Time is running out to get Sony's final 4K Blu-ray player

Recently in the news, it has come to light that Sony is discontinuing its last standalone 4K UHD Blu-ray player, the UBP-X700/K. With this in mind, the PlayStation 5 (PS5) home video game console now remains Sony's last-standing 4K UHD-compatible device out on the market, which is far from an ideal situation for physical media enthusiasts the world over.

The reason this is bad news is that Sony has also confirmed the end of disc production for PS5 consoles beginning in early 2028, leading many to assume that the next-generation PS6 will launch well and truly disc-free from the get-go. To add insult to injury, the PS5 itself has undergone a significant price increase in recent times, now costing $650 (up from its MSRP of $500 when it launched back in 2020).

All in all, this is a bad situation for the state of physical media, and it doubly stings when you consider the fact that Sony was a pioneering force behind not only the 4K UHD format itself, but also older physical formats like standard Blu-ray, DVD, and CD optical discs. To see a prominent company like Sony turn its back on discs is an unfortunate reality, and, in some ways, it's a bad omen of what's to come.

Sony PlayStation 5

- 4K Capability

- Yes

- Game support

- PS5, PSVR 2, PS4, PSVR

- Processing Power

- 10.3 TFLOPS

- Storage

- 825GB SSD

- CPU

- x86-64-AMD Ryzen Zen 8 cores

- Dimensions

- 390 × 104 x 260 mm

Sony's current-generation home video game console, the PlayStation 5 is a high-powered system capable of playing the latest AAA releases from game studios.

The PlayStation 5 is ripe for the picking

Now is as good a time as ever to pick a unit up

Even at its elevated price point, I reckon the time is right to pick up a PlayStation 5 console sooner rather than later. With next-generation consoles just on the horizon, and with the PS6 all but guaranteed to lack a 4K UHD disc drive, the PS5 remains the de facto 4K UHD player for those also looking to play video games on the side.

Sure, there are still standalone players from the likes of Panasonic out there on the market, but, of course, they don't double as a dedicated games console (plus, they're still expensive in their own right). The PS5 hits a certain sweet spot in terms of functionality that simply can't be replicated, and that likely won't carry over to its next-generation successor product.

The fact of the matter is that time is running out to buy the PS5. Going off historical precedent, production could stop as soon as next year, meaning that Sony's final 4K UHD Blu-ray player will soon fall into the ether. $650 for a new unit isn't exactly affordable, but it's hard to deny the value of an all-in-one game console and 4K UHD player in today's market.

...Sony's last, best 4K UHD Blu-ray player isn't long for this world.

The PS6 generation is sure to be an exciting one, but I don't expect it to be a cheap generation, or to be a fruitful one from a disc ownership perspective. I'd love for Sony to release an attachable or external disc drive for the PS6, but I see this as being rather unlikely considering the climate.

At the end of the day, Sony's last, best 4K UHD Blu-ray player isn't long for this world, and now is as good a time as ever to scoop up a unit and to use it for years to come. Even as the PS6 enters the fray, the PS5 will remain more than operational, and it'll stand tall as Sony's final 4K UHD-compatible player that also just so happens to play AAA video games.