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

[The Mad Kiwi]

I still find it hard to believe that people still use DVDs and Blu-ray, maybe they haven't heard of the internet.

 

[samcraig]

I still find it hard to believe that people still use DVDs and Blu-ray, maybe they haven't heard of the internet.

What an enormously ignorant statement which was obviously made by someone who hasn't even read this thread. Or the past few pages at least. Well done.

 

[wonderspark]

I still find it hard to believe that people still use DVDs and Blu-ray, maybe they haven't heard of the internet.

When you have clients that demand a Blu-Ray copy of a film or project, perhaps you'll understand.

Which powerball numbers should I pick to win the next drawing? You must know, since you live in the future. You can use that internet to look up past numbers.

 

[jdbrownwv]

Apple is out of touch with me

I must be in the minority that like a larger macbook pro (17") no updates for me. I was also waiting for BluRay built in. Unfortunately many areas in rural America do not have high-speed internet.

Apple mac used to be about hip cutting edge niche. Had advantage on desktop publishing, ease of use, smaller fully functional executables (due to a large portion of the code on firmware), etc.

I purchase my DVD/CD on physical media and scan it to my macbook and library. This more effort, but I retain the media for backup and it doesn't require hours to download, or lag during playback. I was hoping for eventually being able to do this with BluRay on a new computer, but I guess not.

If I wanted a small macbook air I would buy one, but I want a higher performance larger desktop capable, but portable computer with everything I need.

 

[AppleScruff1]

I was hoping for eventually being able to do this with BluRay on a new computer, but I guess not.

Buy a Windows based pc.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Apple mac used to be about hip cutting edge niche. Had advantage on desktop publishing, ease of use, smaller fully functional executables (due to a large portion of the code on firmware), etc.

.

Putting Blu-ray into a computer isn't "cutting edge". Advantage in desktop publishing still exists. Code was a mess with the Carbon/Cocoa transition but now is getting a lot cleaner (replaced GCC with LLVM). Created OpenCL and then moved it to the Khronos Group, now set to ship HDD/SSD tiered storage. Replaced MobileMe debacle with a far more integrated iCloud with a much larger scope.

I'd say it's a pretty hard task to say Apple hasn't been cutting edge. There's very little that I see that is missing right now. We do need a new filesystem but the reality is Blu-ray is hardly the necessity.

 

[Xiroteus]

I still find it hard to believe that people still use DVDs and Blu-ray, maybe they haven't heard of the internet.

Just in general and not about Macs and blu-ray. The internet is not going to help play my currently collection nor allow to be to do cheaply.

 

[AidenShaw]

I'd say it's a pretty hard task to say Apple hasn't been cutting edge.

BD is the cutting edge video format.

'nuf said.

 

[stubeeef]

Thread is way too long to read now, I just wanted to add my 2 cents.
Buying older refurbs-I hate the new iMac, no optical drive and the SD card reader on the back-total failure in design for my needs.
No one will care, and millions will be sold, oh well.

 

[nuckinfutz]

BD is the cutting edge video format.

'nuf said.

for consumers.

Personally I would love to see a 10-bit format.

 

[AidenShaw]

for consumers.

Personally I would love to see a 10-bit format.

I agree.

My comment, expanded, is "BD is the cutting edge format for commercial movie releases, and for consumer level HD (to over-simplify in other words, the wedding videos)".

...and I'm completely hooked on the 42-bit pictures from my Canon point-n-shoot!

 

[MacDav]

And what software is that? Is it as simple to use as a standalone player? Does it play all discs, or is every new Blu Ray release unplayable until they patch the software? Do you have to insert the disc, rip it, then play it, or can you simply insert and play commercial movies?

Most of the reviews I've read for macblurayplayer.com say that software is horrible. I have an older version of dvdfab, and that software is pretty junky and grossly overpriced; I don't trust them enough to buy their new product that supposedly plays Blu Rays.

I think you should change your screen name to Mr. Negative. Yes, I can insert a Blu-Ray disk and have it play without a problem. I only use their software to play Blu-ray disks. For all other disks I use the software in OS X or I sometimes use Toast for certain things like burning Blu-Ray disks. Is the Blu-ray software as good and foolproof as Apple software? No. It does what I need it to do...play BluRay disks. It does offer a nice feature where you can take High Def screen captures of any movie you are watching which is pretty cool. They constantly upgrade the software and have fixed many problems over the last year. As I said in another post, I don't use it that often because I'd rather watch Blu-Ray Movie's on my big screen TV. Is it the best software ever made? No. Does it do the job of playing Blu-Ray disks? Yes. MacBlurayplayer.com

 

[DangerousOnline]

When your not listening properly it's easy to say that people are not asking for things.
Case in point: I don't recall hearing anyone say that their iMac wasn't thin enough...

I hate to tell you Phil but a BD drive in the new iMac would have been the thing that got me to upgrade.

Why don't you upgrade the SuperDrive to actually be a SuperDrive by including this capability... then you can have your thin iMac and still keep your customers happy.

Also, just incase you are wondering what "Customers aren't asking for"...

​

• A way to transfer purchases from one iTunes account to another.

​

• A way to merge Apple ID accounts.

 

[MSM Hobbes]

I guess it's because I'm still using a 2008 Mac when they were still trying to make the best computers out there (although even then they were light on the graphics capabilities). But it seems the current CEO is even more obsessed with "thin" than Jobs. There is literally NO POINT to making the iMac that thin. It is completely unnecessary and serves no functional point what-so-ever. It creates space issues and cooling issues that then force them to hamper the machine by using low powered mobile parts. But what do you gain beyond some aesthetic obsession with THIN? NOTHING.

It's ironic that Apple wants to go to Retina displays since by making everything so thin, they have to limit the GPU capabilities and that then creates performance issues with that much resolution. But I gather they believe that no one uses their Apple products to do anything beyond e-mails, twitter, facebook and the occasional iTunes movie so they don't 'need' anything better.

It's a real shame because OSX was the best OS on the planet (save its support for modern graphics tech, drivers and lack of OpenGL updates) a few years ago and now it's very much a consumer phone company that also happens to make computers, kind of like when Radio Shack used to make Tandy computers. They eventually dumped their computer line, but kept selling consumer junk electronics and still do. Apple is shining bright with their iOS lines right now, but you can't ride an old horse forever and sooner or later the total lack of innovation (I have yet to see any since Jobs died, at least, just extending the 'thin' thing) combined with their former core computer tech dying on the vine in favor of constant iPhone updates will eventually lead to their fall.

It'll take several years, of course. No one believed Microsoft would ever lose the top spot, but look at them now. They're scrambling to change Windows wholesale (I'm not even sure going that far is a good idea, but at least they're daring to be different now) and its that fear of being completely obsolete that is driving it. Sadly, I think they're going a bit too far in the Apple iPad imitation field for their interface ("Options" seems to be a bad word these days; making dumbed down interfaces for the tech ignorant seems to be all the rage, leaving power users little choice but Linux to turn to if they want a traditional computer interface, but sadly Linux has no commercial software and let's face it, The Gimp will never be Photoshop.

I still plan on getting a Mac Mini because it's meant to be a server replacement for an aging PowerMac and drive my whole house audio/video system based on AppleTVs, but it's clear I'll need to build either a Hackintosh or get a separate PC or even a console if I want to play modern games because Intel 4000 isn't going to cut it. It'd be fast enough to play yesterday's games, except that Apple killed most of yesterday's games by making certain choices in OSX that lead them to no longer work in Lion and Mountain Lion. I suppose yesterday's games would work OK in Windows 7 installed on a Mac Mini, but that kind of defeats the point of buying a Mac once again. At least the virtualization software has gotten better to the point you can play some games without rebooting into pure Windows.

What this guy said… +1

 

[AidenShaw]

You're right, Phil- we're not asking for it anymore; we've given up hope. Self-fulfilling prophecy much?

Sixteen words that sum up the whole thread....

As for me, I'll stop being interested in Blu-ray as soon as there's something better. There isn't yet- certainly not iTunes.

Actually, the only thing on the reasonable horizon is BD with more layers and 1 TB or more capacity....

Not available in Apple's walled garden, or course.

 

[nuckinfutz]

What this guy said… +1

Ahhh nostalgia. Macs 4 years ago were no more on the path of computer enlightenment than today. In fact when you see a 2008 Macbook in all of it's plastic glory it's easy to be reminded about a time when Apple "didn't" use materials like aluminum or spend on better battery technology.

If Apple delivers an HFS+ replacement I'll be for the most part happy. I am not perceiving any real limitation to OS X other than just quality of software which I think continues to improve at a more rapid rate.

I swear these forums are like a magnet for burnt out Geeks that wax on about the "good ole days" and the like.

I'm happy that that next iMac is going to be 8 lbs lighter. That means a less robust articulating arm for me. It means less bulk.

The design of all of these newest Macs are all about preparing for the near future where Intel will shrink from 22nm to 14nm with Broadwell. Everything becomes more power efficient and today's designs are very forward leaning ...unless you are stuck in the past like so many on these boards find themselves.

 

[nuckinfutz]

The CPU ARE desktop parts.

Should have dawned on people when the last iMacs went 3.4Ghz Core i7 14 months ago. That's was not feasible in a laptop.

The GPU is a mobile part.

 

[tennyson24]

Haha

Lets see how good the cloud is, in middle of a hurricane. #sandy

 

[AidenShaw]

Lets see how good the cloud is, in middle of a hurricane. #sandy

Good one - LOL.

Could add earthquake, tsunami, blizzard or a number of other situations....

 

[jfanning]

I have 2 blu-ray players at home -- these were from being an early adopter. I also have about 50 blu-ray disc in my collection; which I stopped buying/using since 2007. Since I've never really quite turn on my bluray device to watch a full movie --- I once decided to watch Wall-E; and got disgusted with the force advertisement and trailers that I couldn't even skipped past. Not to mention the LONG boot time, and LONG start up time just to watch the movie. Using Wall-E again, it took me 15 minutes just to boot up, watch all the forced advertisement, just to get to the start of the movie!!

Wall-e was released in 2008, how did you manage to have these problems if you stopped using your player in 2007?

Also, assuming you are wrong about your dates, are you actually complaining that your early release blu-ray player was slow? That means one of two things, in 2007 you either had too much money and purchased a standalone player (who did that)?? or you got a PS3. Now I know for a fact you can't have a PS3, as Wall-e doesn't take 15 minutes to load on a PS3 (or a modern blu-ray player). So to summarise, you purchased a crap player and you are trying to justify your terrible purchasing history

 

[tbrinkma]

I think Apple is making it very clear, it wants it's customers to download all their software (and back it up) via the cloud. Or more specifically Apples ****ing cloud.

Not really. They provide that as an option. Apple is simply aware the the majority of the computer-buying market treats their computers like appliances. (Or at least they try to.)

Apple has made it down-right *simple* for a normal person to end up keeping up-to-date (and historic) backups of their computer (Time Machine). It certainly wasn't the *first* backup software available, but if there was ever an easier one to set up, or one more likely to actually be *used*, that'd be news to me.

 

[tbrinkma]

And BR player sales are booming:

Image

Just thought I'd try to put that chart into perspective for you...

Apple *alone* has sold over 100 million iPads since it's introduction 2.5 years ago.

For Blu-Ray players to *match* those numbers over the 5+ years they've been available, Blu-Ray households would have to *average* better than 2 players per household. Does that sound like a 'booming' sales market? Considering that a very significant fraction of the players counted there are PS3s, of which a significant portion never touch a Blu-Ray movie disc, it gets worse from there.

If not for the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD 'war', which dragged early consumer adoption through the floor, Blu-Ray would probably have firmly established itself *before* streaming actually became *feasible* for better-than-DVD-quality movies. Unfortunately, it didn't, and it probably never will at this stage. From the perspective of the normal user, streaming video and/or digital downloads are better than DVD, and on the small screens available for much of the non-home watching (car players, portables, etc.) it's qualitatively about the same as Blu-Ray would have been.

I'm saying this as someone with a reasonably sizable Blu-Ray collection (about 35-40 titles last time I counted). I actually still have more VHS tapes than Blu-Ray discs though. There's absolutely nothing wrong with Blu-Ray from a technical perspective. It just landed on the market a bit too late, and got off to a slow start because the industry had to play petty games. (For the record, I think we'd *still* be dealing with the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD 'war' if Sony hadn't put a Blu-Ray drive in every PS3, and had it capable of playing movies right out of the box. And HD-DVD probably would have won, had MicroSoft done likewise with the XBox 360.)

 

[TheBMill]

Listen.

I switched to a Mac for Final Cut Pro a decade ago. Back then, they gave a crap about professional creative people.

Now, they don't.

The writing's on the wall. Final Cut X. No new Mac Pros. Operating systems that resemble ipads. Ignorant comments about mediums that creative professionals use (Bluray) and MOST FILM FESTIVALS ARE NOW ACCEPTING OVER HDCAM...

Apple makes $$$ off consumers, not creative professionals. It's the first time in a decade I've even for a MOMENT considered switching to a PC.

 

[smoledman]

Listen.

I switched to a Mac for Final Cut Pro a decade ago. Back then, they gave a crap about professional creative people.

Now, they don't.

The writing's on the wall. Final Cut X. No new Mac Pros. Operating systems that resemble ipads. Ignorant comments about mediums that creative professionals use (Bluray) and MOST FILM FESTIVALS ARE NOW ACCEPTING OVER HDCAM...

Apple makes $$$ off consumers, not creative professionals. It's the first time in a decade I've even for a MOMENT considered switching to a PC.

Dude, you can hook up an external Blu-Ray Drive. The current Mac Pro all tricked out is more than enough power for any professional.

 

[monkeybagel]

It just does not make sense the me that they would remove the drive from a desktop. I do understand if they want to make laptops without it, but removing it from a desktop just makes no business sense.

I don't see that anyone would purchase an iMac because of the new anorexic design that would skip over it and purchase an alternative (PC) if it retained the optical drive. On the other hand, it would invite an entire new audience to purchase it if it offered a Blu-ray drive and would spur upgrades from people with even 2011 models. Now these people that depend on discs with just wait as long as they can to upgrade.

Just as important as the "thinness" to me is clutter on my desk. I don't want an external drive sitting on my desk. Much nicer built into the machine.