MacPro: USB 3.0 and Blu-ray

[Tallest Skil]

I cannot A) copy them to my computer

*slow smile* Sure, you can't. And I bought this 1080p video on iTunes...

Tanj forums made me turn up the image compression a tiny bit, but it's raw 1080.

 

[Porco]

Well here is my personal opinion on blu-ray. I think disk media altogether will end with the DVD and go all digital via on demand and download services unless Sony can drop prices of blu-ray disk movies and if blu-ray disk drives become a standard in consumer electronics. I for one do not buy blu-ray movies anymore because I cannot A) copy them to my computer to rip to my iPhone and stream to my xbox 360 or B) play in my MacBook DVD drive when I'm on the road. Its as simple as that. At the moment blu-ray is not worth those cons including the higher price for just a better picture.

Disk media will end with DVD? Blu-ray is out there, now, in people's homes. That is done, it's reality. The drives are in numerous computer brands, there are numerous players and a fair few recorders are starting to pop up too now... it's not some potential format, it's already made it IMHO, even if Apple are being total laggards because they want it to fail so badly in their fantasy land where they must think everyone who owns a mac has super-fast net connections already. BD movie prices seem lower to me than DVDs were at the same point in their life (at least online), and the cost of licensing for disc production has just gone down again I believe.

As for your A) / B) points, I think those are fair views to hold, but for me I buy a Blu-ray disc because of the better picture - that is the whole point.

Would I like to be able to rip it in OS X if I wanted to watch it on my iPod? Sure. Would I like to be able to play the thing in Mac OS X? Definitely, and I find it shocking and, as a mac fan, increasingly embarrassing that it's still not possible to do so. Would I like it if the Blu-ray disc made me breakfast in the morning and laid golden eggs? That would be nice too.

But those limitations don't change the fact that if I want to watch a movie I love in the best quality feasibly possible outside of a cinema, Blu-ray is where it's at. If you are buying a movie to rip it and play it on your mac and don't care about the picture quality, DVD is obviously a cheaper, better option for you. To be honest though, if the choice is between the ability to occasionally watch a ripped movie on an iPod or getting a far superior copy of the film to watch as it's meant to be, on a big screen, it's an easy one for me. Convenience of downloads over quality of physical media still hasn't killed audio CDs or even vinyl just yet, I think Blu-ray is going to be just fine for quite a while.

 

[IronFixXxeR]

Has anyone tried using VLC 1.0 to play a Blu-Ray under Mac OS X?

 

[grahamwright1]

That drive only reads blu-rays. You want the LG-GGW H20L if you want to burn BDs. It's only $160 at NewEgg, now - a good price. As for burning BDs, you can already do it in the finder - I have - or use Toast or Encore to burn video BDs. It's quite handy for back-up purposes.

Seconded! An excellent drive but it was a little challenging to get it mounted in place of the SuperDrive on my MacPro 1,1

 

[goMac]

*slow smile* Sure, you can't. And I bought this 1080p video on iTunes...

Tanj forums made me turn up the image compression a tiny bit, but it's raw 1080.

Huh? I hate Bluray, but I'm pretty sure everything on iTunes is 720p, not 1080p.

There is no possible way to fit 1080p into a 3 gig file, that would be pretty tight for just 1080i.

 

[Cave Man]

Has anyone tried using VLC 1.0 to play a Blu-Ray under Mac OS X?

Tried and failed. It wouldn't even start to play a Blu-ray rip that had been de-HDCP'd and decrypted.

Huh? I hate Bluray, but I'm pretty sure everything on iTunes is 720p, not 1080p.

He knows - he's being facicious.

There is no possible way to fit 1080p into a 3 gig file, that would be pretty tight for just 1080i.

Sure you can, especially for shorts. For movies, it'd be very, very ugly, but you can get 1080p file under 3 gb.

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

I'm surprised I haven't said it here. I'm also surprised that nobody else has.

This is kinda my running joke .

We won't have Blu-ray 'til Steve leaves because it is "a bag if hurt."

 

[goMac]

We won't have Blu-ray 'til Steve leaves because it is "a bag if hurt."

Yeah, the part that requires Apple to close source the kernel if they add it is a little bit bag of hurt.

Bluray requires a secure route through the kernel, which couldn't be open sourced. Same reason Linux doesn't have Bluray.

Apple could just close source that part of the kernel, but it would get kind of messy...