Curtains for the Mac Pro? (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

You look like you are saying that doing what you are suggesting is Legal, I woiuldn't be so sure.
Jon, you might not be aware that:
-I have an external reader/writer and have indeed ripped a number of commercial movies for my own personal use. (this is possible but NOT fun, easy or resource sparing BTW)
-We have another thread for discussing BluRay on the Mac
-Discussions about specific tools to infringe copyright or break DRM are a touchy subject here.
Nobody disputes that it is POSSIBLE to rip and view Bluray on OSX.
What IS seriously questioned is why it has taken this long for commercial movie playback to be enabled, why Apple does not support BluRay burners as BTO Mac Pro accessories, and whether the effort necessary to do so until Apple fully embraces it becomes standard.
The Mac Pro today is a farce without BTO BluRay options. Yes it is possible to make up for this after-market but everything about doing so sucks. Especially for portables.

 

[Carlo_M]

Sam - from my understanding the holdup in BD playback support is OSX, is this correct? If so, if Apple eventually capitulates and put in BD playback in OSX, shouldn't Macs with expandability options (like the Mac Pro) be able to be upgraded fairly easily? Or is there a hardware issue as well?

 

[mattCR]

It's entirely OS related. The OS refuses to respond with an HDCP code for a display; it doesn't provide it at all. So, without that, there will not be commercial players for the Mac.. because they can't make it work without it

Originally Posted by Carlo Medina /t/315886/curtains-for-the-mac-pro#post_3885852
Sam - from my understanding the holdup in BD playback support is OSX, is this correct? If so, if Apple eventually capitulates and put in BD playback in OSX, shouldn't Macs with expandability options (like the Mac Pro) be able to be upgraded fairly easily? Or is there a hardware issue as well?

 

[Carlo_M]

Thanks Matt. I thought that would be the case because Apple now uses Intel, ATI and nVidia parts that are all present in Windows machines that do support BD playback. So basically once OSX is on board (if that ever happens) upgrading the expandable should be relatively straightforward, while non-expandable Macs will need an external solution?

 

[Sam Posten]

You can put a BluRay drive in a MBP now if you are willing to ship it.
http://fastmac.com/slim_bluray.php
You won't be able to play commercial movies (unless you run bootcamp) but it works fine for rips and burns.
Blu works fine under Bootcamp fwiw, tho i haven't done it myself.

 

[Carlo_M]

How ironic. So the best way to legitimately run Blu-Ray well on a Mac is by using Windows.
Bet we won't see that in an Apple commercial anytime soon. John Hodges would have a field day with that one!

 

[DaveF]

And so my next computer is likely a Win7 system...as I hope to build an HTPC this Spring.

 

[Sam Posten]

Understood Dave. I use both. As a gamer there is no cutting the PC cord just yet. If I had to have just one it would be the Mac, but luckily I don't have to settle.

 

[Carlo_M]

Ditto Dave, I'm in the same boat as Sam. I will upgrade my desktop by summer. If Apple hasn't stepped up to the plate with either a Mac Pro refresh (or a really stellar iMac refresh coinciding with cheaper external Thunderbolt RAID options surface) then I'm likely going to build a new Win7 machine as well. BD would not make or break the decision to go OSX, but it would certainly be a tiebreaker.

 

[Carlo_M]

Well Intel is officially updating their server chips soon, according to Macrumors so if Apple doesn't update their Mac Pro by summer I think it's safe to say that they're abandoning the product line.

 

[KeithAP]

Anandtech has a article about the new chips:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5553/the-xeon-e52600-dual-sandybridge-for-servers

-Keith

 

[Sam Posten]

Was hoping we'd have heard some news at NAB =(

 

[KeithAP]

Well, it may not mean anything but OWC just announced a PCIe OS X bootable SSD.

While unlikely, I am hoping they know something we don't.

(some benchmarks for the new SSD cards)

-Keith

 

[Sam Posten]

That's neat but there is so much more than SSD that has me pining for a new MP that I don't think I'd make the upgrade....

 

[Nelson Au]

Well, my G5 is finally dying, and my MBP from 2009 isn't keeping up anymore. I've been waiting and waiting for a Mac Pro update.
I happen to need more then a quadcore. I could get by with one of the new 17" MacBook Pro's when those finally get an update this year. But I'd like a new Mac Pro with 6 or 8 or even 12 core. It would really benefit the CAD work I do.
So I really hope Apple will announce something soon!

 

[Carlo_M]

Same boat Nelson. My Windows box is actually holding up quite well for a 4 year old machine but it is starting to show its age. I am giving Apple until summer to either upgrade the Mac Pro or have a really compelling upgrade to their iMac (more power, more max RAM, cheaper SSD, better graphics, etc.) and maybe couple it with an affordable Thunderbolt RAID enclosure. Otherwise I'm going to build a new Ivy Bridge box and slap Windows 7 on it and run dual mirror RAIDs internally. If I have to go the Windows route I'll put the money I saved towards having to buy CS6 for Windows (I was hoping to only buy it once for Mac).

 

[Sam Posten]

Yeah, I'd wait till at least WWDC before buying anything if nothing pops up before then...

 

[Nelson Au]

So that's in June. I hope I can wait that long!

 

[DaveF]

Speaking of Xeon chips...

I'm trying to buy a high-end system for work and I'm really impressed by how confusing Intel's product line for Xeon systems. I'm completely baffled even by a "2600" chip is newer and faster or core-ier than a "5600" chip. And the configurations, memory configs, and permutations only get more perplexing after that. And then there's the i7 series to compare.

Bleh.

I see why people buy Mac Pros, for the simplicity of the shopping process.

 

[Sam Posten]

Yay?
http://www.marco.org/2012/05/30/amplified-9