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Blu-Ray (Why is Apple so late?)

Lyra

Lyra

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 23, 2003
344
0
Beta Colony, Alpha City
This is more of a question than an answer.

I'm wondering as I see quite a few laptops with Blu-Ray players and PC with Blu-Ray Burners as well. It's troubling as, it's not a hardware limitation but a software limitation as far as I know.

So, I'm going to ask you, why is Apple holding back on being part of the Blu-Ray development?

They were some of the first to join and yet, there's nothing from them. Since Blu-Ray won, no Apple products have been offered the upgrade or for that matter any that would be born with it.

Also what's going on with the Apple Screens?

I'm a bit tired of waiting but at the same time, I'm offered a bunch of Blu-Ray players for PCs and yet I can't use it on a mac. Well I can, only I can't play any movies on it cause DVD player doesn't recognize it at all.

What's the latest and greatest news on the matter?

Does anyone know?

Thanks
 
Blu Ray is in other laptops like the XPS, because the XPS is over 2" thick. If you want a Blu Ray drive in your Mac Pro, then put one in third party, and boot into bootcamp. If you want blu-ray on your iMac or MBP, buy an external.

Cinema Displays, well priced considering the expensive panel used, can't see them being updated for a while, except maybe thickness + isight, wont be any price cuts, or if there are, not huge ones (maybe 100, 200, and 300 dollars respectively on each of the models).
 
nick9191 said:
Blu Ray is in other laptops like the XPS, because the XPS is over 2" thick. If you want a Blu Ray drive in your Mac Pro, then put one in third party, and boot into bootcamp. If you want blu-ray on your iMac or MBP, buy an external.

Cinema Displays, well priced considering the expensive panel used, can't see them being updated for a while, except maybe thickness + isight, wont be any price cuts, or if there are, not huge ones (maybe 100, 200, and 300 dollars respectively on each of the models).
Click to expand...
The M1530 is 1.35'' at it's thickest (0.95''-1.35'') and it has an optional Blu-Ray Drive. And it's slot-loading.
 
To be honest, all I want is to start finally enjoying some HD movies on my Mac.

I'm wondering, how is it possible for XP and Vista to play HD Blu-Ray and Macs are just so far behind?

Are we talking about copyright issues here?

Anyway, thanks for the replies and I hope someone has an application that can handle Blu-Ray or know a time when and how we can play Blu-Ray on our macs.
 
Lyra said:
To be honest, all I want is to start finally enjoying some HD movies on my Mac.

I'm wondering, how is it possible for XP and Vista to play HD Blu-Ray and Macs are just so far behind?

Are we talking about copyright issues here?

Anyway, thanks for the replies and I hope someone has an application that can handle Blu-Ray or know a time when and how we can play Blu-Ray on our macs.
Click to expand...

I think maybe one of the reasons is that the Apple Cinema displays aren't HDCP capable. Without HDCP, you wouldn't be able to watch BD movies on an ACD.

I'm guessing that OS X could have HDCP built-in so that laptops could watch movies on the built-in LCD, but you probably wouldn't be able to watch on an external.

What's puzzling is that Apple's had a few years to get their gear in check and put HDCP on all of their hardware ... LCDs, DVI ports, OS X code, etc.

BTW, this is my opinion on the subject and should not be taken as fact. For all I know, Apple might have these things in place already.

ft
 
if you want to enjoy hd movies you might as well just get an external player and a really nice tv, there's no point in watching it on the 15 or 17 inch screen when you could sit back, crack open a beer and watch it on a 60"
 
zblaxberg,

You're right... And if it wasn't for my girlfriends cheesy 12inch TV with built in DVD player I'd go for that idea right away. But her TV is so small, that it actually chops off part of the screen. I know this as titles of movies are missing the beginning and end of the title screens.

Horrible I know, but the only thing I have is the mid size Apple screen which I personally enjoy films on cause my girlfriend is fine with her miniature TV. And trust me I'm getting physically sick watching anything on her TV.

Been thinking about buying a Samsung 32inch flat panel TV for use in my office. You think a Samsung 32 inch TV would be able to connect to my MacBook Pro? I could use it as my screen instead of my Apple screen. Then I can sell the one I have and buy a Samsung (AND a Blu-Ray player!) :D

???

What do you think?
 
zblaxberg said:
if you want to enjoy hd movies you might as well just get an external player and a really nice tv, there's no point in watching it on the 15 or 17 inch screen when you could sit back, crack open a beer and watch it on a 60"
Click to expand...
This doesn't help the HTMac crowd who would like the ability to use a Mac as a BluRay player. Many people do have Macs connected to their 60" TVs already. Might not be the case for the OP, but his point is valid. Apple needs to support BD movies on Macs.
 
ftaok said:
This doesn't help the HTMac crowd who would like the ability to use a Mac as a BluRay player. Many people do have Macs connected to their 60" TVs already. Might not be the case for the OP, but his point is valid. Apple needs to support BD movies on Macs.
Click to expand...

That's the thing that made me write this thread. I mean, Apple being so upfront at the beginning of the HD wars, saying they are firm supporters of Blu-Ray and yet, to this very day, they've not even hinted on any Blu-Ray compatible machines from Apple.

It bothers me when Apple comes out and sings the song about how they are doing what no one else has done in the Film Industry, putting HD material on iTunes etc... blah blah blah... yet... the hard copies of Blu-Ray films simply don't work on a Mac. So, it makes Apple look less advanced when people now own Blu-Ray Laptops and the war is over... what is Apple waiting for?

We all thought Leopard would be HD ready. But it's not. IS the DVD Player the only thing holding us back? Or is there something in MacOS X that just won't allow us to work with Blu-Ray films on a mac?

One should think that after the 400MB update to the new OS, there would have been room for that decoding to be implemented.

:/
 
One of the main issues with playing BluRay on a computer is that the system has to implement a protected media path so that the BluRay DRM is enforced throughout the system. Vista does this, and it has been suggested in some quarters that the protected media path causes a lot of problems with system slow down, etc. OS X does not, IIRC, implement a protected media path so it won't be able to play HD movies from BluRay disks.
I'm not sure if Apple will ever include it in OS X - their view is possibly that the iTunes store should be your content provider and adding a whole load of additional restrictions to the operating system for what may be a short lived format is a waste of resources.
 
Phil A. said:
I'm not sure if Apple will ever include it in OS X - their view is possibly that the iTunes store should be your content provider.
Click to expand...

I see what you mean Phil.

But the problem is that if Apple is going to shoot at people who are Film collectors (And trust me there are a lot of us), not having the chance to watch a good movie on the way to where you are traveling is suicide!

Apple CANNOT, MUST NOT, SHOULD NOT, leave these people out in the cold, just cause they prefer to buy their HD contents on a disc. After all, when working on a Mac, if everything is HD, then why is it that we can't watch an HD movie on a Mac?

It makes no sense. Apple SHOULD implement the support and fast! Everyone is evolving and Apple is dumb enough to stick by their iTunes rentals etc. Which by the way I have to stress, ISN'T available to the rest of the world. Only a very few countries are enjoying rentals and actual downloads of video via iTunes. So, why blame us for wanting to enjoy our films we've already purchased ONCE on DVD or Blu-Ray only to have to buy it again via iTunes if we need to have it on our iPhones or iPod Touch's.

So lame...
 
optical_bluray4x_1.jpg


LaCie provide an external BD drive for £599. For most people a DVD drive suffices, and I imagine Apple will wait until the price comes down and the demand goes up until they include it in their machines. In the meantime people can buy the external drives.
 
Lyra said:
It makes no sense. Apple SHOULD implement the support and fast! Everyone is evolving and Apple is dumb enough to stick by their iTunes rentals etc. Which by the way I have to stress, ISN'T available to the rest of the world. Only a very few countries are enjoying rentals and actual downloads of video via iTunes. So, why blame us for wanting to enjoy our films we've already purchased ONCE on DVD or Blu-Ray only to have to buy it again via iTunes if we need to have it on our iPhones or iPod Touch's.

So lame...
Click to expand...

Apple will have a solution for BD movie playback ... eventually. Who knows, maybe it'll be available after WWDC.

Also wanted to point out that Apple doesn't expect everyone to run out and buy movies that they already own (on DVD or BluRay) from iTunes just for iPhones/iPods. They are working on getting iTunes compatible "digital copies" put onto DVDs and BDs. Still, a digital copy on BluRay would mean that Apple would have a BD drive on a Mac.

ft
 
Write to apple.com/feedback with your comment. It would be a nice OPTION for some.

BTW, HD videos can be viewed using OSX. Just rip the disk and transcode it.
 
See, I've always had an issue with Apple and those who make Regional Locks on Laptops.

They are portable devices. I am a director and I travel to different countries and when I land in say London they have Region 2 at the airport. Now why should I buy Region 2 at the airport? Or rather why should ANYONE buy a region 2 at the airport when their own region is different?

Should laptops when advertised as being a road warrior and having a wide screen be able to come with region free players?

When I see companies in Asia I can't demand that they give me their test films on a region free disc. They sometimes do and sometimes don't. So I had to have my driver fixed so I can watch their dailies ect. on my MacBook Pro.

SONY has now begun giving me Blu-Ray discs and I told them I can't watch them on my trip back. It's aggravating that now when the format war IS over, why we are still hanging around with HD-less macs?

Makes no sense.
 
Markleshark said:
Apple are not behind until the demand is greater. Quite simple, really.
Click to expand...

The demand is great enough, people are in fact investing in HD players and HD-TVs.

Just try to remember when Apple first introduced their DVD players, before Super-drives, they were ahead of the others and were paving the way for the future of entertainment on computers.

Now, it's like they forgot that this Blu-Ray thing is actually the next gen DVDs.

It's still too much focus on iTunes and iPhones, it bothers me cause their Machines aren't that ahead anymore.

Maybe we should ask Sue Ellen Schaming PR for all this, what is going on... 2005 is a long time ago...

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/mar/10blu-ray.html
 
Consultant said:
Write to apple.com/feedback with your comment. It would be a nice OPTION for some.

BTW, HD videos can be viewed using OSX. Just rip the disk and transcode it.
Click to expand...

How do i do this. cant find it on a google, well not for mac anyway or not for windows that dose not require a CLI. cos if i can do this i could rip my HD DVDs to my external Hard disc and get rid of that stupid addon for my xbox and the discs.

A guide would be nice, PM me or post a linkey.
 
millar876 said:
How do i do this. cant find it on a google, well not for mac anyway or not for windows that dose not require a CLI. cos if i can do this i could rip my HD DVDs to my external Hard disc and get rid of that stupid addon for my xbox and the discs.

A guide would be nice, PM me or post a linkey.
Click to expand...

Slysoft AnyDVD HD is one windows program. Just search for that on the forums. Plenty of options
 
A lot of these posts are very valid, but I think we should hold off on this until after WWDC. If no hint of BD support, then i think we should carry on with this.

I'm expecting when BD support does arrive, it will be a BTO option on the Mac Pro, maybe the iMac as well. Probably not for a little bit for the MBP until drive sizes can accommodate the current thickness of the MBP.
 
runplaysleeprun said:
A lot of these posts are very valid, but I think we should hold off on this until after WWDC. If no hint of BD support, then i think we should carry on with this.
Click to expand...

Do you know when the WWDC is? When is the next semi major event? The one where we'll get the new updates for the iPods etc?

Also you are right... but I have a feeling we're going to keep talking here after the event... sadly...
 
Yeah, I've got something to say about all this…

The "year of HD" apparently didn't include being able to watch HD content.
:mad:
 
I have little doubt that Apple will soon support BluRay, maybe even at WWDC, but really, how much demand is there for these things? It isn't as if they are flying off the shelves at Best Buy. BluRay will never sell like the DVD players and recorders because optical drives are on the slippery slope headed toward being the next floppy.

In the next few years, all drives will be SSD and data will be transferred via the network. Optical drives just lasted longer than floppies because their capacity far outpaced the capabilities of the network and our old internal hard drives. That won't be true for very much longer.

We can watch HD without problem. As for burning BluRay HD DVDs, most of us won't ever burn more than a handful. Personally, I never expect to drop a BluRay into my Mac Pro.
 
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