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Steve Jobs Suggests Blu-ray Not Coming to Mac Anytime Soon

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Disappointing.

Although... the fact he's responding on the issue probably means he's getting lots of feedback asking about Blu-ray, despite him trying to use his RDF to make people think that Blu-ray is some niche product that no-one has heard of. He must be worried that the explosion of world-wide ubiquitous super-fast internet connections he bafflingly assumed would happen by now hasn't materialised yet.

"Must have hit it pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh, kid?"

Blu-ray IS a success and WILL be around for many years to come. If Apple doesn't want to be part of that I think it's a shame, but if Jobs thinks his denial of reality will convince everyone on video quality I think he's wrong. People bought compressed music en masse because they didn't have the sound systems to notice the difference - if you have a big TV or any recent computer display, I think people will notice the difference between heavily compressed 720p video and much more lightly compressed 1080p video.
 
BR players are cheap and good. You hook them up to your home theater and get glorious surround sound and view them on a big screen.

The universal remote turns the unit on, the cable/sat box off, etc and you just watch and listen.

It just works and is really the ultimate way to watch a movie at home. Very nice indeed. Picking up a disk on the way home really isn't hard and sometimes is entertaining.

Jobs, I think, doesn't get out enough and really doesn't know how lousy the average person's connection is, how terrible the reception really is. Still, in time there will be bandwidth for all! And Job's vision will prove correct.
 
Blu-ray doesn't make sense for a mobile devices company. Sort of like a tire company making phones. Cheap inexpensive PCs can fill this void for people that need it. I do wish I can download 1080p Blu-ray quality video or at least stream it just as easy as 720p.
 
MikhailT said:
Have you even look at the % of Apple's revenue from iTunes? They barely make less than $200 million from it. The primary reason for iTunes is to push hardware sales. Jobs care much more about hardware sales than he does about iTunes sales. Small Apple TV sales is nothing compared to large sales from laptops/desktops. If Steve cares about AppleTV, he couldn't call it a "hobby" device.
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It's all about iTunes. It's got incredible value. He doesn't want to see anyone bite into that. You loose iTunes, you loose iPod's, iPhone's, etc. All the hardware you are talking about.

You're right that it's ultimately hardware, but my main point was that he doesn't want to loose money and control.
 
Steve is a bag of hurt!

OK, I'll admit it, I'm a bit of videophile/audiophile! I do encode anything other than Pop at 256k or above and I really do notice the the 3 times stepped on mpeg-4 whether it's from Directv or iTunes! You say 720 or 1080p and feel good saying your buzz words, and I say uh well, at what bit rate? You see with single layer BR at 25GB and double layer at 50GB and the future, well you get it. Just now, for those that don't live in Palo Alto with fiber and a G5, size does matter! And ..., what you're calling HD from iTunes is a ruse by any other name. Just look at that file size! Don't believe it? just come on over and before the Cabernet kicks in, I WILL make you a believer, or is that seeer? I WANT QUALITY real Steve Jobs! Just put the BR decoding in OSX and I am happy to buy an external burner/drive. But . . ., tell me I can eat anything as long as it's Taco Bell, well then I AM MAD AS HELL!!! MAD AS HELL MAX!
 
I love Apple products. They fill my house, my business. Making iPhone apps is what I do for a living.

But you people who think Steve is nearly always right blow my mind.

This is the FACT:

If Steve REALLY cared about technology and it's uses TODAY he would put a Blu-ray in his Macs now.

But he doesn't. He's a control freak. And it's starting to suck for consumers.
 
Butts M Biggilo said:
I dont think Bluray is taking off. Its stagnant isnt it?
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Actually, Blu-ray is finally taking off. The release of Avatar really kick-started sales. DVD and Blu-ray versions combined, Avatar sold 3.2 million copies the very first day of release. It was a new record for both formats. But the amazing part: 1.2 million of those copies were Blu-ray! That's 37%. Considering how much longer DVD players have been in homes, that's a HUGE figure.

Almost 40% of the people buying Avatar bought the Blu-ray version! Hardly what I'd call stagnation.

Mark
 
MisterK said:
We may not always agree, but we can choose not to buy what he's selling. I'd hate for others to dictate how I ran my business.
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That would be great if there was another computer running OSX that had Blu-ray as an option...
 
ethana said:
It's all about iTunes. It's got incredible value. He doesn't want to see anyone bite into that. You loose iTunes, you loose iPod's, iPhone's, etc. All the hardware you are talking about.

You're right that it's ultimately hardware, but my main point was that he doesn't want to loose money and control.
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It's "lose," not "loose," but I digress...

I own both an iPhone/iPod and a Blu-ray player. Having one does not mean the other has to die. Steve Jobs is just being selfish.
 
carlgo said:
Picking up a disk on the way home really isn't hard and sometimes is entertaining.
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Don't even have to do that. Netflix. Best 18 dollars I spend each month.

Jobs, I think, doesn't get out enough and really doesn't know how lousy the average person's connection is, how terrible the reception really is. Still, in time there will be bandwidth for all! And Job's vision will prove correct.
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Even with a great connection, it's not the best experience. I have an 18mbps, uncapped connection and tried out the Xbox 360's 1080p streaming for a movie that wasn't yet available on Blu. With a fast enough connection, like what I have, the movie starts instantly, you don't have to wait for half of it to download, which is nice. And it had 5 channel audio, another plus. The picture quality was good, but you could still see compression artifacts that wouldn't be there on Blu. I don't know what the bitrate of the movie was (obviously, under 18mbps if I was streaming it, I know that much), but Blu-Rays are around 20mbps, give or take, depending on the type of scene (fast movement scenes will have higher bitrates, slow moving scenes will have lower bitrates), so you know some picture data is being lost there.
 
Some really great replies on this thread. Just want to chime in with my thoughts.

I was totally against the idea of Blu-ray. I wanted everything in digital form and went through the trouble of ripping my entire DVD collection onto an external drive. But the truth is after watching a Blu-ray, and then watching an HD movie via my cable provider, there really is a big difference picture quality wise. I know a lot of people familiar with Blu-ray share my feelings on this one.

Now as for owning physical media, I also share the sentiment that my physical media disc days are over. HOWEVER, I do rent Blu-ray's from Blockbuster and watch my new releases that way. I wouldn't have it any other way. And while I absolutely envision the day when we can stream/download HD movies, we really are not there yet. And I'm not talking HD cable quality, I mean what I get to enjoy via Blu-ray picture wise.

So for now I'm still in a way a slave to the disc. My ripped movies are SD but I still enjoy them. Especially when traveling. But when it comes to new releases and now more and more reissues on Blu-ray, well, the disc still wins out for now. So with that established I think Apple really kinda ****ed over the consumer by not including a Blu-ray drive on the newly refreshed Mac Mini. And there really was only one reason for it, so as not to take a bite out of their iTunes sales/rentals. And while that is definitely smart thinking/business on Steve's end, it also leaves me, a big Mac user, with a bad taste in my mouth.

I'll keep renting Blu-ray new releases until equal quality becomes available streaming/downloading for home consumption. But I certainly don't ever expect Apple to jump on the Blu-ray train.
 
MisterK said:
I can rip the DVDs I already have. I honestly think that Blu-Rays are more LaserDisc than DVD. The quality is awesome on Blu-Ray, but I'm already hearing about SuperHD TVs being worked on (expect them this holiday). Microsoft is already working on 3D TVs without glasses.. amazing.. I know...

I'm not just saying all this because I'm blind to any wrongs Apple does.. The PC is a far better Media Centre. I've tried Plex and XBMC and a few others on the Mac and Windows Media Centre is BY FAR the better living room device. If you're looking for a high end Media PC that does Blu-Ray you're FAR FAR better off with a PC with WMC and a Blu-Ray drive. The OS is a better experience for that distance; far smoother; more options.

My contention is that the Mac is a better computer and for a non-living room device, I'm totally down with downloads. The convenience and price beats Blu-Ray so much so that I don't have my PS3 hooked up anymore.

When Apple makes a real living room device (besides the Apple TV) I'll get it a little more for them to consider Blu-Ray, but I totally think that Blu-Ray will be selling less in a year or two. It's on the way out. Something better will replace it QUICKLY. This does not have the shelf life of DVD.
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And yet BD sales continue to increase and download sales are abysmal. Also audio download sales are falling http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i015c08bd6f66cc49307cb5fcab50d82b . Remember this is a business and hollywood is in it to make money plain and simple.
 
Pojo458 said:
Blu Ray is a waste, the movies cost more and a player on a mac would drive apple computers and labtop prices up by at least $100
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lol like macs arent seriously overpriced to begin with? A mac pro costs $2500 and 24" cinema display is $800. I'm sure a $100 extra for a BD drive isnt a big deal to someone that can pay the apple tax.
 
cmfilms said:
I'm a wedding videographer that edits and authors on a Mac. I'd like Steve Jobs to tell my brides that the future of their wedding video is in downloads.

They are requesting BD, and I'll give it to them one way or another. :mad:
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In fairness, you can author BD on a Mac right now. I do it every day. You just can't watch what you've created on the Mac. Yes, it's absurd. But I did want to make that clarification.
 
Pojo458 said:
Blu Ray is a waste, the movies cost more and a player on a mac would drive apple computers and labtop prices up by at least $100
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Apple could make it a build-to-order OPTION. Just as they once did with SuperDrives. Standalone Blu-ray players are now selling for less than $100 and those companies are making a profit at that price point. Apple's cost would probably be less than $30 per unit, including licensing fees. Apple could sell it as an option for $100 and make plenty of profit.

Mark
 
ethana said:
The problem I have with Steve in this case is that he's guiding is principles with money rather than what is best for the consumer over the next 5 years.

Right now and for the next 5 years, Blu-ray is the way to go for the highest quality movie experience.

The only reason Steve wants no part of that is purely financial reasons to maintain control of iTunes downloads.

If he truly cared about technology, a Blu-ray player would have been in his Macs last year.

Ethan
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This is the new direction of Apple.

The ironic thing is that by the time SJ leaves, the company will be eroded and will blame the problems on the new CEO, leaving Steve to be the "savior" everyone thinks he is. It's not hard to see the giant shift the company has already taken and Steve's at the wheel...
 
Hmmmm....

Well I'd love to have blu-ray on my Mac Pro.
Downloading 720p movies that don't have DTS or even 5.1 surround is not going to cut it for me at all! I can tell the difference between the bluray and the downloaded iTunes crap on my 42" tv and I like all the extras and the beautiful layout of the BR. It blows smoke rings around even DVD.
Bbesides downloading a 1080p movie can run up to 25+gb. now Comcast has a monthly spelled cap at least last I heard of 200 gb max. Or they cut you off. No overage charges at all they deny you service for 6 months. So all in all Steve Jobs is a moron regarding this issue.
However he will be right cause everyone is pu**ywhipped.
the least he could do is make it an option. But the iKing has spoken.
Let the play iTunes.
:mad: :mad: :mad:
 
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