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About a Bluray BTO

M

Mercuric Oxide

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 6, 2008
277
26
NYC
Hey guys,

So like a few others here, I'm looking into purchasing a Mac Pro after a possible update at MWSF (fortunately, I only started the waiting game a week ago).

If Apple includes a Bluray read/write drive, do you think it is worth buying considering the following:

- I already have a PS3 connected to a 42in hdtv, so I will continue to use that for viewing BD's.

- I mainly use discs for storage, but I intend to get a couple of 500 GB hdd's with the Mac Pro, so I'm not sure how necessary writing BD's will be for the immediate future.
Also, if Apple includes a Bluray writer, the speed should be about 4x?
I would imagine that writing and verifying 50 GB of data would take a really long time (unless that 4x is a different speed standard as it's a different type of media?)

I guess I don't feel like I would need it now, but I do want to be future proof. Also, can the drive be purchased and installed at a later date (from a cheaper vender)? Is this an easy process?

Thanks for any advice
 
Certainly if a BR drive had been available when I bought my last Mac, I'd certainly have been prepared to pay the extra. May not need it right away, but it'd bound to be useful within the normal life of the machine...
 
The prices are bound to tumble. Why not get the Mac Pro, but get the BR-writer when you need it and install it then? That's what I intend to do if these beasts do indeed get updated in 9 days.

FWIW, I am not convinced that I am ever going to need optical media again beyond as a reader for software and canned media. The network is getting faster by the day and as it does, optical writers are getting close to losing their appeal. Reminds me of when Jobs yanked the floppy from the iMac.
 
netdog said:
The prices are bound to tumble. Why not get the Mac Pro, but get the BR-writer when you need it and install it then? That's what I intend to do if these beasts do indeed get updated in 9 days.

FWIW, I am not convinced that I am ever going to need optical media again beyond as a reader for software and canned media. The network is getting faster by the day and as it does, optical writers are getting close to losing their appeal. Reminds me of when Jobs yanked the floppy from the iMac.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing in terms of waiting until I need it and drives are half of what they are today. I don't want to pay $500 for a BR drive when I don't have any disks and recordable ones are $15 a piece.

But I will need them eventually. I dump lots of photo archives to DVD and my last trip took up 7 DL DVDs and 1 SL. It'd be nice to just put it on one BR.
 
So does past experience suggest that we'll be able to purchase an Apple Bluray drive at a later time and fit it into a MacPro, or would this more likely have to be an external device, possibly from a third party?

- Martin
 
AviationFan said:
So does past experience suggest that we'll be able to purchase an Apple Bluray drive at a later time and fit it into a MacPro, or would this more likely have to be an external device, possibly from a third party?

- Martin
Click to expand...

More then likely, it will have to be an external one. I for one am also waiting to get a new Mac Pro but dont wanna pull the trigger till Apple offers it. I already have a PS3 and BDP-300 for Blu-rays and on my PC, I have the Sony A100 BLu-ray burner.

I just want my Mac to catch up.

Now a few problems exist. CUrrently, only Toast 8 supports Blu-ray. Not a single Apple app, let alone pro app (Come on DVD Studio Pro and iDVD!) neither support the Blu. So I dont see apple offering that as a medium (unless just for playback) until their software catches up and this could just be a software update or it could be iLife 09 and Final Cut Studios 3. Who knows.

But Apple does need to atleast OFFER it.
 
1. Learn what model Apple is using.
2. Buy it somewhere else.
3. Install it in your Mac Pro.
4. ??????
5. PROFIT!
 
A 4X Blu-Ray drive will burn at 144 Mbps, or 18MB/s.

So yes, it will take around 48 minutes to completely burn a 50GB Dual-Layer Blu-Ray disc.
 
ReanimationLP said:
A 4X Blu-Ray drive will burn at 144 Mbps, or 18MB/s.

So yes, it will take around 48 minutes to completely burn a 50GB Dual-Layer Blu-Ray disc.
Click to expand...

oh the not so good old days of burning cds back in the day of 2x writing speeds ... and what pleasure it was to replace it with a 8x speed drive
 
If I can install a cheaper 3rd party burner at a later date, I may do that. An external one even wouldn't be bad, if the burner eventually became necessary.

Thanks for all the replies.
 
illegalprelude said:
More then likely, it will have to be an external one. I for one am also waiting to get a new Mac Pro but dont wanna pull the trigger till Apple offers it. I already have a PS3 and BDP-300 for Blu-rays and on my PC, I have the Sony A100 BLu-ray burner.

I just want my Mac to catch up.

Now a few problems exist. CUrrently, only Toast 8 supports Blu-ray. Not a single Apple app, let alone pro app (Come on DVD Studio Pro and iDVD!) neither support the Blu. So I dont see apple offering that as a medium (unless just for playback) until their software catches up and this could just be a software update or it could be iLife 09 and Final Cut Studios 3. Who knows.

But Apple does need to atleast OFFER it.
Click to expand...


from what i saw an external blu-ray drive can be plugged into a computer running 10.5 and you have the ability to read and write data within the finder. Just no DVD player support of blu ray discs
 
I just installed an LG Blu-Ray RE/HDDVD ROM combo drive into my MacPro. It was on sale at Fry's for $399. Not cheap, but definitely a better deal than the $599 Blu-Ray RE only drives I saw just a few weeks back.

It is a SATA drive so I had to snake a SATA cable from the motherboard into the drive compartment. Other than that it was plug-n-play (not in the failed win95 scanner demo way).

The only problem I am having is that TOAST 8 is wonky with it. I can burn files just fine to both 25 and 50GB discs (both R and RE) from the Finder. Disk Utility will erase RE media as well. I wish I could figure out a way to burn sessions.
 
zarathustra said:
I just installed an LG Blu-Ray RE/HDDVD ROM combo drive into my MacPro.
Click to expand...

It wouldn't surprise me if that's the drive we see in Apple's systems. Apple uses LG drives, people (on this forum, anyway) seem to want BR recording, and Apple promised HD DVD support. That drive provides the best of both worlds.

Edit: OK, Apple updated the towers today and no HD support in sight.
 
illegalprelude said:
Now a few problems exist. CUrrently, only Toast 8 supports Blu-ray. Not a single Apple app, let alone pro app (Come on DVD Studio Pro and iDVD!) neither support the Blu. So I dont see apple offering that as a medium (unless just for playback) until their software catches up and this could just be a software update or it could be iLife 09 and Final Cut Studios 3. Who knows.
Click to expand...
Maybe they'll surprise us next week with a Bluray burner as well as a successor of DVD Studio Pro, something that supports Bluray authoring. To me as a video professional, that would be the most pleasant outcome, and Apple is in a unique position to offer just that given that they provide/control the entire system with hardware and software.

I am not saying that this is likely to happen, just a realistic possibility that makes my mouth water.

- Martin
 
AviationFan said:
Maybe they'll surprise us next week with a Bluray burner as well as a successor of DVD Studio Pro, something that supports Bluray authoring.

I am not saying that this is likely to happen, just a realistic possibility that makes my mouth water.

- Martin
Click to expand...


Dang!? I tought that DVDStudio/Compressor allready supported BR/HD-DVD authoring? This aint true,apparently?

How about rest of the osx or 3rd party programs? Is there any programs ready for BR burning/authoring or can we expect some updates in 10.5.2?
 
Mercuric Oxide said:
If I can install a cheaper 3rd party burner at a later date, I may do that. An external one even wouldn't be bad, if the burner eventually became necessary.

Thanks for all the replies.
Click to expand...

Blu-Ray internal drive (can be put into external enclosure), was on sale as low as $250 so far.

Media is expensive per gb, especially the double layers. I am waiting for media prices to drop before getting a Blu-Ray burner.

In case you missed the story, the format war between Blu-Ray and the other format looks to be over (unless MS want to try to maintain their lost HD format by burning a few billion dollars). No need to get a combination HD burner.
 
Nermal said:
DVDSP supports HD DVD but not BR. Since both formats use the same codecs, I'd assume that Compressor supports BR.
Click to expand...
Well, having the right codec is the easy part. Creating a user-friendly, easy to use authoring system that lets us exploit many of the additional features of the new media should be the harder part of the job.

- Martin
 
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