What? I'm using an internal Blu-Ray drive and burner with software that supports playing Blu-Ray disks and I also have software for burning blu-Ray disks. So what are you talking about? This is on my Mac, not in Bootcamp.
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Phil Schiller Claims Customers Aren't Asking for Built-In Blu-Ray Anymore
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What? I'm using an internal Blu-Ray drive and burner with software that supports playing Blu-Ray disks and I also have software for burning blu-Ray disks. So what are you talking about? This is on my Mac, not in Bootcamp.
If the Mac mini does not have an internal drive I would just get one of those small PCs that could run a great Home theater system. Not adding externals to what are suppose to be all in ones or streamlined devices.
In my opinion it's all about revenue! Why put an optical drive in to a device when you can gently push customers into your store to purchase poor quality media? Myself I only buy movies I want to own and as far as I can see there is nothing offering a better experience as far as soundstage and image quality! Blu Ray is for the time being the present and the future. For now... And don't even get me started with not being able to burn home movies onto HiDef media let alone be able to edit @ 50frames per second in iMovie lol cause Apple TV only supports a lower frame rate. But hey streaming is the future!???
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I don't always need an optical drive in my iMac, but there ARE times when I do; for burning purchased CD's or DVD's to iTunes, for burning music discs, burning movies I've created in iMovie (because my 82 year old gran who lives in a jungle doesn't have access to the cloud, just a DVD player under the tv!) and yes, for software or data from other macs; not to mention backing up my data for storage in MY safe, not Apples!
As such, I do not see the harm in including drives in iMacs ... Removing them is just taking functionality away for the sake of looks (look no further than moving the SD card reader to the back!!!!!) As or bluray, no, don't need it ... But if Apple had an ounce of sense it would forget about their stupid desire to make stupidly thin (hot running!!!) products and go back to the days when they WERE innovators. These days, Apple are innovators of taking needed stuff away! I say make the iMac thicker, make it bigger, put in recordable blurays and tv tuners and you'll be half way there!!!!
As such, I do not see the harm in including drives in iMacs ... Removing them is just taking functionality away for the sake of looks (look no further than moving the SD card reader to the back!!!!!) As or bluray, no, don't need it ... But if Apple had an ounce of sense it would forget about their stupid desire to make stupidly thin (hot running!!!) products and go back to the days when they WERE innovators. These days, Apple are innovators of taking needed stuff away! I say make the iMac thicker, make it bigger, put in recordable blurays and tv tuners and you'll be half way there!!!!
I've have some very early failures on most external Firewire drives I've purchased in the last few years... and it doesn't seem to matter who I buy them from. I've been burned pretty bad. And when you read up on warranty policies, some companies, like G-tech, will replace your drive but only if you send in yours... with all of your files on them. You don't get your files and you don't get your old drive back. I don't give a damn about the drive- its the files on the drive that have the value. And of course file recovery can be very very expensive. Check out customer feedback ratings on different websites for external storage hard drives- the failure rate within one year is, honestly, pretty appalling. I strongly recommend anyone considering buying an external drive to read feedback from other owners before you buy!!!
Dvd and blu ray discs are fairly easy to damage, but if all you ever do is burn them and put them in a three ring storage binder for your storage backup, they don't really get handled at all- and they don't get damaged. Every one of my earliest CD-Rs from 15 years ago are all still readable. (I don't burn CD-Rs anymore though)
I recently copied a bunch of DVDs I made in college (5 to 9 years ago), and about 5% of the files had failures. Anyone who backs up to blu-ray is hilarious; it's way more expensive than getting the equivalent storage in HDD--you can get two HDDs, redundant backups, for the same price as one blu-ray copy, plus it's a more compact form factor in the HDDs.
I don't care at all about the iMac getting thinner/lighter, but I've literally only used my DVD drive a single time in my 2009 iMac. External drives exist for the niche people that need them.
I don't care at all about the iMac getting thinner/lighter, but I've literally only used my DVD drive a single time in my 2009 iMac. External drives exist for the niche people that need them.
Blu-ray is and will remain the preferred medium for A/V enthusiast for years to come. Until streaming technology can give us >1080p and TrueHD or DTS HD-MA instantly, it will live on.
I will continue to use Macs for my computing needs but for my living room all I need from Apple is AirPlay and an iPod dock. I don't want MS or Apple to have anything to do with my home theater.
I will continue to use Macs for my computing needs but for my living room all I need from Apple is AirPlay and an iPod dock. I don't want MS or Apple to have anything to do with my home theater.
We WANT Blu-Ray drives
It's very easy to see that what Phil Schiller and Apple are doing is trying to increase sales in the iTunes Store and the App Store.
They are not trying to please customers.
People do want Blu-Ray drives.
Blu-Ray are cheap (amazon.com has 1,229 Blu-Ray movies under 10$).
Blu-Ray last forever and don't use space in our computer hard drives.
Blu-Ray have the best video and audio quality.
Blu-Ray movies have extra contents, sometimes hours and hours of extras! And they have several languages in one disc.
Why I don't like iTunes Store and App Store?
- broadband internet connection is not available everywhere. In Italy if you don't live in a big city often you have a connection of just 1 or 2 Mbps.
It's not enough for downloading an HD movie. And this is not a problem that can be solved in 1 or 2 years.
- we want extras
- we want original and dubbed voices
- App Store doesn't have Company Apple ID !!! It's not possible to buy software for a company if you don't want for pay from your personal credit card.
Apple is also unable to properly make out an invoice for a company (at least Apple Europe).
So, dear Mr. Schiller, before removing DVD and Blu Ray drives from Apple computers you shoud REALLY ask people what they want.
And perhaps, dear Mr. Schiller, you should accept NOT to be the only reseller for hardware AND software AND music AND movies for your customers.
It's very easy to see that what Phil Schiller and Apple are doing is trying to increase sales in the iTunes Store and the App Store.
They are not trying to please customers.
People do want Blu-Ray drives.
Blu-Ray are cheap (amazon.com has 1,229 Blu-Ray movies under 10$).
Blu-Ray last forever and don't use space in our computer hard drives.
Blu-Ray have the best video and audio quality.
Blu-Ray movies have extra contents, sometimes hours and hours of extras! And they have several languages in one disc.
Why I don't like iTunes Store and App Store?
- broadband internet connection is not available everywhere. In Italy if you don't live in a big city often you have a connection of just 1 or 2 Mbps.
It's not enough for downloading an HD movie. And this is not a problem that can be solved in 1 or 2 years.
- we want extras
- we want original and dubbed voices
- App Store doesn't have Company Apple ID !!! It's not possible to buy software for a company if you don't want for pay from your personal credit card.
Apple is also unable to properly make out an invoice for a company (at least Apple Europe).
So, dear Mr. Schiller, before removing DVD and Blu Ray drives from Apple computers you shoud REALLY ask people what they want.
And perhaps, dear Mr. Schiller, you should accept NOT to be the only reseller for hardware AND software AND music AND movies for your customers.
What was an inconvenience was trying to get videos I had purchased to play on my friends computer (hooked up to a TV).
What wasn't an inconvenience is taking DVDs/blurays to other peoples houses and having them play without any problem at all.
I have a "decent AVR" and a Blu ray player.
Yeah you can hear the difference if your speaker system is worth 10000 dollars or more AND your living room is as big as an average appartment.
This DTS-HD-MASTER-ULTRA-BLINGBLING is just a marketing hype.
You are not hearing it. A professional music producer CAN hear the difference when concentrating.
You just THINK you hear the difference.
"Apple still gives you a choice"
What choice is that, don't have it or whats the other one oh yes don't have it.
Choice would be to have it as on option.
Sure have an add on for a laptop but with a desk top machine it seems crazy to keep refining form only to lose basic function (in my opinion) and then to cripple a machine without BR and an internet connection is required to licence each new Blue Ray (but once licensed should not need to be done again)
And going back to Phil's statement thats just dumb no one is asking as we all ran out breath, all 3 of us as some would like you to believe.
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I'm getting really sick and tired of Apple telling me in a really patronizing manner what I do and don't need.....And even more tired of it coinciding perfectly with a service or product that Apple make money on.
What's that Phil? We don't need Blu-Ray drives because nobody wants Blu-Ray disks (that Apple makes no money on)? They want what instead? To download it from iTunes which Apple gets a cut from?
What a coincidence!
What's that Phil? We don't need Blu-Ray drives because nobody wants Blu-Ray disks (that Apple makes no money on)? They want what instead? To download it from iTunes which Apple gets a cut from?
What a coincidence!
Their tone can be a bit snotty at times, most of it just translates into what they stated. blu-ray is dated yet 5400 drives are not? Or how long it took them to not have a weak 2GB ram standard when even at that time we could get 16GB for a hundred dollars or less.
They said that about flash as well, do I have great love for flash? No, it is not about that, it is about having the ability to view whatever I want. I still want flash until no one uses it anymore. (I have an app for that wish is nice)
I like their music players and phones yet when it comes to their computers their attitude and product line may not quite fit in to what I am looking for.
Exactly what I was thinking.
I was hoping the iMac really would be the replacement for the Mac Pro with the convenience of a built in screen.
I work in music production and being able to burn discs is paramount with an interest in 5.1 surround, so, blu-ray would have been a good option.
Now, I understand an external drive is no problem but just seems like Apple are moving away from the pro and more and more mainstream. Now where is the Mac Pro update?
Perhaps people are no longer asking for it because they've come to realize Apple is obstinant and unresponsive in their quest to make everything a dumbed-down super thin iDevice fed by iTunes.
Also because of the fact that Blu-Ray playback is possible with DVDFab's Blu-Ray Player and the other one.
Or that you can rip an iTunes friendly format with something like Handbrake.
Or that you can make an ISO elsewhere like a PC and play that.
That's certainly the case for me.
Would I love Blu-Ray support? Sure. But I've given up on expecting it from Apple, in the same way I've given up expecting a mid-tower, an iPod classic with a larger hard drive, a new Apple Hi-Fi, more storage in the iPhone than 64gb, XServers, etc. So for now, there are still Windows 7 HTPCs driving my 65" Plasma and my 60" LED.
Really, the target market is the drones listening to Gundham Style on their crappy white earbuds and it's no different with their movies. ATV and iTunes downloads are just great, more gruel please.
Personally I just bought, and ripped to ISO, the entire Bond movie collection. I wonder if I can get that on iTunes? LOL.
Also because of the fact that Blu-Ray playback is possible with DVDFab's Blu-Ray Player and the other one.
Or that you can rip an iTunes friendly format with something like Handbrake.
Or that you can make an ISO elsewhere like a PC and play that.
That's certainly the case for me.
Would I love Blu-Ray support? Sure. But I've given up on expecting it from Apple, in the same way I've given up expecting a mid-tower, an iPod classic with a larger hard drive, a new Apple Hi-Fi, more storage in the iPhone than 64gb, XServers, etc. So for now, there are still Windows 7 HTPCs driving my 65" Plasma and my 60" LED.
Really, the target market is the drones listening to Gundham Style on their crappy white earbuds and it's no different with their movies. ATV and iTunes downloads are just great, more gruel please.
Personally I just bought, and ripped to ISO, the entire Bond movie collection. I wonder if I can get that on iTunes? LOL.
Sheep will believe whatever they are told. By excluding drives they increase revenue through iTunes.
usually, Apple doesn't listen to customers because every single person will want something different
one wants glossy screens, another one wants matte screens...
same goes for blu ray
finally, apple removed the superdrive because 99% of us don't use it or at least once a month or less
and the % of persons using it more regularly is so small that there is no benefit of enforcing this kind of stuff to the rest of users
most content is now digital and the quality of files (music or video) on iTunes is usually higher than most other supports
it would have been useless to adopt a technology that is expensive and is not supposed to exist more than X years
let's look back at DVD, DVD-R was competing against DVD+R
moreover, removing the drive makes the Mac become slimmer
one wants glossy screens, another one wants matte screens...
same goes for blu ray
finally, apple removed the superdrive because 99% of us don't use it or at least once a month or less
and the % of persons using it more regularly is so small that there is no benefit of enforcing this kind of stuff to the rest of users
most content is now digital and the quality of files (music or video) on iTunes is usually higher than most other supports
it would have been useless to adopt a technology that is expensive and is not supposed to exist more than X years
let's look back at DVD, DVD-R was competing against DVD+R
moreover, removing the drive makes the Mac become slimmer
Bond 50 years Blu-Ray box set: $150 at Amazon
Buy the same 22 movies on iTunes store: $330
Oh and how do I get my DRM protected iTunes movie on my Nexus 7?
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A typical urban-centric West Coast view from Schiller
A typical urban-centric West Coast view from Schiller. Fine for those who live in countries and areas which have high speed Internet but there are millions of us who do not. Streaming is not an option where my broadband in the UK is an unreliable 1.5mbps (...and that's bits not bytes), with frequent drop outs. Even low quality Youtube does not stream properly. Downloading an HD movie takes days.
Luckily the price of Blu-Ray stand alone players has come down considerably. I bought a shop soiled open box Denon BD1800 universal disc player for around £120. Other than being horribly difficult to update the firmware, this is a very fine B-R player and even is a good CD player when used with a high quality external DAC (Audiolab M-DAC).
A typical urban-centric West Coast view from Schiller. Fine for those who live in countries and areas which have high speed Internet but there are millions of us who do not. Streaming is not an option where my broadband in the UK is an unreliable 1.5mbps (...and that's bits not bytes), with frequent drop outs. Even low quality Youtube does not stream properly. Downloading an HD movie takes days.
Luckily the price of Blu-Ray stand alone players has come down considerably. I bought a shop soiled open box Denon BD1800 universal disc player for around £120. Other than being horribly difficult to update the firmware, this is a very fine B-R player and even is a good CD player when used with a high quality external DAC (Audiolab M-DAC).
I'm waiting for the 4" iMac that's only 2mm thick so I can watch Lawrence of Arabia in its full glory.
Wikipedia: Home Theater PC
All my videos and DVDs are ripped (as ISOs, so nothing is lost) to a 24TB server and I use a HTPC because it plays everything. 3D Blu-Ray, DVDs, cable TV rips, FLAC, etc etc etc.
Yeah, set-top players like Apple TV and the things that preceded it are interesting but they're always (1) slow and (2) finicky about what formats they support.
Since nobody has specifically made this point (as of page 5) not only is there the HTPC case but there is the college dorm or small apartment case, where people use their 27" iMac as their entertainment device and basically IS their TV.
I noted that as my reason, limited space for one, so I find it easier to use my laptop for everything, tv, movies, net. Keeping things simple for now.