For all intents and purposes, Blu-ray Disc playback is already available for OS X.
Except that you'd need a Blu-ray drive to rip the disc in the first place...
For all intents and purposes, Blu-ray Disc playback is already available for OS X.
Except that you'd need a Blu-ray drive to rip the disc in the first place...
I believe that Blu-ray discs can pass their maximum resolution of 1080p only via HDMI. Because nothing in the Mac lineup is equipped with HDMI and it doesn't seem to be in the offing, how can a BD played on an external BD player pass 1080p images to a Mac? Further, the ONLY way modern HD soundtracks encoded on most BDs these days can be played is via an HDMI connection. Don't misunderstand me. If there is another way to do it that Apple computers could use, I would like to learn about it.With today's release of Make MKV 1.5, it's probably irrelevant that Apple won't support Blu-ray Disc playback. Make MKV now has UPnP streaming server, so it should be able to decrypt the disc and stream it to Plex for playback.
For all intents and purposes, Blu-ray Disc playback is already available for OS X.
Is it really necessary to state the obvious?
I believe that Blu-ray discs can pass their maximum resolution of 1080p only via HDMI.
It didn't seem very obvious to me, since you're suggesting that OS X has Blu-ray playback capabilities, yet Apple still provides no Blu-ray drive which you'd need to rip the disc in the first place.
That's like suggesting that Honda has, for all intents and purposes, a supercharger in every model, since you can go to a garage and buy an aftermarket bolt-on kit.
I completely agree, especially when Apple products are priced the highest on the market.
The markup on things like the iPad is completely ridiculous.
Show me a decent tablet for under $500.
Oh wait, they don't exist.
It is my understanding that, while BDs (Blu-ray discs) can be ripped and re-encoded in a way a computer can deal with, the operation takes a long time. When I used to rip and re-encode DVDs for iTunes and Apple TV on my MBP with HandBrake, even that operation ordinarily took about an hour and usually more. I understand that ripping and transcoding a BD takes considerably longer than the runtime of the movie. Thus, a movie might take plus or minus 3 hours to convert. Also, as you have said, you can't get HD audio. Under the circumstances, thanks but no thanks. I'll stick with a regular old BD player in my home theater.That's only if the chain is checking for HDCP. Make MKV disables it along with decryption of the disc, thus you get 1080p for anything. The only downer is that you can only get Dolby Digital or DTS (since Macs can't do True-HD or DTS-MA). The Mini DisplayPort spec has HD audio, but the 9400m used by Apple does not support HD audio.
It is my understanding that, while BDs (Blu-ray discs) can be ripped and re-encoded in a way a computer can deal with, the operation takes a long time. When I used to rip and re-encode DVDs for iTunes and Apple TV on my MBP with HandBrake, even that operation ordinarily took about an hour and usually more. I understand that ripping and transcoding a BD takes considerably longer than the runtime of the movie. Thus, a movie might take plus or minus 3 hours to convert. Also, as you have said, you can't get HD audio. Under the circumstances, thanks but no thanks. I'll stick with a regular old BD player in my home theater.
Despite our fundamental disagreement about the practical utility of adding a BD drive to the MBP line, I agree with you that bending one's self into a pretzel to be able to stream a BD image from a laptop to a large display "sounds like a pain." From my point of view, at least, it would be more trouble than it was worth because it's far easier to watch it on a BD player in the first place and get the benefit of HD audio, to boot.That sounds like a giant pain.
What's wrong with simply being able to put in the blu ray disc I already own into the laptop, and having it start playing?
And if you don't think it makes a difference with a dvd, here you go...
Here's a comparison of an upconverted dvd on a 7 inch netbook laptop sized screen, versus a blu ray on a 7 inch netbook laptop sized screen.
. . .
For OP: A higher res iSight camera will do next to nothing. Its the same story with people whining about the iPhone camera being only 2 or 3 megapixels.
Carbon. Being no material expert, I gotta make an "if" here: If they can make it as solid as their aluminium casing, then its time. Seriously, my squash racket is carbon, and I smash it in the walls all the time. Yes, carbon is more breakable or whatever, but when its used in sports, I think it will be solid enough for notebooks. And much, much lighter. At 2 kg, my 13" MPB is not as light as it could be (not as heavy as some PCs though)
Here's hoping six months from now will see a Sandy Bridge Macbook Pro with Blu Ray and high end graphics.
Despite our fundamental disagreement about the practical utility of adding a BD drive to the MBP line, I agree with you that bending one's self into a pretzel to be able to stream a BD image from a laptop to a large display "sounds like a pain." From my point of view, at least, it would be more trouble than it was worth because it's far easier to watch it on a BD player in the first place and get the benefit of HD audio, to boot.