USB 3.0 and Faster FireWire in Next Mac Pro, iMac?

[doctor-don]

Do you mean to play on your computer? I agree...I have owned computers since 1983 and I have never, ever, watched a single movie on any of them...and I've had a 24" monitor for 6 years now. If you are asking to play them on a home theater system, BD will be around for at least another decade...streaming video over the net/cable system still stinks. Internet streaming will not be mainstream for at least another 15 years...too many hurdles to mention in this thread.




Because hard drives are not permanent storage...dvd and BD are. I have 200GB worth of mp3s...If I had 50GB BD discs I could store them all on 4 discs and they could be placed anywhere for storage. DVD format would force me to use about 30 dvds. And again, hard drives are lovely but not permanent (I want and need permanent for my backups).

Streaming over the internet will be a reality much sooner than that. On my Mac I was just watching a movie that I could have watched on my large-screen TV just as easily.

Until we have the capability of reading AND writing to those large-capacity BDs, we are stuck with saving our photos AND music to DL-DVDs, but that requires so many more of them.

Hard drives are not permanent (i.e., 100 year survivability). This is why I am hoping the price of SSDs will drop. These should last many years so that the kids and grandkids will be able to have the photos to see how backwards we were back then. Writing to SSDs won't be the hassle it is to write to a disc, either. It will be quicker, and it won't have to be sequential, possibly getting to the end and finding that it had a problem and none of the data is retrievable.

But you also can't be sure if those 4 dics will last a year or more until you actually wait and see.

Is there some reason they won't last ?

 

[toke lahti]

I still have 6.4 GB WD HDD from 1999 (not to mention 512 MB IBM HDD from the time Jesus walked the earth) , can't say the same about CD or DVD discs. No matter how you turn it HDD is better for backups and faster and cheaper.

I still have cd's from 80's (way older than 512 MB IBM HDD from the time Jesus walked the earth) , can't say the same about hdd's. No matter how you turn it optical media is better for backups and faster and cheaper.
Ask National Archive if you don't believe.

 

[toke lahti]

You'd be lucky if 20 % of the world even heard of it.

There are more bd-players/drives than macs.
So if bd is irrelevant, macs are even more.
QED

 

[PeterQVenkman]

Wow, with all of this iDevice press, I forgot apple still made computers.

So did Apple.

 

[kingtj]

Depends on your viewpoint ....

Before you bash Steve Jobs for this comment any further, let's be realistic here. The entire standard for DVDs has been a HUGE "bag of hurt" for the consumer from a usage rights standpoint and Blu-Ray simply compounded that problem -- when they had the opportunity to change/fix it instead!

For starters, it's ludicrous that you, the consumer, aren't even legally allowed to PLAY a given movie without using equipment that was made by somebody who paid off the movie studios for an "unlock key" to allow it to happen. Every time you buy a new DVD player or commercial operating system with the ability to play a commercial DVD, you just paid a royalty to the movie industry as part of that purchase!

Don't you think that once you buy a movie on DVD or Blu-Ray, it should be given to you in a usable format -- not encrypted and only viewable if you comply with their terms and conditions?

When you start using free operating systems like Linux or BSD, the issue becomes crystal clear. Users of those OS's can't legally watch a commercial movie on them, period! People get around that all the time by downloading "plug ins" that add the functionality back in, but those use illegal software that is generally served from file servers not even located in the USA. So a Linux user is forced to violate federal copyright law every time he/she wants to watch a DVD or Blu-Ray disc he/she paid for!

Steve Jobs has successfully hypnotized you, my minion.

Blu-Ray is here to stay. As usual, Mac users are out of predominant technologies, probably for years to come. Pathetic.

I guess Steve Jobs would say "Just don't use it that way".

 

[ericinboston]

But thumb drives can last an awfully long time

I'd prefer to see really reliable mini thumb drives, capable of holding a ton of data than a binder full of DVDs...

1)Thumb drives still have the same pitfalls as hard drives (water, magnets)

2)dvds hold 4-8GB...although I would LOVE to have an inexpensive 64GB thumb drive, it's a little off in the future...so if you were backing up 200GB you'd have to figure that out with the thumb drives of your choice.


Again, everyone uses media differently...and even different reasons/scenarios for "backups". I mainly backup my 200GB of mp3s...and the other thing I backup is an "image" of my Windows C drive (about 30GB).

-Eric

 

[Nicky G]

Yay! Yet again a new FireWire port that is incompatible with everything!

I want Apple to bring back FireWire 400: Digital medium format cameras, pro camcorders and tape decks all use 400. Having to use an expensive adapter for everything is a pain, and finding out that your entire university is filled with macs but you can't download the pictures from the medium format camera because you forgot your freaking adapter at home makes me really angry!

They are several dollars, as are cables that have the different connectors on each end. That's a trade most people are willing to make, for twice the speed for devices that support FW800.

 

[scoobydoo99]

no blu-ray, no sale.

how can someone justify getting a 27 inch top of the line iMac and not able to legitimately buy and watch 1080P movies??

pretty easily: Blu-Ray is dead. No one wants physical media anymore.

 

[doctor-don]

Just because you post on a forum, doesn't suddenly make BluRay more successful, or give it a place in the future.

Sorry, but reality hurts sometimes.

When I want to buy a movie, I will buy it on BD if it is not too expensive. The viewing experience is so much better in BD, especially on a TV that has 1080p capability.

Now Comcast has shot itself in the foot by eliminating HD except for viewers who PAY monthly for their HD reception. I wonder how many other Comcast / cable customers are contemplating their options.

 

[toke lahti]

I can buy 4x1 TB hard drives to backup 1 TB of media (just an example). What are the chances of all hard drives breaking at the same time? Yep, slim to none and it's cheaper too. I can also upload to a cloud storage if i'm paranoid about it.

So every time you get 20 more bd-movies, you buy 4x 1TB external hard drives and rip the bd-movies to them?
How easy and convenient...

Optical is even more complicated.

One piece of plastic with no moving parts. What's so complicated in that?

Are you really saying, that macs should have external bd, so that you can rip your bd's with it to your WD, but macs shouldn't have internal bd? Why?

Is this "macs shouldn't have internal bd as BTO, since I don't need it" opinion, because mac fans need to have all the time best mac available, so they wold have to waste their money to bd as BTO even if they don't need or use it?

 

[2005CTS]

What?

The iPhone can not serve as a mobile hotspot...where as the Palm Pre and many Android phones can. This is a feature sorely missing on the iP4.

 

[2005CTS]

pretty easily: Blu-Ray is dead. No one wants physical media anymore.

Ok...sure. And blu-ray sales keep climbing every year since introduction.

 

[toke lahti]

Blu-Ray is not here to stay. Another person said it will be around for another decade. I doubt it will be around in 5 years now. The average user (aka the majority) are able to get great quality via streaming and OnDemand.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/10500229/
This is what industry is estimating:
(of course you know better...)

 

[Stella]

pretty easily: Blu-Ray is dead. No one wants physical media anymore.

BS - well, at least from an AppleTV perspective.

1. A lot of people have montly bandwidth limits that would soon be eaten up by a few movies.

2. More people just don't have fast enough internet at home for reliable streaming.

3. More people have BR / DVD players that have access to streamable content ( including the hardware necessary )

AppleTV isn't the way to go , people would much rather use OnDemand from their cable / satalite ( spelling ) provider than from other sources - for the reasons given above.

 

[scoobydoo99]

Ok...sure. And blu-ray sales keep climbing every year since introduction.

Of course they do. But look at the BluRay adoption curve versus the DVD adoption curve starting in the late 90's. BluRay simply isn't attractive to the mainstream the way DVD was. Couple that with the increasing availability of digital downloads, storage capacity increases, and the benefits of leaving behind the days of storing piles and piles of physical media.....and you have a technology that is DEAD ON ARRIVAL. Will it continue to sell for a while and even gain market share? Of course. But it will NEVER reach the market penetration that DVD did. The future is digital downloads and streaming.

 

[toke lahti]

This the future: All content, always available, on every device, from room, to room, to the car, to the beach, to the couch. We're already there. It just needs some ironing.

Sadly, distributors try to sell same content every time again, to each device, place & time.
Unless the consumer has physical copy that can be used in multiple devices...

 

[2005CTS]

Of course they do. But look at the BluRay adoption curve versus the DVD adoption curve starting in the late 90's. BluRay simply isn't attractive to the mainstream the way DVD was. Couple that with the increasing availability of digital downloads, storage capacity increases, and the benefits of leaving behind the days of storing piles and piles of physical media.....and you have a technology that is DEAD ON ARRIVAL. Will it continue to sell for a while and even gain market share? Of course. But it will NEVER reach the market penetration that DVD did. The future is digital downloads and streaming.

In one sentence you say that blu-ray is Dead on Arrival. Then you go on to say that it will continue to gain market share?

Either it is DOA or will grow in market share...it cannot do both. The chart above shows that it is (as I stated) growing in market share and will continue to do so. Despite what Steve Jobs and his fanboys say.

 

[scoobydoo99]

AppleTV isn't the way to go , people would much rather use OnDemand from their cable / satalite ( spelling ) provider than from other sources - for the reasons given above.

And isn't OnDemand a form of non-physical media?

What I said was; "No one wants physical media," NOT "AppleTV is the solution"

And if your connection isn't fast enough, doesn't AppleTV just cache the data until it has enough to play the content uninterrupted? Just because people used to have dial-up connections doesn't mean we should model the future of content delivery on that lowest-common-denominator speed. Even if you have to download the entire movie instead of streaming, so what? It's faster than driving to the store for a disc, or waiting for NetFlix to deliver it. PLUS, once you have it, you have it available for INSTANT playback, ON DEMAND, with NO physical footprint (other that the few square inches that a 2TB HD takes up on your desk.)

 

[PeterQVenkman]

I can buy 4x1 TB hard drives to backup 1 TB of media (just an example). What are the chances of all hard drives breaking at the same time?

I woke up today to an earthquake. What are the chances of that on the east coast?

Yep, slim to none and it's cheaper too. I can also upload to a cloud storage if i'm paranoid about it.

You must have a better connection than I do. I was just provided with just under 500 GB of HD footage by a vendor. He had to send a giant external hard drive to get it to me. 500 GB isn't something most people toss around the cloud.

Of course they do. But look at the BluRay adoption curve versus the DVD adoption curve starting in the late 90's. BluRay simply isn't attractive to the mainstream the way DVD was.

Had you actually looked at the BluRay adoption curve, you would find it comparable or slightly ahead of DVD in the same time frame - during a recession. Whoops.

 

[2005CTS]

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/10500229/
This is what industry is estimating:
(of course you know better...)

Now now, don't confuse the discussion with facts. Steve Jobs says that blu-ray technology is not the future and as his fan boys state - it is "dead on arrival". Carry on...nothing to see here.

I think I will go home tonight and throw away all my blu-ray discs since they are a dead technology.

 

[Pbrad08]

Of course they do. But look at the BluRay adoption curve versus the DVD adoption curve starting in the late 90's. BluRay simply isn't attractive to the mainstream the way DVD was. Couple that with the increasing availability of digital downloads, storage capacity increases, and the benefits of leaving behind the days of storing piles and piles of physical media.....and you have a technology that is DEAD ON ARRIVAL. Will it continue to sell for a while and even gain market share? Of course. But it will NEVER reach the market penetration that DVD did. The future is digital downloads and streaming.

Which neither will be as well-received as DVD until the US gets its act together, upgrades the national communication infrastructure, and mandates broadband to all legal residents.

A.K.A: Until the US becomes like Finland.

 

[kiljoy616]

Can I get an AMEN for faster FireWire?!?!

I still hold hope that Apple will shock and surprise w/ a LightPeak port on a Mac this year.. But faster FireWire makes me smile.

Amen if its really 3200, leaping everyone for a few generations. Come on Apple throw us a big ass bone its been years.

 

[CreativeOutlaw]

No, that greedy, power-hungry, power-abusing, petty, vindictive, hypocritical old miser Steve Jobs is the whole world of hurt.

With Blu-ray drives: 0% goes to Apple

Without Blu-ray drives: forced to buy 720 (!!!!) media from the infamous WalledGarden vending machine known as iTunes (nickled and dimed to death, to which El Capitano Senor Jobs says where you can and can't use it), to which Apple gets XX% receives.

Meanwhile, is old Steve-O gonna pay for my additional data usage to downloand a frickin' 720 (!!!) media? Thought not.

"Hey, I got this great movie I wanna share w/ you. Here's my Mac Pro or iMac. Just borrow it and return it when you're done w/ it. Just make sure you lift w/ your back."

Wah wahh... while I think the storage capacity of Blu-Ray discs could be cool when they come down in price, who the hell sits in their computer chair and watches multiple 2 hour movies alone on a computer monitor? The majority of people would want to watch Blu-ray movies on their 40+ inch living room TV's (where the hi-def is actually utilized) while on a comfy couch with friends or family... and that'd have to be one long-ass cable.

 

[kaisdaddy]

Nearly fell out of my chair!

I can't believe there's actually an article about the Mac Pro! Exciting stuff!

 

[2005CTS]

Which neither will be as well-received as DVD until the US gets its act together, upgrades the national communication infrastructure, and mandates broadband to all legal residents.

A.K.A: Until the US becomes like Finland.

For true audiophiles that demand HD content with lossless 7.1 audio - blu-ray will be the only reliable option for a long time. It will be a while until the internet capacity could handle that type of content streaming to all the homes in the US that currently rely on blu-ray technology.

As the graph above shows - blu-ray demand is growing...at a faster rate than the other technologies listed. And I predict it will continue to. I purchase on average 3 blu-ray titles per month and have been slowly replacing my DVD collection as titles come out on blu-ray. Once you experience the lossless audio of blu-ray - streaming video and DVD just don't compare.