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Comment by saturn8601 | Hacker News Reader

That will last only as long as boomers are still around watching movies.

I'm Gen Z and I buy DVDs (though mostly second hand). You're probably right on the whole, though I've only observed the opposite.

Why DVD and not Blu-ray? The reason I said boomers buy DVD is because there are still a lot of senior citizens that are not internet savvy that like to rent out movies from their libraries, the dvds are simpler to operate, are more reliable from deep scratches, and a lot of boomers have simple equipment. Most of them don't care about perceived quality. This market is big enough that ironically DVDs may actually outlive Blu-Ray. Its the format that wont die. In fact I bet part of the reason Blu-Ray is being kept alive is due to studios already putting in the work to produce DVDs.

I spoke to my local librarian who cited this as the reason they haven't bothered with 4K blueray despite it being 10+ year old technology at this point.

They're often cheaper and not everything is on Blu-ray. If Blu-ray was going really strong and overtook DVDs, I'd be happy about it. I don't really think DVDs are "simpler to operate" except for the fact that you only need cheaper equipment (though one can imagine someone with ingrained habits believing them to be "complicated").

Also, I’m impressed at some of the up scaling techniques that some players use to help improve the quality of DVD movies. Sure, it’s not native, but it’s certainly not bad looking either.

>I don't really think DVDs are "simpler to operate" except for the fact that you only need cheaper equipment

Think of it from the point of view from senior citizens. They likely already have the equipment for DVD and are used to it. That alone is "simpler to operate". Yes Bluray could often have simpler menus but that existing inertia is something that is important as well because I dont think most senior citizens are actively seeking out newer tech if they dont need to.

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