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I can't believe I still can't play Blu-rays on a Mac
- Thread starter thiagos
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I personally don't see Blu Ray taking off in the same way as DVD for one reason. Broadband Internet.
Look at thetv. Who needs Blu Ray when you can download HD movies for less than the cost of a Blu Ray movie?
This post is why Steve Jobs and apple have not implemented Blu-ray on apple computers. The average consumer, by the way is the only consumer apple cares about, has no idea what HD even is. More and more people come on this site and amaze me with their lack of knowledge on the subject. He does make a good point. Apple marketing is so good that he is blind to the cheap, crappy product apple is pushing as HD when compared to Blu-ray. But it has the apple branding and that goes along way with apple zealots.
I don't care about any optical disks. They're a tedious nuisance in my opinion and I long for the day when we receive software and movies either just as a download or as some kind of disposable, read-only flash drive. It's very doable.
I long for that day as well, but until then, give me blu-ray.
As for the "who wants blu-ray on 13" screen"...IT'S NOT JUST FOR MOVIES!
It's probably because DVD burners are around $35 and Blu Ray burners are around $200. Most customers aren't going to pay extra for their computers just to have the ability to play and burn blu ray discs. Most customers don't use blu rays and don't care.
So that means Apple shouldn't give us the option? Apple users aren't even most consumers to begin with. It just needs to be an option. It's not much to ask for when every other company has the option.
You said it... All of that DRM and licensing is what makes blu ray such a pain in the ass.
I think eventually the market will drive the prices down and then more and more people will pick up blu ray, just like they did w/ VHS to DVD, tapes to CD, etc... My first CD-R drive cost me like $250 - and that was used. At that time, none of my home stereos or portable CD players would even read a CD-R. I think this situation is analogous to what blu ray is experienceing
As soon as the "majority" of mac users want blu ray, they'll adopt it, but until then, Apple probably wont change its production to please a small margin of their customers.
I agree with some of what you say.
Bottom line for apple is: always maintain the highest profit margin possible. Blu-ray will cut into their hugh profit margin on every piece of hardware they sell. They couldn't care less about the consumers wants or needs. They never have cared and still they sell tons of computers and ipods. Why on earth would they offer something that costs them more money when every idiot in the world will still buy their computer without blu-ray?
The licensing of Blu-Ray is still just too complicated and outrageous. It is a lot cheaper and easier to put it on a windows machine for the simple fact that A) Sony has their line of PCs and B) windows is on every machine that blu-ray is equipped.
As some others have said, I do believe that physical media is on the way out. There will not be another high def physical media that will supersede BR. You are now seeing TVs come out that have WIFI built in. Just another step closer to having streaming capabilities. OS's are furthering the technology, and now companies, such as WD, Seagate, etc, are marketing "media centers" straight outta the box.
I bought an HD DVD player when best Buy was clearancing them out (got one for $89!!!, it was $299), thinking i would be buying a bunch of hd dvds' from deep discount and such. Nada. I haven't bought one from there, although i did buy a few from Frys. Streaming them is the future, or purchasing a full 1080p (9+ GBs file) movie is going to be the norm in 2-3 years, especially with PC prices coming down.
As some others have said, I do believe that physical media is on the way out. There will not be another high def physical media that will supersede BR. You are now seeing TVs come out that have WIFI built in. Just another step closer to having streaming capabilities. OS's are furthering the technology, and now companies, such as WD, Seagate, etc, are marketing "media centers" straight outta the box.
I bought an HD DVD player when best Buy was clearancing them out (got one for $89!!!, it was $299), thinking i would be buying a bunch of hd dvds' from deep discount and such. Nada. I haven't bought one from there, although i did buy a few from Frys. Streaming them is the future, or purchasing a full 1080p (9+ GBs file) movie is going to be the norm in 2-3 years, especially with PC prices coming down.
I don't think anyone is arguing that BRD should be standard, only that is is odd that Apple is probably the ONLY major computer maker that does not offer it at all. As an extra cost BTO option, how would it cost Apple and eat into margins? They offer RAID cards, upgraded memory, upgraded GPUs etc, all at added cost. Swapping a DVD for a BRD drive is no different and arguably one of the simplest changes on the production line.
I've just recently bought an internal blu-ray writer for my MacPro but I don't have intentions of watching blu-ray movies on my 24" monitor(I use the 1080P HD projector for that in my theatre room.) I prefer to watch it there for a better movie experience. Yes, I am a video/audiophile. 720p downloaded content from providers like itunes does not cut it especially if its projected on 12' diagonal wall size, which is dull looking (dvd is much worse). My workstation is just behind that room looking through the theatre room.
Now back to blu-ray. I do a lot of HD filming as hobby. I have almost 3TB of raw uncompressed footage. I do occasionally upload them online like vimeo or youtube and not its only a pain to upload, but you are capped to 720p resolution. It so stupid and a waste capturing something at native resolution and dumb it down. I worked with DV before and I've got bad remarks from some of the viewers because it looked choppy, blurry or blocky and I have to tell them its not my fault because the online service had downsampled the video. Now the $200 blu-ray I bought works well with OSX. It recognized BD discs with its osx icon. If you look in the Extensions folder there is IOBDStorageFamily.kext which supports reading and writing. I'm so happy that I can actually author my content as best as possible.(I used Adobe Encore).FCP 3 also supports bluray!
The bad thing is there is no blu-ray playback which is a hassle to boot into windows and test it there. I thought the new iTunes would playback blu-ray since it has DRM, would make it more easier provide encrypted decoding from movie studios.
On the windows side, don't think its easy too. My Geforce 8800 GT that came with my MacPro didn't have HDCP decoding in the firmware(even the retail PC version was included it in the specs). So I had to bypass the protection by using AnyDVD HD then PowerDVD could play it. Such a hassle.
Blu-ray won't go away as a medium. DRM should go away.
Now back to blu-ray. I do a lot of HD filming as hobby. I have almost 3TB of raw uncompressed footage. I do occasionally upload them online like vimeo or youtube and not its only a pain to upload, but you are capped to 720p resolution. It so stupid and a waste capturing something at native resolution and dumb it down. I worked with DV before and I've got bad remarks from some of the viewers because it looked choppy, blurry or blocky and I have to tell them its not my fault because the online service had downsampled the video. Now the $200 blu-ray I bought works well with OSX. It recognized BD discs with its osx icon. If you look in the Extensions folder there is IOBDStorageFamily.kext which supports reading and writing. I'm so happy that I can actually author my content as best as possible.(I used Adobe Encore).FCP 3 also supports bluray!
The bad thing is there is no blu-ray playback which is a hassle to boot into windows and test it there. I thought the new iTunes would playback blu-ray since it has DRM, would make it more easier provide encrypted decoding from movie studios.
On the windows side, don't think its easy too. My Geforce 8800 GT that came with my MacPro didn't have HDCP decoding in the firmware(even the retail PC version was included it in the specs). So I had to bypass the protection by using AnyDVD HD then PowerDVD could play it. Such a hassle.
Blu-ray won't go away as a medium. DRM should go away.
OP, I noticed you only have Macbook Pros in your signature. What's the point of jacking up the price on a laptop to add blu-ray? The screen is only 17" on the largest model. There's really no difference unless you're going to have something bigger than 20". It's like that dumb laptop commercial by Microsoft where the kid and mom insist on getting a "gaming laptop" with "BLUUUUU RAAAAAY." It's just pointless.
I'd rather see blu-ray on the iMac or Mac Pros.
I'd rather see blu-ray on the iMac or Mac Pros.
I'm not a audio/videophile and in fact am happy watching DVD quality movies and sometimes even movies on the iPhone but to say that the difference is not noticeable on a 17" monitor is not true in my opinion - you've got to remember that these 17" monitors have a relatively high resolution. In fact the resolution on these monitors is even higher than Blu-Ray resolution, let alone DVD. You can't compare computer monitor sizes (especially laptop monitors) to tv screens as usually the user sits much closer to these when watching something on it.
Then there's also the fact that Blu-Ray is not for video only (though currently that is almost the only use)
I guess the real question is who's using there computer out there to watch movies? I'm certainly not. I'm using it to *store* movies which get played on the 46" LCD in the living room. I'm not going to gather friends around a computer screen (even a Cinema Display). That's just stupid.
Maybe Blue-Ray would be ideal for a MacBook for traveling, etc. but I don't see this popular for an iMac/Desktop computer. The last thing I want to do is watch a 2 hour movie in my office chair when I can watch it on my 42" HDTV in my bedroom or living room with more comfortable conditions.
I can't believe it....
I think we can hope it won't be too much longer. With the ability to burn Blu-Ray and the changes to the most recent Final Cut, there is that slim sliver of hope we will eventually see it.
It's "I don't believe it"
I don't believe the people that want blu-ray support on their macbooks are looking to watch movies on it. A lot of people shoot their own HD movies or record A LOT of music (Pro Tools anyone), and would like to store that on a higher capacity disc. I'm not giving someone an 80 hour recording session on a $100 64GB thumb drive. I probably won't see it again. It should be an option. No one should be defending Apple for not doing it.
I am astonished by all the replies to my post (not in a good way). IT DOES NOT MATTER IF THE IMAGE QUALITY IS ANY DIFFERENT, "I" HAVE A HUGE COLLECTION OF BLU-RAY MOVIES AND I WANT TO WATCH IT ON MY OVERPRICED LAPTOP WHEN I AM OUT OF TOWN. Is that too much to ask that since I paid twice of what this laptop is worth to have a blu-ray drive?
It is not like it is a new technology, it has been out for a long time and as far as licensing goes, Apple can afford it since they overcharge on their laptops.
Stop defending Apple and own up to the fact that there are people out there who need a blu-ray drive. I make HD movies and I want to burn it in a blu-ray so I can watch it on my tv.
YOU GO GIRL!!!
In all seriousness, you're right. There is no other way about it. I really can't believe that anyone would just dismiss this with, "Your screen is too small." If you can't notice the difference on a 17" sitting 2 feet away, you won't notice the difference on 50" sitting 10 feet away. Those people should just get their eyes checked.
Also, you're not the only one shooting film who wants to burn to blu-ray. Dell offers this as a $50 option on their high-end laptops. So, in line with everything else Apple does, why don't they offer it as a $150 option on their laptops?
LMBO!!!!
What's the defense for paying twice as much for an over-priced laptop when you know beforehand it doesn't support a feature that is obviously so near and dear to your heart? Who's owning up to that????
LMBO!!!!
What's the defense for paying twice as much for an over-priced laptop when you know beforehand it doesn't support a feature that is obviously so near and dear to your heart? Who's owning up to that????
If you read my first post, you'd have seen that I mentioned about buying an $80 external blu-ray drive on Amazon. All I need is the software.
Read before you comment...
As I said before *I* personally have no need for blu-ray but as this guy quite clearly points out... some people do, and he does, for quite valid reaosns. So why not give them the option? It doesn't have to mean any price increases at all - just make it a BTO option and everybody will be happy.
I get tired of the "Why would you want to do that?", "I wouldn't use that" answers.... Can we not just accept the fact that some people have different needs to others and giving people OPTIONS, as opposed to restricting them and telling them what they need, - is a good thing. More options don't hurt anyone and make others happy so what's the problem?
[begin rant]
It's the same on the FW800 vs eSata debate - some people endlessly saying FW800 is "fast enough" and listing the advantages over eSata. Whatever, I know full well FW800 has many advantages but it maxes out a 80MBps so if you're editing video or have other need for very fast disks e.g. in Raid-0, then eSata is what you need and it's a massively widespread and cheap technology around the world. That Apple wiped out the ability to use it (via expresscard adapter, I'm not even talking about a native eSata port) in the latest MacBook Pro was a dumb move.
I've been a Mac user for 2 decades, but recently switched my laptop from a Dell D830 to MBP, and find the lack of options when it comes to ports and expandability very frustrating.....
[/end rant]
So what you're really p'd off about is not having the opportunity to give Apple three times that amount for the same device with knobled software that only works the way THEY want you to use it.
I'm sure that by 10.7 we'll all have that chance. It'll only be 4 years behind the rest of the industry.
I stand by my comment as is!!!
Whatever limitations the Mac have in your view where there before you bought it. Yes it would by nice if my MBP had some of the features or OPTIONS that a comparable priced PC has - but it doesn't. Could Apple have made this a better product by offering more options - YES. But they did not. Why??? I don't know.
Bottom line - I bought it anyway at the price they demanded for it, and lived with it - I have been happy with it ever since. As far as the options I'm missing - I'm doing just fine without them or I have a suitable work around.
This is not defending Apple in any way.