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

[matticus008]

Steve Jobs' stance on the issue simply because he's "put his foot down" regarding DRM or because he's too greedy to let anything encroach on his beloved iTunes is just as tiring and unreasonable.

No, but that description is.

iTunes is not significantly profitable as a video store. Macs work with any alternative video streaming or download service you might want to use, whether that's Amazon or Netflix or anything else. Further, the move drives the small number of truly upset customers to purchase alternatives from third parties. None of these results in any tangible benefit to Apple. The only thing that "encroaches" on iTunes are DVDs and DVD-quality digital services, all of which work perfectly fine.

For greed to be an excuse, there has to be profit.

Blu-ray is the de-facto HD delivery system, not some "fantasy technology" as you'd like to have people believe.

What the hell are you talking about? You clearly have been participating in a different discussion than the one actually taking place.

 

[jmpage2]

Just bought the 2 disk special edition Blade runner in glorious FULL HD Blu Ray, it would be so nice to be able to watch them on my superduper 27inch more then HD iMac, but hey steve says i should watch crappy lowbitrate downloadversion of it instead. Oh wait i'm not in the US so i can't even do that,no movies for download available in the EU.

I just wish steve would come to his sences and start wanting the best on his devices and for his costumors,instead of shareholders and that damned low quality itunes store.

Stop that bag of hurt bull and get back to given your costumors the best experience they can have on there devices, please,pretty please ,steve.

2005 you said THIS THE YEAR OF HD steve, its now almost 6 years later and and i still can't watchREAL HD on the machine i bought from you.
And seeing that all other brands offer it,the bag of hurt must be pointing to your wallet if you would allow it instead of that your cotumors would agree with you and find it a bag of hurt aswell.

Please stop being a baby about this stuff,and give the quality we want movie wise on our great macs,thank you.

1. Buy external USB BD ROM ($85).

2. Install Windows 7 under Boot Camp.

3. Rip BDs to .mkv or .iso files using tools that are out there with full quality (none of that re-encoding nonsense).

4. Install Plex on your Mac.

5. Enjoy those HD movies in all their goodness.

6. Flip Jobs off (while eating popcorn preferably).

 

[cube]

1. Buy external USB BD ROM ($85).

2. Install Windows 7 under Boot Camp.

3. Rip BDs to .mkv or .iso files using tools that are out there with full quality (none of that re-encoding nonsense).

4. Install Plex on your Mac.

5. Enjoy those HD movies in all their goodness.

6. Flip Jobs off (while eating popcorn preferably).

1. Windows is not an option.

2. Mac hacks do not allow for proper playback.

 

[matticus008]

1. Windows is not an option.

Why?

 

[cube]

Why?

Learn Computer History.

 

[SDAVE]

People who dislike Blu-ray for the sole purpose of being proprietary are stupid.

Almost everything Apple does is proprietry.

Blu-ray not only offers excellent image quality, but it offers lossless or uncompressed audio. I don't care about the extra features like BDLive, but to say that Blu-ray is useless is very pompous and fanboy like.

GET OFF THE BANDWAGON.

 

[pyramis]

Apple is Jobs' world. His world, his rules, even if that means not listening to the people who choose to reside on it.

The real reason behind Jobs' stance has almost nothing to do with the perceived quality of Blu-Ray vs. stream video formats. It has also little do with convenience or instant gratification.

A streaming paradigm means you depend on Apple's servers for gratification. You are discouraged from relying on your own local resources.

Jobs makes whichever choice guarantees that Apple will retain the most control over the user experience. That was their edge when Apple was merely a personal computer manufacturer (controlling software *and* hardware) and it continues to be their guiding philosophy in the world of iTunes/iOS.

In age when computers were standalone devices, this stance really served the user's best interests in terms of stability and cohesiveness of experience. Now in an age when devices have been liberated on the open platform of the internet, this stance has become a kind of digital imperialism, plain and simple, that seeks to keep the user inside Apple's world, Apple's rules, Apple's bank account.

 

[SeaFox]

1. Buy external USB BD ROM ($85).

2. Install Windows 7 under Boot Camp.

3. Rip BDs to .mkv or .iso files using tools that are out there with full quality (none of that re-encoding nonsense).

4. Install Plex on your Mac.

5. Enjoy those HD movies in all their goodness.

6. Flip Jobs off (while eating popcorn preferably).

Um, didn't he say this is the 27" iMac? The one with a HDMI port on the back?

1. Buy stand-alone BluRay player.

2. Enjoy those HD movies in all their goodness.

3. There is no step 3. There's no step three!

 

[cube]

Um, didn't he say this is the 27" iMac? The one with a HDMI port on the back?

1. Buy stand-alone BluRay player.

2. Enjoy those HD movies in all their goodness.

3. There is no step 3. There's no step three!

Show a non-obsolete 3D player that can be made multiregion, otherwise it's complete crap.

 

[-hh]

..EDIT:By the way, does that mean that HDTV's...or even HD broadcasting...is niche?

To a certain degree, possibly yes. Afterall, it was effectively just last year that the USA finally went from Analog to DTV. To go up in resolution to HD is another step above that, and based just on marketing ads I've been noticing, that competition is still heating up.

You are right about the DVD/Blu combos. I like to think of it as a future adopter starting his collection early. But then, I'm a glass half full kinda guy.

That's pretty much how I view them as well: as a 'Future-Proofing'.

Oh god, no, I don't store that much video at home! Although I do render out uncompressed video (or openEXR stills) all the time for animation.

I was originally posting in response to ..(cite deleted) ... Of course hard drives can store tons of video, but not at blu-ray quality. That was my only point. A 2TB hard drive will hold a lot of compressed or small videos.

Ah, I see. My apologies. Yes, I agree that a HDD will hold a lot of 'normal' stuff ... and not so much BR-based HD stuff. I haven't checked into it yet, but my cursory impression is that the audio channels are now an inefficient hog.

Why on earth would you think a Blu-ray drive has no relevance to a Mac Pro??

It does, but when we take a generalized look at the entire Mac product line, everything else uses a tiny slim-line player. As such, the availability of a relatively inexpensive BR for what's IMO probably only 2-3% of Mac sales is insignificant in comparison to examining the general issue for the other ~98%.

...The licensing issue was solved not long after he made the statement....

The statement was indeed true when he made it ... and you knew that. End of Story.

The Mac is not heading in the direction it should be heading in (i.e. getting ahead and staying ahead of the Windows market)...

While I don't necessarily disagree, I can't provide a citation where an Apple Spokesman has said that this was their Official 2010 Vision Statement...can you?

And no, this isn't semantics.


-hh

 

[SeaFox]

Show a non-obsolete 3D player that can be made multiregion, otherwise it's complete crap.

If Apple added BD to Macs it wouldn't be region-free either. The drive has a region assignment just like any stand-alone player.

There are fewer BD regions than DVD regions, so this should be less of an issue anyways.

iTunes movie downloads are tied to specific iTMS accounts, based in the country it's registered to. So Apple's movies are actually MORE region locked than BDs or DVDs.

Uh, honestly you're not even responding to the topic I'm replying to. Data has a BluRay of Blade Runner and a really nice display that happens to be part of an iMac. He laments that Steve will not allow BluRay on Macs as though this makes the display useless as a playback device when he can just as easily hook up a regular BluRay player to the machine and use it.

 

[Lara F]

Yes. Apple TV says it uses component cables (RCA) and my TV has several of those inputs.

Good luck. My old Sony Trinitron circa 2002-2003 also had component inputs. Guess what, the only resolution the Apple TV worked at was 480i which looked absolutely crap.

Maybe yours will be fine (or you can live with the res) but be prepared for the possibility of a restocking fee...or new HDTV heh.

 

[cube]

If Apple added BD to Macs it wouldn't be region-free either. The drive has a region assignment just like any stand-alone player.

There are fewer BD regions than DVD regions, so this should be less of an issue anyways.

iTunes movie downloads are tied to specific iTMS accounts, based in the country it's registered to. So Apple's movies are actually MORE region locked than BDs or DVDs.

Uh, honestly you're not even responding to the topic I'm replying to. Data has a BluRay of Blade Runner and a really nice display that happens to be part of an iMac. He laments that Steve will not allow BluRay on Macs as though this makes the display useless as a playback device when he can just as easily hook up a regular BluRay player to the machine and use it.

What I'm saying is that you're suggesting that he make an unacceptable cash outlay.

Regions in computer drives are even more unacceptable, but usually a workaround eventually appears.

 

[Joz3d]

No iMac for me

I've been waiting to buy my first Apple desktop since my Mac Classic II. I've been waiting for one with a Blu-ray drive. I guess I'm not going to get one afterall.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Hurry. Seeing as they don't upgrade them anymore, you better get in soon while they are still relevant to modern computing.

(half-serious)

So the Mac Mini and 10.6.4 updates are a mass hallucination?

 

[decadentdave]

If Apple was smart they'd just put AppleTV in the Mac Mini and market it as the Mac Media.

 

[iEdd]

So the Mac Mini and 10.6.4 updates are a mass hallucination?

I'm surely not the only one who lol'd when they read your post.

You got a new Mac Mini and a minor OS update. What more do you want?!

In all seriousness though, what I think would be fair would be a Mac Pro bump (read: minor update) every time Intel make a new compatible processor. Is that really too much to ask for for a multi-thousand dollar computer? And a Blu-Ray BTO option, of course.

 

[swagi]

1. Buy external USB BD ROM ($85).

2. Install Windows 7 under Boot Camp.

3. Rip BDs to .mkv or .iso files using tools that are out there with full quality (none of that re-encoding nonsense).

4. Install Plex on your Mac.

5. Enjoy those HD movies in all their goodness.

6. Flip Jobs off (while eating popcorn preferably).

You forgot:
7. Get along with the fact, that you just circumvented copyright protection because there's no other chance.

8. So torrent anyway

 

[Lumenark]

Blue Ray is quite flash!

Blue Ray is quite flash!

Apple doesn't like things that are too flashy - a bit Adobe!

That's the signal Steve is sending - that is the one minus 2 bars

Get a handle on it - just watch out for the bottom left hand corner!

It will die on ya!

 

[MorphingDragon]

I'm surely not the only one who lol'd when they read your post.

And they can all shove it to where the sun don't shine.

You got a new Mac Mini and a minor OS update. What more do you want?!

Preferably more, but that doesn't mean I can't control my squishy emotions and stop myself spouting out unjustified drivel that is most certainly untrue.

 

[iEdd]

Preferably more, but that doesn't mean I can't control my squishy emotions and stop myself spouting out unjustified drivel that is most certainly untrue.

Well, I said half-serious. So no I don't believe the Mac is abandoned - far from it, but this Blu-Ray issue, and Mac hardware in general sometimes disappoints me a little, especially when it's something that's easy to do.

It's not because I see value in some plastic POS windows machine with 6 coloured analogue audio jacks, 16 USB ports and more blue LEDs than you can poke a stick at, but rather that there are sometimes little things with the potential to make the Mac better, which I (and pro users) would willingly pay for, but don't have the option. Enter Blu-Ray. Lack of FireWire on the 13" unibody MacBook was a good example, which was rightfully fixed for the 13" MacBook Pro.

I spose what my original point was that Macs used to be ahead of the curve in both hardware and software. Now, they are still miles ahead in design aesthetics and ahead in software/UI, but I'm just not feeling it hardware wise. See how excited Steve is about the iPhone and iPad? That is how excited he was when he first showed FireWire 400 or the very first G5 tower and THAT is the awesome Apple I love. I just wish we had a bit more of that these days, as well as the iPhone, et al.

And they can all shove it to where the sun don't shine.

Hey that's not nice, you're entitled to your opinion (which I often seem to agree with, reading some of your other posts), and others are entitled to their's.

 

[AidenShaw]

The licensing issue was solved not long after he made the statement....

The statement was indeed true when he made it ... and you knew that.

If that's the "end of the story", then why could you buy Windows computers with full BD support at the time that Jobs made the statement?

I don't think "bag of hurt" meant anything then, and it means less now. Jobs doesn't want you to have a local HD option on your Apple. His excuse will change from time to time -- but the real reason doesn't change.

 

[Luis Ortega]

Steve just doesn't care anymore and he says what he really thinks. You can argue whether he's right, but you have to respect the lack of beating around the bush.

That's a crock.
If he were actually honest, he would simply say that bluray would hurt his itunes profits and that's why he was refusing to offer it on the mac.
Anything else is a lie.

 

[KnightWRX]

That's a crock.
If he were actually honest, he would simply say that bluray would hurt his itunes profits and that's why he was refusing to offer it on the mac.
Anything else is a lie.

Except the iTunes movie store isn't a big profit generator. Probably that Blu-ray in Macs would generate more profit. But he'd have to admit he was wrong about it before he could sell it. This is something you'll never see until it's too late.

 

[MorphingDragon]

If that's the "end of the story", then why could you buy Windows computers with full BD support at the time that Jobs made the statement?

If you're talking video playback, those computers were usually bundled with a piece of software that paid the fees. I've seen PowerDVD HD bundled with a few OEM computers. (Granted I don't see a lot of OEM computers) If Apple were to adopt BD proper, they would integrate it heavily into the OS.

If you're talking about burning/authoring, I think leopard and snow leopard supports it.