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

Apple's Obsession with Thinness

I don't know about blueray but I do know I will miss the optical drive.
I guess I can pay extra and buy an external one. I think it is as bit premature to be omitting the drive.

I don't understand Apple's obsession with thinness. Of course the new iMac is beautiful but once I've put it on my desk, I'm looking at it from the front, not the side. I would far prefer to have it a little thicker, have an opitical drive, the SD slot on the side or back rather than on the back, and yes maybe make it easier to repair or upgrade.

Have a 2010 27" now, will buy a 2011 and keep it as long as I can.


As for the iPhone, I never thought the 4S was to heavy or to thick, never heard that complaint from anybody.
But I have heard lots of complaints about battery life.

Wow, what a selling point it would be if Apple could say....you can go three days on a charge.
 
OldSchoolMacGuy said:
I'd agree. Physical media is dead. While a couple people in this thread may have a need for a DVD burner or Blu-ray, they make up a very very small percentage of users. A percentage so small that it doesn't make sense to burden everyone else with the added cost of having a DVD drive in the new Macs when most will never use it. Let those that really need them buy externals while the vast majority of us have no need for it or the added cost/weight/thickness/lessened battery life/etc.
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Thanks for your OPINION.
I heard CD's are dead..... :D
 
I can't help but think that a Mac mini with a built in blu ray drive would sell like hotcakes.
 
Download a 50 GB movie from iTunes? Yeah Right !

Oooh look at that diamond edges chamfers, look at how thin it is, look at how the screen pops of the glass. All for what? To watch substandard content on the so called beautiful machine? What is the point of all this beauty of a machine if you restrict the beautiful content to be played on it? Do all customers have Apple stores in their homes so they can showcase the iMacs? or Do you want them to use it to its fullest?

Not drinking that koolaid, Apple. You will never match the quality of a Blu-Ray, Period!

You want to support that technology or not is okay. But don't B****** us with freaking iTunes as a replacement.

I don't think I have ever bought/rented a movie in iTunes and I never will.

When there is Netflix/Hulu/Voodo/Cinema Now/Amazon which is much cheaper.

If Apple is talking about convenience, then there you go there are so many other providers out there and the rentals and the prices are way cheaper.

Sayonara iTunes !
 
Steppanwolf said:
I wonder if Schiller was referring to the fact that the laptop I purchased just this year with its own included Blu-Ray drive wouldn't actually play a Blu-Ray movie without first purchasing an additional $100 program. You would think that by 2012, any computer with the drive included would already have the proper codecs already installed, but I guess the powers that be must have said "nope, not good enough."

I haven't rented another Blu-Ray disc since (I downloaded a trial version of a player to get me by for that rental) and most of my show-watching is done via Hulu or Netflix anyways.

I can see folks who have purchased expensive large-screen displays (60"+) wanting the clarity and crispness that comes from a Blu-Ray disc, but I couldn't justify the extra money for displays 26" or smaller. I know, there's a huge gap in there, but honestly, we're talking computers here.

If the gripe is the lack of a backup option, you can get an external hard drive with 2 terabytes of space and up for way less than the equivalent cost of Blu-Ray discs.
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Actually, 1080p looks better on sub 27 inch screens. 60" screens stretch it out too much. Bluray offers the best quality at 1080p on a smaller screen, where as on a huge screen it offers quality that you need because it already looks so bad.
 
mac pro then?

the mac pro is the last mac to have any optical drive. trending would suggest no optical drive for the 2013 model, yet i can't help but feel that would be a bit odd for a tower or model like the mac pro. if they do continue to offer optical drives for it, i would hope they at least throw in some bluray support- not soley for media consumption, but for media creation as well
 
apolloa said:
You forgot to add ssslllooooowwwwww storage as well, I mean why shouldn't you use the cheapest storage component money can buy based on speeds from 5 years ago and put it in a very premium priced product?
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Fair point.

I'd simply ask that Apple don't tell people they don't need storage when they really do. I use my MBP as my sole computer - and I have everything on it, with a physical backup. Since I travel, I need everything on one machine - and that's where the rMBP fails for me.

Also, Apple could easily use 7200 RPM drives, which while obviously not as fast as SSD, are noticeably faster than the 5400 RPM drives Apple use.
 
krravi said:
Download a 50 GB movie from iTunes? Yeah Right !

Not drinking that koolaid, Apple. You will never match the quality of a Blu-Ray, Period!

You want to support that technology or not is okay. But don't B****** us with freaking iTunes as a replacement.

Not buying it, never will. I don't think I have ever bought/rented a movie in iTunes and I never will. When there is Netflix/Hulu/Voodo/Cinema Now/Amazon which is much cheaper.

If Apple is talking about convenience, then there you go there are so many other providers out there and the rentals and the prices are way cheaper.

Sayonara iTunes !
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Of course Schiller isn't telling the truth. There may be Average Joes (the ones he's referring to as "users") not knwoing the difference between the IQ/AQ of iTunes Store and (well-mastered) BD discs. Audio/videophiles do and will always prefer BD discs.
 
Consumers never asked for Blu-Ray to begin with. They still buy DVD when they buy physical media as well. The greed behind Blu-Ray doomed it from the beginning. BD movies were tipping $30-40 when they first came out and still are way overpriced. I would buy BD's if they were reasonably priced, but the higher quality over downloading is simply not worth the extra money. Sony won the battle a few years back but they were doomed to lose the war from the beginning. I still remember people saying the Xbox 360 was dead without Blu-Ray capability. Oh how times change.
 
GuitarDTO said:
Consumers never asked for Blu-Ray to begin with.
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The Mac forum here is full of posts asking for / demanding BD drives instead of DVD ones, posted in the last 5 years.

GuitarDTO said:
The greed behind Blu-Ray doomed it from the beginning. BD movies were tipping $30-40 when they first came out and still are way overpriced.
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Not true. Check out the Amazon prices - $15 / BD disc on average, not much higher than those of DVD's and, generally, the same as the same movie in the iTunes Store.
 
i dont need a blu ray drive in my mac but i sure as hell need one for my tv.

i dont buy any movies online cuz ...

HD converted file = 19,99€
BD + DVD + Digital Copy + Bonus Features + different Languages + better picture and sound = 12,99€ - 14,99€ (yes new releases)

and dont get me even started on renting .... 5€ to rent a movie in HD my ass
 
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Apple only pushes for the best quality when it suits them. Blu-ray is the highest quality consumer medium for video delivery. iTunes suits Apple more for obvious reasons.

UltraViolet's increasingly taking care of the ability to watch video on smaller devices not able to hold a BD drive.

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."
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Issues such as Apple taking a much, much smaller cut from Blu-ray sales.
 
danielwsmithee said:
I don't understand why people spend so much money on DVD players for their cars. We have 3 small kids, 4 on the way. So it was something we seriously wanted, but when they wanted $3000 for the option on our new Van. I said I can buy an iPad for every seat in the van for that price.

We ended up with a single iPad on a removable mount between the two front seats. Audio is streamed via bluetooth to car. All for a whole lot less then the DVD option on the car.

I know aftermarket kits are a lot less expensive, but for the price, an iPad and mount couldn't be beet.
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I think with the VW Routan it was a standard thing. not an option. At least on the mid-line model which is the one we liked best (well top of the line was best but more money)

With many BR purchases it comes with DVD and Digital copy, which is awesome to allow others to watch on a multitude of places.

I could watch BR on big TV and let kids take DVD in the car, to grandparents, friends house, car, etc. the iTunes version cannot be taken along as easily. Yes, it can be on a device and airplayed. understood.
 
I prefer bluray as broadband speeds arent up to par in the majority of the country to support a fast 1080P movie download. I prefer physical media I can load up onto itunes when it comes to something with a file size the size of a bluray dvd
 
marsmissions said:
Actually, 1080p looks better on sub 27 inch screens. 60" screens stretch it out too much. Bluray offers the best quality at 1080p on a smaller screen, where as on a huge screen it offers quality that you need because it already looks so bad.
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720/180 - all relatively meaningless to this discussion. Bitrate is what is important.

GuitarDTO said:
Consumers never asked for Blu-Ray to begin with. They still buy DVD when they buy physical media as well. The greed behind Blu-Ray doomed it from the beginning. BD movies were tipping $30-40 when they first came out and still are way overpriced. I would buy BD's if they were reasonably priced, but the higher quality over downloading is simply not worth the extra money. Sony won the battle a few years back but they were doomed to lose the war from the beginning. I still remember people saying the Xbox 360 was dead without Blu-Ray capability. Oh how times change.
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Then explain how blu-ray sales are up so far this year by 12.5 percent?

Most blu-ray titles are the same (sometimes less) than iTunes. You can get most new blu-rays anywhere form 19.99 - 24.99 when released.

2008 called and wants your CC# back.
 
Millionaire2K said:
This being a MAC forum I understand the high number of people who claim it’s old and outdated and iTunes is the "wave of the future". Your MACS not having a BR built in wont help things either.

Well if you open up to a world outside Apple you will notice that BluRay is VERY popular and sales number show this.

http://www.the-numbers.com/weekly-bluray-sales-chart
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Of course the world outside Apple uses BD because it 1,) is (comparatively) cheap 2, delivers definitely better quality / more subs / more and better audio tracks than Apple's overpriced and low-bitrate videos.
 
marsmissions said:
I don't even buy movies anymore :\

They're too expensive, I usually just rent them from my Apple TV, it's good enough quality and much more convenient.
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Keyword "good enough". Nothing like a good religion to make you think the world is good enough. (not a personal attack)
 
If you are not concerned with the movies then it looks like he is right. My son doesn't watch movies on his iMac. My wife however does watch and download movies unto her 4 year old MBP. I use my blu-ray player in my desktop PC occasionally but got the burner to backup photos and large files as a secondary to HDD storage.

My next purchase was going to be a MBP for myself. Now that the drive is out of the picture and likely for got my purchase decision has gotten a bit more complicated. If I want to copy anything(photos from 12 years ago of my son for example) from my backups DVD, CD or Blu-rays I will have to go through a complicated two step transfer process that will take more time than it is worth. Or buy another snap on superdrive. I won't be able to make use of my blu-ray collection. A collection that has superior sound and video quality to anything I have ever downloaded or especially stream.

So if anyone in apple is reading this, I would like to add my voice of discontent for the avoidance of the blu-ray. An external thunderbolt cabled blu-ray player/burner would be a workable compromise IMO.
 
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bankshot said:
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:
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No, he's actually not talking about the DRM issue. (And Apple isn't being hypocritical about DRM on movies vs. music. They're against both, but until they can be licensed without DRM, they're choosing to provide them to us *with* DRM.)

He's talking about the mess of OS-level internal requirements for Blu-Ray playing systems (including computers). An example of this mess is the nature of how the *OS* (not Blu-Ray player application) is required to deal with video streams (whether they are from a Blu-Ray source or not). If it is to be sent across a link which is *not* DRM protected (HDCP), it must be downgraded to *below* 800x600. The OS must monitor the video and audio drivers, and maintain 'tilt bits' used to indicate to the system that it believes the security of the video driver has been compromised. The Blu-Ray licensing agreement contains a bunch of requirements which are *wholly unrelated* to the ability to actually *play* a Blu-Ray video.

So, if you have a nice DVI display (such as a Cinema Display) capable of showing 1080p (or better) video, but the *display* doesn't support HDCP (most didn't until they started including HDMI connections, and often then only supported it over the HDMI port), you'll get to watch your Blu-Ray or non-Blu-Ray HD movie at a whopping 800x600 or less. :eek:

Remember the early mess on Windows Vista, regarding video driver instability? That was the 'breaking in' period of those changes to Windows.

The Blu-Ray standard is a good standard. The *license requirements* turn it into a "bag of hurt".
 
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