are quite happy with DVD.

BTW I can see the same arguments happening again when 8K displays become mainstream in 3 to 5 years.

I just don't think most people want to upgrade to yet another level.

I purchased *a lot* of DVD's, and then I upgraded to Blu Ray *a lot*, I am not doing it again to the next medium - especially with the prices they are trying to charge, in fact I'm more likely to buy Blu Ray and then online... the only downside at the moment with online is the poor range of films, the stupid notion to make SD/HD separate and the different stores.

Probably none at all. Sony is still one of the biggest investors in the Blu-Ray disc. Chances are, the fact that they didn't include a HD BD drive in the PS4 Pro is because they know that the format isn't selling nearly as well as it used to, and simply, isn't worth the higher costs. The fact is that streaming has become the far more popular option for viewing film and TV shows, and very few people actually buy physical copies nowadays. Sony opting to focus on 4K streaming is the far smarter move, and it's going to pay off for them. As for the future of Blu-Ray, outside of being a format for games, it's probably going to become more and more scarce until it eventually goes the way of VHS.