Is Apple About to Make Sam Very Happy?? - Page 4

Obviously this is what Apple has been waiting for, plus it will meet my needs for archival media purposes.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/25/128gb-bdxl-blu-ray-disc-specification-finalized-and-fabulous/

GAME OVER, MAN!

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/30/steve-jobs-suggests-blu-ray-not-coming-to-mac-anytime-soon/

We all knew Blu-ray probably was not going to come

to Blu-ray.

If Jobbs had wanted it, it would have been done long

ago.

I don't know that that's true.  It seems that the rumors that they really were going to put it in the 27" iMac as BTO were true but once again the licensing fees turned out to be the culprit given the number they thought they would sell at that point in Bluray's life cycle.  Which matches up with everything Steve has said, publicly and via leaked emails.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/07/12/blu_ray_chairman_disagrees_with_apple_chiefs_assessment_of_format.html

I still say they need to put it in the 'pro' lines before the consumer lines, but even that remains in doubt.  Not holding my breath.

How expensive can it be when every cheapo, low-margin Wintel laptop has Blu-Ray?

That's because they do not have to deal with disk creation licenses, and Apple would if they put anything besides a read only drive in.

http://digitalcontentproducer.com/videoencodvd/revfeat/bluray_blues/

http://www.betanews.com/article/Unified-Bluray-licensing-is-remedy-to-bag-of-hurt/1235601079

http://www.larryjordan.biz/articles/lj_blu-ray_dvd_costs_competition.html

etc

I have a 2007 iMac (24") and a 2010 MBP (15"). I wouldn't often watch Blu-ray movies on a computer, but I would love to be able to do that if I wanted to, like maybe when traveling. And I'd like to be able to put in a BD and get some screen grabs on occasion for discussion purposes. For my use, a read-only drive (which can't cost much as pointed out above) would be sufficient.

I love Apple computers, but in my opinion this is an area where they have a huge black eye. I absolutely don't buy Jobs line about downloading being the big thing. For those who don't care about the best quality, and don't mind paying big money to Apple, and don't mind the extremely limited selection, sure. But for classic movie lovers, no.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Posten 

Obviously this is what Apple has been waiting for, plus it will meet my needs for archival media purposes.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/25/128gb-bdxl-blu-ray-disc-specification-finalized-and-fabulous/

100GB disks are now available at retail.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/16/sharp-intros-first-100gb-bdxl-discs-japan-gets-first-dibs-on-ju/

AppleInsider: New MacPro on way with USB3, sans Blu-Ray

I'm really at a crossroads here. I will be in the market for a new PC some time soon, specifically to support my music creation and photography hobbies. Increasingly the tools I use most are cross platform, like Pro tools, one license to use both Mac and PC, and the Adobe CS, which unfortunately you have to choose Windows or Mac versions. I have used Logic Pro as well, which is a Mac only program, as well as the iLife suite, but the power programs I use are cross-platform.

Apple's stance vs. BD really is starting to sway my purchase considerations. I can understand not putting it on notebooks because unless you buy the 17" MBP,  you can't use the full 1920x1080 res anyway (my MBP is 1440x900). But at the iMac/Mac Pro level, not only would I be able to use the full resolution, but it's very likely I'd want to watch BD on my desktop. I have held out hope for nearly 12 months now but by this fall I will really be looking at whether I buy an iMac/Pro or build a new Windows machine. I love OSX and would prefer to stay there, but this avoidance of Blu is really confounding to me...I may end up voting with my dollars to register my displeasure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Posten 

That's because they do not have to deal with disk creation licenses, and Apple would if they put anything besides a read only drive in.

So put a BD reader / DVD writer combo drive, like all the PCs do. I still don't understand the cost issue. (This seems to be the major desire: watch Blu ray movies in one's office chair.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveF 

Quote:

So put a BD reader / DVD writer combo drive, like all the PCs do. I still don't understand the cost issue. (This seems to be the major desire: watch Blu ray movies in one's office chair.)

Apple tends to fron on half assed solutions.  When they adopted DVD across the board, with the "Yosemite" B&W PowerMac G3 they supported writing from the beginning (granted they picked the wrong horse -- DVD-RAM -- but that was an honest mistake).

If they release BD-ROM only drives, people will start screaming for writ support (and rightfully so).  So, we get neither.  Time to all email Steve Jobs.

Here is my version:

Dear Steve,

I agree with you that downloads are the future of HD video, and understand that Blu-ray is a bag of hurt.  However, Blu-ray is the present and near future, and you shouldn't leave your users who expect the very best from their Macs in a lurch.

Here is why Blu-ray isn't can't be replaced by downloads anytime soon:

New York City, doubtless the home of more Mac users than any other city, won't be meaningfully wired for Verizon FIOS or any other equally fast broadband for at least five years.  In the meantime our puny DSL speeds are barely fast enough to download a few video podcast and the occasional HD TV show from iTunes. 

Second, probably because you realize that most "broadband" is so slow, Apple's HD video tends to be very low bit rate and therefore poor quality compared to Blu-ray.  Even a first rate 480P DVD looks better than 720P HD from iTunes.

Please give us Blu-ray until our broadband infrastructure and iTunes quality catch up. 

I know the whole topic of if downloads will ever replace media is a hot one, but people are too quick to use the music industry as the evidence that physical media will disappear. People are happy to replace their CDs with low bit rate MP3s and AACs, and that's why the physical media disappeared. The critical listening of music has been in a steady decline for decades. Witness the rise of disposable pop music that is driven more by flash and looks rather than musical merit. Music is now something most people put on while doing something else.

People however are only getting bigger and better TV sets. The quality difference between Blu and download is quite great. People can listen to music while multitasking and notice the difference between an SACD or a 128kbps AAC of the Pussycat Dolls. However if people are going to watch a movie, that's what they're going to do. Nothing else. And when they do, they'll quickly see the quality difference between a streamed video and a Blu Ray. Not to mention the frequent lag due to downloading. I have 6MBPS cable modem (confirmed with multiple bandwidth meters) and I often can't get acceptable HD movie/game trailers at 720p downloaded on my PS3 or XBox 360 without major lag issues. How am I supposed to stream a full movie seamlessly? And most of the country doesn't have 6MBPS connections.

I'm usually on board with Steve with most things. Not this one.

In the world he envisions, with fiber optic T1 lines going to each house, maybe. But how long until that happens? Not anytime soon is the answer.