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

[xbjllb]

Yeah, Steve is really concerned about all three of them.

You're officially fired as my accountant as of today.

I think there's a possibility that Jobs is holding out for decent pricing on the recently-announced BDXL format that is an extension of the current Blu-ray format but can store up to 100 GB of data per disc.

That would be nice. A jump ahead to a usable optical standard would be better than a jump ahead to the download everything world of 2025. He could redeem himself with such a move, definitely.

You don't think that Jobs is blocking Blu-ray Discs in the hope of convincing people to buy horribly over-compressed 720p content from Itunes?

Another way of looking at it is "why is the turtle-necked overlord blocking 50 GB discs that are everywhere today, when he's selling 3 GB movies?".

That was probably his original intention, but as our yammering and grousing leads to commentary in the internet media and finally, the msm about that very issue, he'll have to replan such an odious and unfriendly strategy.

 

[SactoGuy18]

One of the problems of why Apple TV hasn't taken off is the fact even 720p movie files are HUGE in size--just a two hour movie would take up around 3-4 GB of hard disk space. Unless you live in South Korea, Japan, certain parts of Europe or anywhere where you have Verizon FIOS service, you're going to tie up your broadband connection for a couple of hours just to download one movie. Also, many ISP's in the USA have imposed monthly download caps, and that is a MAJOR deterrent against downloaded movies.

I still think Jobs is holding out for decent pricing on BDXL-compatible BD-RE drives, mostly because at 100 GB capacity per disc, it makes it viable as a storage format to offload media files from the hard drive of an iMac or Mac Pro.

 

[janstett]

are you aware if the new 2009 Mac Laptops that support audio over DP will meet your requirements?

Cool, it appears that late 2009 iMacs and 2010 Macbooks & Mac Mini will.* One less barrier.

(with this adapter 8 channel audio on HDMI)

i dont mean to come off as rude here, just saying it how it is. nobody cares about quality, and by nobody, i mean the general consumer. you and i are prosumers - we want professional grade quality for consumer prices. apple doesnt provide those services anymore (unfortunately). apple is targeting this consumer market these days - we all know this. it is us prosumers that miss out

No, you are right. Keeping this axiom in mind, Apple's moves all make sense. Letting the Mac slowly wither (especially Mac Pro). No Blu-Ray. iTunes foisting < CD quality music and < Blu-Ray video.

It's a shame that Apple has become all about "good enough" instead of "better than the rest" but this spectre has been around for a while.

 

[DoFoT9]

Cool, it appears that late 2009 iMacs and 2010 Macbooks & Mac Mini will.* One less barrier.

(with this adapter 8 channel audio on HDMI)

yup makes it that tiny bit easier. im not sure on the actual decoding quality and whatnot - it's getting there.

No, you are right. Keeping this axiom in mind, Apple's moves all make sense. Letting the Mac slowly wither (especially Mac Pro). No Blu-Ray. iTunes foisting < CD quality music and < Blu-Ray video.

It's a shame that Apple has become all about "good enough" instead of "better than the rest" but this spectre has been around for a while.

i agree, very unfortunate its moving onto custom built hackintosh's or other 3rd party solutions if you want the best quality for reasonably cheap prices

 

[toke lahti]

In what sense is the PS3 a success?

It has lost a vast amount of money for Sony. The Playstation division of Sony has been consistently losing money since the introduction of the PS3.

And one of the reasons for the commercial failure was the problems that BluRay brought to the platform. It made the PS3 expensive and late to market.

I am not sure why Apple should duplicate anything that Sony does. Sony dug a deep hole, and then jumped in. It's not too smart to copy them.

New ps3's version's BOM is way less than what sony charge, so they are making profits out of it now and will do that for many years.
Of course this is pretty irrelevant since game console business makes profits from games, not from consoles.

For consumers ps3 has been success for being a long time the cheapest bd-player with best PQ and most upgradeability.
No other bd-player could be upgraded to 3D, for example.

 

[DoFoT9]

No other bd-player could be upgraded to 3D, for example.

and no other BD player could be used for complex problem solving

 

[Carniphage]

New ps3's version's BOM is way less than what sony charge, so they are making profits out of it now and will do that for many years.
Of course this is pretty irrelevant since game console business makes profits from games, not from consoles.

For consumers ps3 has been success for being a long time the cheapest bd-player with best PQ and most upgradeability.
No other bd-player could be upgraded to 3D, for example.

Sony are only now starting to make a tiny profit on the PS3. They are predicting that in five years time, the entire PS3 project might just go into profit. Might.

That's if nothing happens in the next five years.

Yes, consumers buying a PS3 got themselves a low cost BluRay player subsidized by Sony. Sony lent them the cash, hoping to make it back on games. It didn't happen. Attach rates on the PS3 were too low.

The PS3 was an unmitigated financial disaster for Sony. They took the best brand in gaming and turned it into a loss making money pit. There were two reasons for this. One was the cell processor. The other was BluRay.

C.

 

[eye]

I like Apple's stance. Discs, to me, remind me of the ultra tacky days of people having a tower of DVDs on display in their living rooms like they were bragging about how many American Pie sequels they owned.

I'm glad discs are dying. They're a waste of space. I'd rather have one box housing all of my media rather than shelves of multicolor plastic jackets making the house look like an episode of "Hoarders".

 

[Reddkryten]

like they were bragging about how many American Pie sequels they owned.

Would DVDs be more acceptable if the rack held the complete works of Tarkovsky and Bresson?

 

[PeterQVenkman]

Looks like Apple has its own issues streaming video:

http://gizmodo.com/5603089/apples-cloud+based-lala-project-delayed-due-to-video+streaming-issues

They really don't want people seeing how much more vivid and crisp a blu-ray is. They'd rather sell you another brick to seal you beyond their wall.

 

[eye]

Would DVDs be more acceptable if the rack held the complete works of Tarkovsky and Bresson?

No. They look stupid no matter what. That was in no way a negative comment about American Pie movies. Those are good, lotsa naked chicks.

 

[MorphingDragon]

The PS3 was an unmitigated financial disaster for Sony.

The 360 was a financial disaster for Microsoft. According to random 360/PS3 statistics trolls both companies are in 1.2~1.5Bil in debt from 2008.

Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, which handles the 360, experienced fourth quarter revenue drop 10% year-over-year to US$ 1.16 billion on an operating loss of US$ 1.20 billion, according to Information Week. Last year, US$ 423 million went down the drain for the group.

- Quick Jump

 

[iEdd]

The Wii was a financial disaster for both Microsoft and Sony.

 

[Carniphage]

The Wii was a financial disaster for both Microsoft and Sony.

The 360 hasn't been good for Microsoft. Although the 360 wasn't as big a disaster as the PS3 or the original xbox.

I am not convinced the Wii is the problem. Becaese it really is competing in a different market. The problem is a business model that stopped working 5 years ago.

C.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Who cares if Apple doesn't officially support Blu-Rays. Works great otherwise if booting into Windows 7. There's also a trick to stream the BD movie off the disc while in OS-X. There's an old thread on it.

 

[Reddkryten]

The problem is a business model that stopped working 5 years ago.

Not to derail the thread but what business model do you think will or should replace it? The app store model of buying games for a low price? Or were you thinking of something else?

One thing which may be linked to the decline in gaming is, people growing up. I know some people who were heavy gamers a few short years ago but now they have grown up, have jobs etc and can't devote their time to gaming anymore. Why the next generation isn't coming in to replace them, I don't know... maybe the next generation are following another trend? What's the big thing these days?

 

[Carniphage]

Not to derail the thread but what business model do you think will or should replace it? The app store model of buying games for a low price? Or were you thinking of something else?

I am certain the future is download. Creative industries need a more democratic business model.

One thing which may be linked to the decline in gaming is, people growing up. I know some people who were heavy gamers a few short years ago but now they have grown up, have jobs etc and can't devote their time to gaming anymore. Why the next generation isn't coming in to replace them, I don't know... maybe the next generation are following another trend? What's the big thing these days?

The gaming audience is spending more money than ever.
The industry has just lost the ability to make a profit.

C.

 

[toke lahti]

I am certain the future is download. Creative industries need a more democratic business model.

Download is the future, after a decade perhaps.
One iTunes to rule them all! Pretty democratic?

The gaming audience is spending more money than ever.
The industry has just lost the ability to make a profit.

Inustry's problem isn't delivery format.

Anyway, optical isn't dead, because almost all macs have optical drive. It just isn't latest generation and there's no excuse to offer it as an option.

 

[Tony Montana]

For those who say Blu-Ray is a waste of resources and money for Apple to incorporate into their Macs and who say HD is the future and that optical media is outdated, put your money were your mouth is and live without an optical drive.

I request Apple to remove all optical drives from new Macs. If Stevie and Apple are so certain that HD downloads are the future than take those god-forsaken optical drives out! Since it makes no sense having the latest storage,video, and graphics technology and making do with 15 year old DVD based optical drives on Macs.

 

[MRU]

The 360 was a financial disaster for Microsoft. According to random 360/PS3 statistics trolls both companies are in 1.2~1.5Bil in debt from 2008.

- Quick Jump

The difference being that Microsoft could afford to bare the brunt, it did not have to take out a big loan to keep the entire co-corporation afloat in 2009. Sony did. That makes any financial losses it occurs doubly painful and threatens the whole of it's Corp, not just the entertainment division.

 

[diamond.g]

For those who say Blu-Ray is a waste of resources and money for Apple to incorporate into their Macs and who say HD is the future and that optical media is outdated, put your money were your mouth is and live without an optical drive.

I request Apple to remove all optical drives from new Macs. If Stevie and Apple are so certain that HD downloads are the future than take those god-forsaken optical drives out! Since it makes no sense having the latest storage,video, and graphics technology and making do with 15 year old DVD based optical drives on Macs.

I have made that argument before. Then people complain that you wont be able to rip your music since Steve said that most music in peoples libraries isn't purchased through the iTunes Music store.

 

[Carniphage]

Inustry's problem isn't delivery format.

Nothing to do with format. It's to do with a business model.

It needs one that allows small innovative companies to start and grow alongside established well capitalized businesses.

The current console model is broken. Only a handful of developers are making a profit. It's death is inevitable.

C.

 

[barberio]

Has anything actually changed from the Steve Jobs acknowledged situation where Apple want to get BluRay movie playback in OS X, but the licensing authorities don't want to give them favourable terms? And not seeing the point in having BluRay as a shipping hardware option without movie playback?

Not even Microsoft got favourable enough rights licensing to put BluRay in, even on 'Ultimate' versions. You have to shell out an extra $100 for something like Power DVD Ultra to get a BluRay video player.

MPEGLA have the BluRay software player makers by the balls on this. They license per unit, and are more interested in the hardware player market than the software one.

We're in the same spot that the Linux guys are, and were with DVD playback. MPEGLA don't consider it in their best interests to have 'free' BluRay movie playback in any Operating System. They want it to be a premium product purchased by the end user, and ideally have them purchase a hardware player. There is no push for the small number of tiny DVD Playback software companies to sink money into more than one platform. There's *one solitary company* who tried to make a Linux DVD player, PowerDVD; and it's 32-bit only, under-developed, and will not support BluRay any time soon.

The conspiricy theories about iTunes and so on are based on this being a choice for Apple. It's not.

The licence terms for offering a free-to-end-user BluRay movie player bundled with an OS are prohibitive, not even Microsoft can do it. The few software bluray movie player companies are uninterested in multi-platform bluray development.

If Apple were to provide BluRay Movie Playback, they would be required by MPEGLA to charge you for it as a separately purchased premium value item with a ~$100 price point.

Remember how long it took to get a Bundled DVD Movie Player on a Mac? Remember when you had to buy mpeg decoding?

 

[diamond.g]

Nothing to do with format. It's to do with a business model.

It needs one that allows small innovative companies to start and grow alongside established well capitalized businesses.

The current console model is broken. Only a handful of developers are making a profit. It's death is inevitable.

C.

You think it is broken because only a handful of devs make money?

 

[xbjllb]

No. They look stupid no matter what. That was in no way a negative comment about American Pie movies. Those are good, lotsa naked chicks.

Tiny houses = Tiny minds.

I have made that argument before. Then people complain that you wont be able to rip your music since Steve said that most music in peoples libraries isn't purchased through the iTunes Music store.

Servicing thieves. Apple. Nice.