Blue-ray player on MBP anyone?

[markrivers]

now it's almost official.. Blue-ray has killed HD DVD. with TOSHIBA announcing that it won't make anymore HD DVD format..i believe that HD DVDs have reached its end.

there's so many speculations on the add ons about the new MBP like the track pad, new chipset, etc but i haven't encountered any post wishing for a high definition player??
PCs in the price range of MBP are including a hi def player..
what do you think? i'd surely like to have it when i buy the new MBP. then connect the MBP to a larger LCD/Plasma display!

 

[conchshell]

I'd like one too but who knows if it will be an affordable upgrade.

 

[markrivers]

I'd like one too but who knows if it will be an affordable upgrade.

if apple keeps the same price range for the MBP.. i think they can squeeze the hi def player in the 2400 MBP 15 in or the 17 in MBP..
hey, with that LED screen, it's foolish not to include a hi def player and stick with the standard DVD player.

 

[conchshell]

if apple keeps the same price range for the MBP.. i think they can squeeze the hi def player in the 2400 MBP 15 in or the 17 in MBP..
hey, with that LED screen, it's foolish not to include a hi def player and stick with the standard DVD player.

I agree completely. W/ Jobs + Disney I can't imagine it wouldn't be available. Maybe they'll be a read only version for only $200 more like the Sony laptops as a 3rd options instead of just the burner.

 

[rezonat0r]

Well first of all, it's "blu-ray".

Right now the ONLY notebook in Apple's lineup that can display full 1080 resolution is the 17" MBP with the OPTIONAL 1920x1200 screen. I'd be surprised if we see blu-ray playback in these next MBP's. But now that the format war is over, prices on blu-ray drives are going to drop quite a bit in the next 6-8 months. At that point we will probably see a thin blu-ray burner in MBPs.

 

[MacBookJoePro]

Hmm.. i wonder what they would call it. MBP with super-duper drive? lol

-JoE

 

[markrivers]

Hmm.. i wonder what they would call it. MBP with super-duper drive? lol

-JoE

i think it's going to be MBP with a Super -Blu -drive

 

[ashjamben]

i think it would definetly be good to have blu ray as at least an option, so if people wish to they can upgrade to it. altho, blu ray players and drives will come down in price slowly and if this isn't reflected in the price of the macbook pro if it came as standard may annoy some people, but the price of the upgrade could come down on its own. saying that, apple rip you off with all upgrades so i wouldn't even imagine those independently becoming cheaper.

 

[waywardsage]

http://www.fastmac.com sells a slot loading Blu ray player for the macbook pro. Problem is they charge a wopping $900 for it! that was almost a year ago, and they haven't lowered the price. Panasonic announced a they were releasing a model that was going to be under $400 I believe.

Dell, HP, Alienware, Sony are all offering Blu ray player options in their laptop lines. It's pretty stupid that Apple doesn't even offer it as an OPTION.

I wish they would include it as an option in the next revision. I am already running blu ray at home and hardly buy any DVDs. It's going to be hard to watch my Blu rays on the road if i get a Macbook Pro without a drive.

 

[markrivers]

well, i think the current business strategy.. as we see on the macbook air is to force the user to watch movies through the web.. which is not an option at all.. since you only have 1.

 

[Freyqq]

http://www.fastmac.com sells a slot loading Blu ray player for the macbook pro. Problem is they charge a wopping $900 for it! that was almost a year ago, and they haven't lowered the price. Panasonic announced a they were releasing a model that was going to be under $400 I believe.

Dell, HP, Alienware, Sony are all offering Blu ray player options in their laptop lines. It's pretty stupid that Apple doesn't even offer it as an OPTION.

I wish they would include it as an option in the next revision. I am already running blu ray at home and hardly buy any DVDs. It's going to be hard to watch my Blu rays on the road if i get a Macbook Pro without a drive.

even worse..its not even on the MPs

 

[xraydoc]

It'll eventually be coming, I'm sure, but I think Sony's new next-gen blue laser diodes are required to produce slot loading drives thin enough to fit into a MacBook or MacBook Pro. Most laptop blu-ray drives are tray loading drives and simply too large to fit into Apple's designs. These drives I've read should be coming in the next few months.

 

[stevenfarrisohi]

Blueray difference

My understanding is that BR only is distinguishable in large HD televisions.

 

[Michael CM1]

My understanding is that BR only is distinguishable in large HD televisions.

I have a 32" 720p HDTV. It's easily distinguishable (I have watched the 5th Harry Potter in both formats). I don't know if that's large or if you meant 40"+.

The other thing I must bring up is many of us don't want a Blu-ray drive so we can get the full 1080p picture on a Mac. I know I can't on a 1680x1050 resolution on my LCD monitor and whatever the MBP screen has. What I want is the ability to watch the movies I only have on Blu-ray on the computer (and eventually to give them the HandBrake treatment).

As soon as Apple has a Blu-ray drive for the MBP that's $200 or less, count me in.

 

[Freyqq]

prob only be an option on the 17" b\c they actually have a 1080p screen

also, most pc laptops with blue-ray have HDMI so they can be plugged into an HDTV....

 

[JWest]

prob only be an option on the 17" b\c they actually have a 1080p screen

also, most pc laptops with blue-ray have HDMI so they can be plugged into an HDTV....

They could always offer higher resolutions for the 15" model...

 

[Michael CM1]

well, i think the current business strategy.. as we see on the macbook air is to force the user to watch movies through the web.. which is not an option at all.. since you only have 1.

I keep hoping that Steve Jobs is not as delusional as some people. Downloadable movies aren't going to kill DVD and BD anytime soon. iTunes only *rents* HD movies, and they're only in 720p. There are no HD downloads with portability and the file size must be huge.

Considering that Sony and Disney are both very high on Blu-ray, I hope Steve will get these things on Macs ASAP.

 

[senorfrog97]

I don't see Apple adding a blu ray drive ever. They already put their money on hard drive media (Apple TV) and that blu ray will also be obsolete eventually. If they didn't have Apple TV as a product then I'd say very possible.

 

[markrivers]

I don't see Apple adding a blu ray drive ever. They already put their money on hard drive media (Apple TV) and that blu ray will also be obsolete eventually. If they didn't have Apple TV as a product then I'd say very possible.

blu-ray is the current technology.. YES it will be obsolete in time, but to deny its existence ( i'm referring to apple here) and force us to download movies in 720 resolution is nuts!
it's like saying, let's not make CDs anymore since we can download everthing on itunes..
Apple Tv on the other hand.. is not catching up to it's projected market.
fearless forecast here...few months from now, there'll be more people with blu ray players and disc, (now that's HD DVD is dying.). than people with apple TV..

 

[waywardsage]

Plus the resolution on Blu ray blows iTunes downloads completely out of the water. No comparison.

Plus, you OWN the blu ray. Meaning you can loan it out, watch it everywhere you have a player and take it over to a friends house and watch it on their player just by carrying the disc in its case.

I don't see iTunes slaughtering Blu ray anytime soon. Think of all those millions of people who don't even HAVE broadband. It'll be a while before downloading completely takes over. I say 10-15 years minimum.

 

[Michael CM1]

Plus the resolution on Blu ray blows iTunes downloads completely out of the water. No comparison.

Plus, you OWN the blu ray. Meaning you can loan it out, watch it everywhere you have a player and take it over to a friends house and watch it on their player just by carrying the disc in its case.

I don't see iTunes slaughtering Blu ray anytime soon. Think of all those millions of people who don't even HAVE broadband. It'll be a while before downloading completely takes over. I say 10-15 years minimum.

It takes me about 30 minutes to download a 5-minute HD podcast with a 3.0Mbps connection (about 100MB in size). As you said, think of the millions that don't even have broadband. They have connections too slow to even buy music from iTunes.

How anybody expects HD movie downloads to kill Blu-ray Disc (or even DVD) is beyond me.

 

[jonnos]

i dont see why its aint that possible..
theres an acer laptop here in aus going for only $1430AUD with a blu-ray reader + super multi drive

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/47bbdd560b5494d0273fc0a87f9c0756/Product/View/XC4237WEB

PROCESSOR – Intel Core 2 Duo processor T5450 1.66GHz
MEMORY - 2GB DDR2-667 (2 x 1GB)
HARD DRIVE - 160GB 5400rpm SATA
OPTICAL DRIVE - Blu-ray reader + Super Multi
COLOUR DISPLAY - 15.4" WXGA widescreen CrystalBrite
RESOLUTION - 1280 x 800, 8 msec response
VIDEO – nVidia GeForce Go 8600M GS with 768MB TurboCache (256MB Dedicated)
S-VIDEO PORT – Yes
CAMERA - Acer CrystalEye webcam featuring Acer PrimaLite with enhanced low light technology
LAN - Intel 802.11a⁄g⁄N
MODEM - 56K modem
CARD READER –5-in-1 card reader
USB PORT - Four USB ports
EXPRESS CARD SLOT - ExpressCard ⁄54
BLUE TOOTH - Integrated Bluetooth with EDR 2.0
SOFTWARE – Vista Home Premium, Norton Internet Security Trial, Acer Arcade Deluxe, Cyberlink Power Producer, NTI CD & DVD Maker, Acer GridVista, Acer Empowering Technology, Video Conference Manager, Acer Game Zone, MS Works 8.5 with Office 2007 Home & Student Trial
WARRANTY –1 year pickup repair return
CONTACT NUMBER FOR WARRANTY, SERVICE & SUPPORT - 1300 362 328 or http://www.acer.com.au

 

[cyberdelight]

now it's almost official.. Blue-ray has killed HD DVD. with TOSHIBA announcing that it won't make anymore HD DVD format..i believe that HD DVDs have reached its end.

there's so many speculations on the add ons about the new MBP like the track pad, new chipset, etc but i haven't encountered any post wishing for a high definition player??
PCs in the price range of MBP are including a hi def player..
what do you think? i'd surely like to have it when i buy the new MBP. then connect the MBP to a larger LCD/Plasma display!

Well I imagine it would be quite expensive not that apple computers aren't expensive already, but people like me and you buy them.

 

[yetanotherdave]

Without an HDMI out to plug the laptop into a HDTV, there's not much point (film wise) in a blu ray player in a laptop. Even with a 17" screen (the only apple notebook capable of 1080p, but only as an option), you wont see much if any difference over DVD as the screen is small. Especially as the DVD will be upscaled anyway.

Basically, it'd be a nice way to start out in blu ray. My first DVD player was a PC DVD-ROM drive about 10+ years ago when DVD was young, because it was by far the cheapest way to get a DVD player. Personally I am willing to hook my laptop up to my TV for the occasional blu ray movie. Many people wont be as willing.
I'm also not sure apple will want DVI and HDMI out in one laptop. Yes, you can get an adaptor DVI->HDMI, but it isn't HDCP compliant, meaning blu ray discs wont play over it. Unless they supply a HDMI->DVI/VGA adaptor, I don't see that happening.

 

[markrivers]

good thing to know that we're not alone on this issue.. hey, i'm willing to spend for a blu-ray player than a $1000 Solid state drive..