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Not everyone wanted blu ray for watching movies. Some of us want to burn hd videos for family and friends.
 
Apple has lost its way. I'm surprised it's not even an opinion on the mac pro, as lots of people who use their mac for actual work (rather than, I don't know, playing angry birds on a 27" screen) would benefit from being able to make backups of their data using blue ray.
 
I need a new Mac and would like an iMac or mini, but I am not sure yet if I will also get an external "superdrive". I don't have a DVD or Blu-Ray player in my house, but I do have a bunch of old DVDs that I haven't yet ripped and I do occasionaly burn a DVD with data or burn a home movie to DVD for family or friends. I'll probably just get it without the external and see if I ever need it. Or I will build a hackintosh.
 
And I guess all of you don't have a decent AVR, let alone a decent speaker system. If you ever heard a Blu-Ray DTS HD Master over a decent home theater (which btw is specced up to 10MBit/s stream for audio) you wouldn't talk this stuff out of your backs.

No, I don't have whatever an AVR is. I don't sit around watchings screens all day so it really doesn't matter to me. I've always seen home theater systems as a waste of space and time.
 
Ya, I guess nobody creates their own video content anymore... I like the cloud as much as anyone but I still like to be able to burn a DVD or BlueRay HD disc to share as well.

External drives will do and at least can't be killed off by one company's world view.
 
I just use my PS3 to watch Blu-Rays.

Anything else I need to watch I just do so via Netflix, downloading, or streaming.

Can't wait for physical media to die out, internet speeds to amp up, and SSD prices to come down :)
 
I think it's one thing to discontinue support for a technology on its way out (like they did with floppies), it's another to never support it at all, claim it's not popular while being part of the problem. :|
 
I bought an external Memorex Blu-Ray reader/writer off eBay for ~$50 for "backing up" my blu-ray movies ;) and it works fine for ripping them to a format that my Apple TV 3 can play from my Mac mini's iTunes library.

I'm fine with them not being offered by Apple. I found my own way.

Besides. If you aren't RedBox'ing, you are most likely streaming over Netflix or some other movie service. Physical media has maybe 5 more years left to it. I think when the next revolution in High Def TVs occurs (4k), all movies will come as a file downloaded or even on a thumb drive.
 
Newer owned a blu-ray player and moved away from DVD's years ago. Downloaded content is much more convient and physically takes up less room. It's only a matter of time before blu ray goes the way of DVDs and CDs.
 
If you think Netflix or Apple streaming HD quality is good, you need to get your eyes checked.

Nothing can replace the quality of an optical disc other then the original uncompressed asset.

It's night and day right now for optical vs streaming quality.
 
I think it's one thing to discontinue support for a technology on its way out (like they did with floppies), it's another to never support it at all, claim it's not popular while being part of the problem. :|

They supported it, just not from an Apple branded hardware stand point.
I can still open a BDR on my Mac through my external drive.
 
If you're not watching new films on blu-ray you are missing out far more than you think.
I agree- for some films- streaming quality can be tolerated. You just want to watch the film to kill a night.
But if it's a film you're really looking forward to- Blu ray kicks.

comparing side by side is key.
If you just view a stream- it looks pretty good and you will accept it.
It's when you then fire up the uncompressed blu ray that will give WOW factor.

I buy and then re-sell on Amazon. The difference I pay to watch best quality is usually the cost of a download. Well worth it IMO.
 
I now used USB keys or external drives for backup or to share data now. That cant fit youre needs?

Cost of DVD's is 80c apiece (or less). USB stick of same size is 10$ or more.
I do backup on HD as well, of course. But I thought the whole idea of imac was not to have wires dangling around. It defies the purpose if you need to hook things up.
Is it so important to have it 2cm thin rather than 5cm? It sits on the desk anyway.
When they make it foldable then it will be a different story...
 
I for one need to burn dvds with data (e.g. physical backup of photos). Not often, but on occasion.
I don't think I am significantly away from any average consumer.
As for Blue Ray I can't say (I don't even watch dvds at all, so in that respect I am in the tail of the gaussian.)

And if "you can have it external" then it does misses the point of the sleekness factor.

But then you mentioned occasionally? I can't imagine this occasional inconvenience suddenly evolving into an annoyance.
 
I couldn't care less what Schiller wants to do in tr mac, but Blu-ray is the best way to watch films at home. It's the only way of getting the quality I want and the extras commentaries etc. who cares if you can't play those films on a small mac screen. Software wise you don't need discs cos you just download it.
 
I don't have a bluray player in my house at all. Bluray movies are overpriced and inconvenient. I much prefer netflix streaming. The image quality is sharp enough for me.

Same. I just don't ever want to pay $20+ for a movie. Simple as that. Also, I'm a big fan of digital downloads, so if I do buy a movie I buy it on iTunes. At that point I can put it on my phone, my Mac, stream it to my Apple TV, etc. Much more convenient for me.

Besides movies, I'm not sure what the big draw is to put Blu-Ray drives on computers, though. I feel like only a very, very small percent of users will actually use it, so why have this big, bulky, expensive technology in every machine? External drives seems like the obvious answer to me.
 
This works where Apple's cloud is fully working with movies/tv in the cloud but we are not there yet here in Sweden so to Phil Schiller I can only say "No we are NOT there yet, but you can get us there. Just get it done already!"
 
I for one need to burn dvds with data (e.g. physical backup of photos). Not often, but on occasion.
I don't think I am significantly away from any average consumer.
As for Blue Ray I can't say (I don't even watch dvds at all, so in that respect I am in the tail of the gaussian.)

And if "you can have it external" then it does misses the point of the sleekness factor.

Yea, I don't think you are "average". Most people are now storing or sharing photos over the internet, or store them on online storage (multiple redundancy). Plus, if you burn some DVD with video/photos and you want to share with friends/relative do you physically mail it to them? And risk the chance of having it brake on the way?

The idea of getting up, drive, rent/return dvd or blueray is a lot of work. If I can pay the same amount and having them stream to my device, I'm more then willing to do that.
 
Blu-ray

I only own blu-rays and have been waiting for macs to be able to play blu-ray. Didn't know I had to ask for it... Will a please help?
 
As for video, he said that "Blu-ray has come with issues unrelated to the actual quality of the movie that make [it] a complex and not-great technology...So for a whole plethora of reasons, it makes a lot of sense to get rid of optical discs in desktops and notebooks."

Give me a break, Phil. :rolleyes:

He's clearly referring to the DRM issues with Blu-ray, but then of course recommends iTunes downloads which are loaded with their own DRM. In both cases, it works transparently if all of your devices support playback with that DRM. However as soon as you want to use your purchased content in legal but unsupported-by-DRM ways, you're screwed. What happens in 10 years when I want to play my iTunes-purchased movie on some new, non-Apple device? Guess I have to re-buy it, or just forget about buying any device not made by Apple. That's really the whole point of the DRM from Apple's perspective, isn't it?

I've always found Apple's stance on DRM with iTunes video content to be frustrating and hypocritical. On the one hand, they (Jobs) championed the eventual removal of DRM from the music store. Amazingly, record companies didn't go under. :rolleyes: But Apple clearly never had any such plans for movies/TV. :confused::eek::mad:
 
I recently picked up the "Back to the Future" trilogy on blu ray that included codes for iTunes but, to utilize the codes, I had to insert a data dvd because the movie was included on the DVD. This is the first time I picked up a blu ray/dvd that included a digital copy of the movie.

Is this how they all are? If so, how will we redeem digital copies in the future if they require you to insert the dvd into the computer if we lack an optical drive?
 
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