3D, 4K, UHD, HDR... it's all just buzzwords to convince people to buy some new hardware. But in reality, most people simply do not care about that shit. Most people are happy enough with their HDTV and they won't even think about getting a new one before the old one breaks down. The gains of 4K are marginal at best if you are actually enjoying movies and not staring at the screen all the time with a magnifying glass or something just to be sure to notice the little differences. The industry is desperately trying to generate growth, but there is just no way. If there is any market that is saturated as fuck, it's TVs and movie players. Which is why the companies come with the craziest ideas in this segment. They are desperate.

Seriously, most people still buy DVDs instead of Blu-Ray today, even if they have a Blu-Ray-Player at home. If a new movie is 18 € on Blu-Ray and 15 € on DVD, 90 % of people don't give two fucks about the higher resolution, they do care more about the 3 bucks. With UHD this will only get worse. Only very few enthusiasts will actually buy such movies for 30 or 40 €. Most people will stick to DVD, even with a 4K TV.

Uhhh, sure. Buy one used for 20 bucks. Because the day that happens UHD players are cheap and plenty anyways.

An UHD drive at this time is simply irrelevant. Just get it in your heads, people. 

I don't know. It's not like blu-ray really gave PS4 the edge as a game console, it did help as a format though. It's a really nice perk for Xbox fans that want one, but if people are buying it as a cheap UHD player, are they really adding quality users to the ecosystem?

There's not going to be a huge boom in the format due to Xbox One though. Physical media is still prevalent for enthusiasts, but it's already seen its peak. I don't think it's anything Sony has to match though. If MS wants to tout having it, good for them.

With the PS4 Pro playing at actual 4k features, Sony owning the blu-ray format and the PS4 all along being touted as the more powerful and specced option, paired with the low cost of drives at this point; there are very, very few excuses to exclude a UHD drive from an upgraded, rather costly console.

It's not irrelevant. Chicken before the Egg and all that.
And trying to tell people what they aren't allowed to have in a product is a silly proposition anyway, consumers have more power than you think and can influence these multi-billion dollar companies in a surprising amount of ways.

Your needs/wants/desires isn't going to be the same as the person sitting next to you.

Fact is, adding a 4k Blu-Ray drive adds little to zero cost to the system, it's simply silly not including it from the start, limiting/removing consumer choice is not something you should ever condone as a consumer yourself.

There is zero reason why Sony could not have included a 4k drive and CD support, it's main competitor has.

The market has changed over the last decade or so.
RedBox often has roughly 150~ million rentals a quarter/600 million rentals a year (And that is just in North America) and mail-in schemes are pretty popular too.
Physical still has some legs left.

Why is everyone on here supporting destroying the environment by chopping down the beautiful BluRay 4KUHD trees just to make your silly discs when safer options are available?

What options? Where can I stream upto 128 mbps 4K movies with lossless Dolby Atmos / 7.1 DTS HD-MA with extras included?
When can I get an unlimited 256 mbps or greater internet connection without having to move to a big city?

However I'll stick to blu-ray for now as 4K HDR is simply not mature enough yet for me. The revenant on blu-ray looked spectactular too, downsampling a movie produced in true 4K to 1080p shows on blu-ray too. Easily one of the best picture quality blu-rays I have and doesn't even compare to HD streaming on Netflix, especially not viewed on a projector. Plus most 4K movies are not even 4K yet. For example Warcraft is still mastered in 2K.

Sounds like something a supporter of Cedar or Oak trees would say!  Sure, chop down and kill off all the 4kUHD trees!  I see right through you sir!

*Save the environment!  Save the Bluray 4KUHD tree!

UHD and 4k will push blu-ray adoption. it already has. UHD blu-ray first year sales already surpassed first year blu-ray sales. why is everyone talking about the lack of uhd blu-ray on ps4 slim and pro? not only on tech forum, but also the general consumer. people just want their tech to be capable, even if they dont use it. and this will hurt the ps4 badly.

What about those poor 4KTV trees and the fibre cable forest! And all those electric jellyfish needed to power streaming all those movies. Save the environment, tell stories to eachother around the campfire. Oh wait, I mean in the dark in a cave.