Phil Schiller Claims Customers Aren't Asking for Built-In Blu-Ray Anymore

[aristotle]

I'm sorry but I'm not getting what you guys are looking for. I have a collection of other 300 blu-rays but I watch them on my couch through my 1080p HDTV. What is the point of watching them on a small screen? On a laptop screen like my rMBP, the 1080p movies from the iTunes store are perfectly acceptable. The same thing goes for the iPad screen. They are even acceptable on my HDTV although admittedly, not quite as high quality as some of the blu-rays that I own.

I've never re-bought any of my blu-rays as iTunes purchases so I cannot do a direct comparison but there is generally only minimal loss in detail the majority of the time and some early blu-rays that had a bad VC1 or MPEG2 encode actually look worse than some of my iTunes purchases.

I am actually going to start selling off some of my collection of blu-ray as it has gotten to be too big taking up too much shelf space.

PS. I would say that they are much better quality than what I get on my subscription HD premium channels.

 

[Breckenridge]

It's only dinosaurs that use physical media like discs.

We've seen a lot of change,

turntables gone,
VHS gone,
DVD gone,
Blu-ray never got started.

The only people who still rely on CD or DVD are DJs that haven't yet got serato or traktor. Creatives who don't have good internet connections and maybe a few professionals but they can afford a separate drive or even a higher end computer anyway.

There is no need for it and i'm glad but I do wish they would have upped the processor and GPU to basically replace the tower.

There are still some people who want speed and macs are really letting the high end users down.

When you grow up and start doing business, you will discover that physical media is more important than you think. I burn at least one cd/DVD per week for clients and co-workers. Try emailing hi res photos or a 30 minute 1080p or 720p video to anyone and you will see what I am talking about. 70 percent of Americans still have very slow broadband, where I live the max upload speed is at 600kbs. Google will bounce any email larger than 20 mb, Comcast does the same and the list goes on.

BTW, More people use DVD than stream see: http://www.reelseo.com/netflix-customers/

 

[Judas1]

Apple needs to stop living in a bubble. Sure, they'd like everybody to stream content from them or only use their devices. But people use other devices and services, and many require physical media. Physical media isn't going anywhere. BTW, a lot of people still watch dvds.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Why would Apple support Blu-Ray? They want to pick your pocket for every last penny and sell you inferior quality content from iTunes. I can't believe how most here don't see that, and even more pathetic they keep defending Apple and ridiculing people who want Blu-Ray. And these same apologists would be the first to start singing the praises of Blu-Ray if Apple did offer it. No wonder Apple does what they do with this type of customer. Thank you sir, may I have another.

 

[jontech]

When you grow up and start doing business, you will discover that physical media is more important than you think. I burn at least one cd/DVD per week for clients and co-workers. Try emailing hi res photos or a 30 minute 1080p or 720p video to anyone and you will see what I am talking about. 70 percent of Americans still have very slow broadband, where I live the max upload speed is at 600kbs. Google will bounce any email larger than 20 mb, Comcast does the same and the list goes on.

BTW, More people use DVD than stream see: http://www.reelseo.com/netflix-customers/

lol

I do only media and everyone one of my customers hands me an external hard drive or thumb drive to copy the movie files and or pictures to.

Optical media is on its way out. Keep using it as long as you need but don't expect Apple to embrace a dying format

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Try to give away both sets of movies to someone else and see if you actually can.

Try to loan both sets of movies to someone else and see if you actually can.

Try to sell both sets of movies to someone else and see if you actually can.

Try to will both sets of movies to somone else when you die and see which ones they can actually receive and fully (legally) own.

Try to take both sets of movies to someone else's house and play it on their equipment.

Apple appreciates your lock in with Apple. They also appreciate your buying- but not owning- those 50-60 movies (or maybe they were all 1-time rentals?). If they were rentals, Apple appreciates you probably paying much more to rent <BD quality movies than what it would have cost to rent BD. If they were purchases, Apple appreciates you paying probably as much- if not more- than BD prices to own a proprietary format only playable on Apple-branded hardware and/or through Apple-branded software.

If you're happy with all that, good for you. However, others feel differently about stuff like that.

I airplay movies all the time

You just need more friends with Apple TVs

 

[guibeurt]

I am one that want the bluray. For some content distribution, we have to do it on dvd. It is a more private than putting it on the web somewhere. This is a big factor when you have things that you do not want everyone to see. I create some dvd for my wife class, she is a teacher, and we distribute the result on dvd/bluray. The parent are so happy to have this. But they do not want to have this content that could be see on the web by everyone. Anyway, the price of the DVD is less than the cost of the bandwidth that it needs to see it with the same quality on the web. And the presentation is a lot better. On the web, one day or another, the content get available and you are responsible. So, no Apple, I really like your product, but for the IMac, there is no reason not to include that right in the screen. This is not a portable device. Really bad decision. I won't go with that iMac without a decent burner. You kind of lost me on that model. Really not attractive.

 

[robanga]

And have a dangling ugly box attached to a super thin apple junk. It is time for me to switch back to Linux. Yes I know Linux still sucks, but it does suck less than an Apple going rotten.

Show us a link to elegant Linux universe you speak of. The one without wires and with super thin computers with no Dongles .

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But what really drove me to give up blu rays was one thing. Why is it after I have legally purchased the movie they want to shower me with almost 5 minutes of FBI, piracy warnings and what not? I purchased the disc, I shouldn't have the see FBI and piracy warnings. After waiting for forever for that to finish then what happens? Movie trailers that can not be skipped. You have to actually fast forward because it won't let you skip past them easily.

Most blu rays also don't remember where you last left off, which makes you have to go through the whole process again just to get to the menu. Which sucks if you are watching a TV box set.

It's so much easier with AppleTv. Click play, it goes straight to the movie to watch. No FBI warnings, no nonsense. Love it!

For data I just use a thumb drive or a HD. Easy easy stuff. Yes, blu ray has awesome quality, but I just prefer the quick convenience of an iTunes copy. If the next Mac I purchased had a blu ray drive in it, I honestly would never use it. Of course, everyone's needs are different and for the few who do want blu rays it would be nice if apple did add at least software for it. But I don't think most people would really care if they did or not.

Agreed. The movie industries think their customer's are criminals. I love that don't you?

 

[miran68]

BluRay is great...on TV

I own a lot of BluRays and concur with everyone who evangelizes for their quality. I will download/stream from iTunes from time to time (the quality has gotten better), and it's especially convenient for movies I care less about (like a number of Hollywood blockbusters) to just rent from iTunes and stream via Apple TV.

But I do love BluRays for video content I care to watch more than once, or that happen to have a lot of supplementary content.

With that said, BluRay video quality is really outstanding on large TVs and mostly wasted on a laptop screen or even a 27 inch iMac. I watch my share of video content on a 30 inch monitor connected to an Mac Pro, but it's mostly streamed sports content from ESPN and Fox and some other sites. I have never wished I could watch a BluRay movie on a monitor sitting in my office chair, or on a laptop in a hotel room.

I would like BluRay to be better supported via software in OS X so that external players can be used, but really, all this bellyaching over the lack of BluRay on a Mac is over the top. I assume (as some posters have implied) that this is about piracy. In which case, I'm not sympathetic to the whining at all.

 

[JamonBull]

Don't care if Apple don't make blu-ray drives. Clearly the optical drives should be external. The issue is that they don't allow native playback of blu-ray movies in OSX which pisses me off to no end. iTunes does not have the quality, subtitle options and special features that blu-ray copies of films often have and until they can match that in a widespread fashion, I will continue to be vexed as to why they don't just allow playback on their operating system.

In the meantime MacGo have an awesome blu-ray playback app that ACTUALLY works flawlessly. Been watching Star Trek Next Gen Season One on blu on my air recently and its been working perfectly. Highly recommend getting it. http://www.macblurayplayer.com

 

[Dreamail]

A bit of a narrow world view...

What annoys me a bit about Phil Shiller's attitude towards Blu-Ray is that his opinion is squarely focussed on the US of A only.
Sure US movies are offered on many digital download or streaming services by now so perhaps Blu-Ray is not needed for Hollywood movies.

But the world is much larger than just the US of A.

Try buying or renting a Europan HD movie?
Or how about some Japanese anime?

Where are the iTunes offerings for those?!?
Zilch, nada, nothing...
Sooo, that means Blu-Ray is your only choice here Mr. Shiller...

 

[vanzantapple]

People don't ask because they know that the answer is NO.

Blu-ray is much better than iTunes, there is no doubt there. Priced about the same. But there are so many restrictions with BD.

 

[Glideslope]

Phil...

Absolutely correct. As usual.

 

[eyehop]

I haven't used a DVD player in 8 years. Stream baby stream.

 

[Breckenridge]

lol

I do only media and everyone one of my customers hands me an external hard drive or thumb drive to copy the movie files and or pictures to.

Optical media is on its way out. Keep using it as long as you need but don't expect Apple to embrace a dying format

----------


I airplay movies all the time

You just need more friends with Apple TVs

If you have ever bought or sold a property, most likely the title company will give you a physical cd with your closing documents and that is the law, at least for now. I actually used flash drives in the past but it became very costly when 80% of them never made it back. Tech savvy people can deal with change, nevertheless, when dealing with every age category God created, popping a DVD slide show or video of a property in telluride, co by someone living in the Virgin Islands is just plain simple.

 

[iSayuSay]

I can still see the iMac's bulging back, Phil .. It's not really THAT thin. Stop trying too hard

 

[2IS]

If you have ever bought or sold a property, most likely the title company will give you a physical cd with your closing documents and that is the law, at least for now. I actually used flash drives in the past but it became very costly when 80% of them never made it back. Tech savvy people can deal with change, nevertheless, when dealing with every age category God created, popping a DVD slide show or video of a property in telluride, co by someone living in the Virgin Islands is just plain simple.

Yeah, well that's also one of the few remaining industries that still use legal paper too... The fact that this is one of the better examples you can come up with is proof enough it's a dying format.

 

[Evan_11]

Apple can ****** themselves. The main reason they ditched optical was to make everything smaller, thinner, lighter. That and they don't like paying royalties and they want you to buy everything from iTunes. That's it. The hard facts. Anyone arguing otherwise is an idiot.

 

[vwnut13]

"Blu-Rays are too expensive"

I just did some comparisons between iTunes and Walmart.com


The Cabin in the Woods

iTunes - $14.99 SD / $19.99 720p HD
Walmart - $14.99 DVD + Digital / $19.96 Blu-Ray + Digital

(Digital is choice between iTunes and Ultraviolet)


Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2

iTunes - 9.99 SD / $17.99 720p HD
Walmart - $16.98 Blu-Ray + DVD + Ultraviolet Digital


The Dark Knight Returns Part 1

iTunes - $14.99 SD / $19.99 720p HD
Walmart - $19.96 Blu-Ray + DVD + Ultraviolet Digital



Paranormal Activity 3

iTunes - $9.99 SD / $14.99 720p HD
Walmart - $10.00 Blu-Ray (Rated and Unrated) + DVD (unrated) + iTunes Download + Ultraviolet

 

[haruhiko]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Apple customers are no longer asking for Blu-ray drives in their Macs these days, according to Apple marketing head Phil Schiller. This is perhaps unsurprising given Apple's trend toward removing optical drives from its notebook and now desktop lines, but may regardless cause some consternation among Blu-ray fans.

A MacRumors post from June 2010 in which Steve Jobs told a reader that it appeared Blu-ray would be beaten by downloadable formats garnered more comments for a news post than any other in our history, and we still hear from tipsters asking when Apple will finally include a Blu-ray player in its Macs.

Image​

According to an interview Phil Schiller did with Time's Harry McCracken, native Blu-ray support will likely never come to the Mac.
External Blu-ray drives are available currently via USB 2/3 and eventually via Thunderbolt but, given the overwhelming trend towards downloaded media, these are certainly niche products.

Article Link: Phil Schiller Claims Customers Aren't Asking for Built-In Blu-Ray Anymore

I got a free Samsung bluray player as a welcome gift of my credit card, but I have never used it.... Heck the bluray disks are too expensive. But so do iTunes movies......

 

[Davy.Shalom]

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.

Most of the time the movies I want aren't available on streaming, so I use the netflix delivery service to send me Blu Rays. That would be the only reason to have a drive. It'd be nice to have one in a desktop environment, and it would be even nicer to have Apple at least support it in the external Superdrive. However, that's not going to happen...

 

[Reikochan]

"Blu-Rays are too expensive"

Paranormal Activity 3

iTunes - $9.99 SD / $74.99 720p HD
Walmart - $10.00 Blu-Ray (Rated and Unrated) + DVD (unrated) + iTunes Download + Ultraviolet

xD I hope thats a typo, otherwise I would have to ask what movie is that? Cause it can't be the one I saw for that price!

 

[Davy.Shalom]

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.

A thumb drive is still physical media..hahaha.

 

[Breckenridge]

Image

I can still see the iMac's bulging back, Phil .. It's not really THAT thin. Stop trying too hard

I love all the shots. The angles used are deceptive, nevertheless, I think it is about time for Apple's engineers to figure out a way to give Phil thinner edges and somehow keep the fat belly.

 

[2IS]

Apple can ****** themselves. The main reason they ditched optical was to make everything smaller, thinner, lighter. That and they don't like paying royalties and they want you to buy everything from iTunes. That's it. The hard facts. Anyone arguing otherwise is an idiot.

Absolutely correct, but that's a lot of reasons as far as Apple is concerned. Here's another cold hard fact... Until people stop buying their products, Apple is going to continue to do what Apple wants to do.

 

[jontech]

"Blu-Rays are too expensive"

I just did some comparisons between iTunes and Walmart.com


The Cabin in the Woods

iTunes - $14.99 SD / $19.99 720p HD
Walmart - $14.99 DVD + Digital / $19.96 Blu-Ray + Digital

(Digital is choice between iTunes and Ultraviolet)


Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2

iTunes - 9.99 SD / $17.99 720p HD
Walmart - $16.98 Blu-Ray + DVD + Ultraviolet Digital


The Dark Knight Returns Part 1

iTunes - $14.99 SD / $19.99 720p HD
Walmart - $19.96 Blu-Ray + DVD + Ultraviolet Digital



Paranormal Activity 3

iTunes - $9.99 SD / $74.99 720p HD
Walmart - $10.00 Blu-Ray (Rated and Unrated) + DVD (unrated) + iTunes Download + Ultraviolet

I will gladly pay double to not shop at Wal Mart

I consider that a value