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Blu-ray Drive for macbook pro
- Thread starter bob5731
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Sarcasm caught, rejected. This doesn't apply for one simple reason...
CDs pre-dated the iTunes store (and iPod) all together. DVDs pre-dated movies in the iTunes store. The drives were already in the Macs before iTunes took up the respective music & video format.
Now that iTunes is the world's largest music store, and Apple can maintain a pseudo-monopoly on HD content to Macs, Apple has no reason to put a BD drive in a Mac if they think it will cut in to their profits.
Steve Jobs is consistent one at least one thing: money. He's a capitalist to the Nth degree, and while he sometimes makes dumb decisions, he is all about the benjamins (selling $200M of Apple stock after he took over, the Pixar/Disney deal making him the largest single shareholder in Disney being just a few examples). That's why I firmly believe the lack of Blu-ray is all about iTunes revenues.
-Pie
I think you're reading too much into it. Sales of HD content would likely not be affected if BluRay drives were available on Macs. The largest market is still Windows PCs, and if one such PC has a BluRay drive, and the user has the BluRay disk for a movie s/he wants to watch, s/he won't go to the iTunes Store anyway. And that goes for most HTPCs too - most are Windows Media Center PCs, not Mac Minis.
I've bought (not a lot of) HD content from iTunes even though I have a BluRay player, because it was something I wanted to watch now rather than wait six months or a year for it to come out on BluRay (most recently, Dr Who Season 5 and Breaking Bad)
It's more likely that it just isn't a high priority because it doesn't appear to be hurting sales of Macs, and with limited resources, companies like Apple work on things most likely to bring in a return.
I work as a software engineer for a tech company and although there are some things I really think would improve our software, the amount of effort needed wouldn't be worth it. It's the same everywhere.
I've bought (not a lot of) HD content from iTunes even though I have a BluRay player, because it was something I wanted to watch now rather than wait six months or a year for it to come out on BluRay (most recently, Dr Who Season 5 and Breaking Bad)
It's more likely that it just isn't a high priority because it doesn't appear to be hurting sales of Macs, and with limited resources, companies like Apple work on things most likely to bring in a return.
I work as a software engineer for a tech company and although there are some things I really think would improve our software, the amount of effort needed wouldn't be worth it. It's the same everywhere.
DVD is only 480p.
Believe me, there is a difference in quality between a DVD movie and a Full HD movie, even on a 17" screen.
I've made exactly the same statement in a previous post.
AppleTV is the thing that's positioned as a sort of "official" HTPC. Not only is the stupid thing not supporting Blu-ray, it also doesn't do 1080p. I'm not sure about now but when the AppleTV (v1 and v2) was released, iTunes only had 720p HD content.
This again suggests that Apple is about selling content, and that is the hold up (your comment above actually supports exactly what I'm saying).
Blu-ray is extremely mature now. There really is no engineering/price reason to keep the technology out of Macs at this point. Heck, Roxio Toast has Blu-ray capabilities built in. Were it an issue of price, Apple would simply charge the extra $300 or so as an option -- just like they do with the Matte Screen and 1290x1200 option on MacBooks -- and they're still making a premium.
So I don't agree with your final reasoning. Blu-ray is a desirable item, just like DVD was when Apple put it in their computers -- they were some of the first to have both CD and DVD burners actually. The only thing that is different today is iTunes. And I firmly believe that is seen by Apple as competing directly with Blu-ray (again, your comment above supports this idea).
-Pie
If I do get an external blu ray drive like this: Sony's BDX-S500U Blu-ray drive. How can I get it to play on my mac? Is there play back support that I am not aware of? I want to get the new MacBook Air and instead of buying Apple's Super Drive I thought I would go ahead and get the drive stated above but only if it can play Blu ray's on the new Air. Any help would be appreciated.
Not sure what you're asking, but there are 3 possibilities.
1) You can always burn a data DVD with HD video. You want the video in an M2TS container, but you may need to give a .mpeg extension.
2) If you want to create a Blu-ray structure on a DVD, you can use TsMuxer GUI to create the Blu-ray folders, and burn that to a UDF 2.5 DVD.
3) If you want to create a DVD structure (VIDEO_TS), the spec does not support HD.
No. Apple should be putting these in their computers by now, and supporting Blu-ray directly in Mac OS X. They're on the BD Steering Committee for goodness sakes!AdamRock said:
More importantly, see the next answer to why we're not happy...
The only way I know is via Windows and Boot Camp (Parallels might work too).
This is the #1 reason Apple needs to get BD players into Macs: software support. But Jobs is too thick to realize that most people are renting streamed content (iTunes/Netflix), not buying it. He could easily announce Blu-ray drives and a new DVD Player.app without cutting into his iTunes profits.
But what do you expect from a company whose premiere dedicated HD player maxes at 720p? He just doesn't get it.
-Pie
1) Apple wants to sell more, cheaper, smaller computers and integrating optical drives works against that
2) Apple wants to sell you everything thought the iTunes/App Store and the optical drive enables competitive distribution channels for apps and movies
2) Apple wants to sell you everything thought the iTunes/App Store and the optical drive enables competitive distribution channels for apps and movies
IMHO apple should just remove optical drives completely. cloud technology and streaming stuff online is the new era, either you can join 2010 or stay in the past. JTTOT.
Some people, like me, want to have a portable and powerful computer. If Apple were to compromise the size just for Blu Ray, people would be peeved. If they made the Blu Ray optional, it would be way too much of a change just for one add on.
you load Blu Ray on a 10" screen device? a 24GB movie on a 36GB device?
itune is your better friend.
Yes. You can create what essentially acts like a Blu-ray disk with menus, etc. I believe just about every Blu-ray ever created can play these discs. The only downside is that you are limited by the DVD or DVD DL capacity.
One really nice thing is that if your source footage is AVCHD you can simply drag and drop the files into Toast -- no time consuming decoding or encoding required.
Streaming is not the new era. It is an option, but not nearly as good as Blu-ray.
Removing an optical drive would be the height of foolishness. The internet is far from ubiquitous, especially when in transit.
A MacBook Air has its place, but not everyone can use such a computer. That's why we have MacBooks and MacBook Pros, to fill the market that need more from their laptop.
There aren't any BD drives fitting the form factor for the MacBook Pro, but that's only because Apple isn't putting them in anything. They could easily request a design to fit the MBP, and absolutely a manufacturer would love to fill the bill. Money is money.
There are markets for all three lines of MacBooks. They all have different capabilities and tradeoffs. I cannot fathom why anyone would say "Apple should remove optical from ALL their computers," any more than I can fathom saying "Apple should put optical in ALL their computers."
The MacBook Air doesn't have optical, but you're trading that -- along with tons of other features -- for the light weight and portability. OTOH, the MacBook Pro weighs more, but has more features and a faster CPU, some of which I personally cannot do without, including the DVD drive.
To say Apple should do one or another PERIOD, is the height of foolishness in a very diverse market.
Do you play a game in the 10'' screen's native resolution, or do you reduce the resolution to 640x480? If it's the former, why are you arguing we should do that with movie playback (DVD is 700x480).
Besides, I have a 15'' screen. Some have a 17'', even going to 1920x1200. And HD looks way better. Heck 1080p downrezzed to 1440x900 is better than iTunes 1280x720.
iTunes has its use, but it's not a be-all-end-all solution. Neither is Blu-ray. But to have both gets you miles further in that direction.
-Pie
I can burn BDs directly from the Finder with my OWC Firewire BD burner. The Finder creates an "Untitled BD.bpbr" It says "Recordable BD." Just drag and drop files onto it.
Panasonic UJ232A
What you think about this ....
http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=9676
It is S-ATA (fit to MacBook PRO 15 / 2009)
it is 9,5 mm (in this point of view - it is OK)
There is "standard" connectiuon - I have no idea how it can be connected to
MacBook PRO (15" 2009) - hope You can help
What you think about this ....
http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=9676
It is S-ATA (fit to MacBook PRO 15 / 2009)
it is 9,5 mm (in this point of view - it is OK)
There is "standard" connectiuon - I have no idea how it can be connected to
MacBook PRO (15" 2009) - hope You can help
What you think about this ....
http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=9676
It is S-ATA (fit to MacBook PRO 15 / 2009)
it is 9,5 mm (in this point of view - it is OK)
There is "standard" connectiuon - I have no idea how it can be connected to
MacBook PRO (15" 2009) - hope You can help
If you can actually get it, 9.5mm is the correct thickness. Let us know how the install goes. If you use bootcamp you could finally play Blu-rays on a Mac laptop with an internal drive.
Cheers,
From what I understand, this is aWhat you think about this ....
http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=9676
It is S-ATA (fit to MacBook PRO 15 / 2009)
it is 9,5 mm (in this point of view - it is OK)
There is "standard" connectiuon - I have no idea how it can be connected to
MacBook PRO (15" 2009) - hope You can help
-Pie
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From what I understand, this is a slot loading drive, so it will not work for the MBP Unibody. So close and yet...
-Pie
The MBP uses a slot loading drive.
From what I understand, this is a slot loading drive, so it will not work for the MBP Unibody. So close and yet...
-Pie
All MBPs use slot-loading drives. It would be good to know if someone tries this whether they work well under Win 7 bootcamp. Just don't want to spend so much on a maybe.
Cheers,
Oops. My bad. I meant it's a tray loading according to this thread. Also, the Centrix-intl.com information says the following:
Type: Tray Loading
Sorry about the confusion, I thought I'd typed it wrong but I had Blu-ray drive terms spinning in my head while I typed.
-Pie
2011 new MBP
Still no bluray...what a joke...there's already a drive built in...may as well make it capable of playing all disk formats. This is the kind of crap that keeps people away from Apple. They think it will hurt $.99 iTunes sales!? How about this...lose $4000 on a laptop sale!
Still no bluray...what a joke...there's already a drive built in...may as well make it capable of playing all disk formats. This is the kind of crap that keeps people away from Apple. They think it will hurt $.99 iTunes sales!? How about this...lose $4000 on a laptop sale!