Is Apple About to Make Sam Very Happy?? (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

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.)

 

[Ted Todorov]

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.

 

[Carlo_M]

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.