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No Blu-ray on Macs... and no one cares

Danny Gorog at APC Magazine has written a really nice analysis of something that's rather strange when you think about it -- why aren't there any high definition DVD drives on Macs yet? It has been asked for by a few folks, but by and large, Apple has pretty much ignored the whole high definition debate. And even now, when we supposedly have a winner in Blu-ray, Apple hasn't pulled the trigger, and consumers, as Gorog notes, haven't even really cared much.

In fact, across the entire PC market there's not a lot of wholehearted support for Blu-ray or any major high definition formats. It's not that DVDs are "good enough" -- HDTVs are selling by the truckloads -- it's more that consumers, apparently, just don't want to settle on another format. And that may be the key to this whole thing -- Apple has a vested interest in selling content, and implementing some other content producer's format into their machines will take away from their best HD content channel yet: iTunes.

And customers, happy to not have to buy yet another permanent format of their favorite movies, may be satisfied with having no next-generation disc format. I, like many users, have already watched tons of HD video without ever having bought a Blu-ray disc. If Apple doesn't need the drives to deliver the same quality content, why should they bother?

Danny Gorog at APC Magazine has written a really nice analysis of something that's rather strange when you think about it -- why aren't...
 

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Robert

If you've only experienced High Def via Apple TV. Then you have not experienced High Def. Blu-ray is the only medium to get 1080p, besides a pc.

October 21 2008 at 3:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
brianinpb

1900x1080 is not what iTunes offer. You need a drive & a HD display to see what BluRay is all about. True HD !

October 05 2008 at 11:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jon

One thing no-one's mentioned yet is that Kevin Rose (founder of Digg) made several predictions about Apple's iPod lineup that turned out to be true. At the same time, he also predicted that 10.5.6 would feature Blu-ray support. Hopefully he's right.

October 03 2008 at 3:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
rdas7

"Apple has pretty much ignored the whole high definition debate"

I assume you are being sarcastic. What about the fact that they've moved their entire hardware lineup to widescreen HD displays, market HD content on the iTunes Store, and make this little thing called an AppleTV which can download and playback HD content?

October 03 2008 at 1:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
colouroflight

Blu-ray will become more mainstream when the cost of blank media and burners drops.

Why spend $30 on a movie if you can't make a backup?

October 03 2008 at 1:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
A1

The stupidest article i have ever read on TUAW.

You guys should be ashamed, technology is supposed to move forward not backwards. Yeah lets have some bit starved 480p movies with shit audio.

Have you guys even watched a Blu-ray film with lossless audio?

Obviously not after reading this article.

October 03 2008 at 12:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joseph

Im no audiophile, but isn't vinyl better audio quality than 8-track or Cassette Tape?

I think given that question, a lot of people don't care about better quality. they care that a cassette tape is easier to take w/, better w/ bumps in the road. etc...

Many people in my community have SUVs w/ DVD players built in, TVs and DVD players in most rooms of their house. It not unusual to be on the freeway and see a 15" LCD w/ sponge bob or halo 3 through someones window.

I personally am tired of having 4 books of DVDs. Trying to navigate through 1000 dvd's to find what I want. I want to use spotlight or even alphabetically search by name in a folder.

Why is the Wii murdering the 360 in sales? Picture quality isn't better. Not everything comes down to picture quality.

October 03 2008 at 12:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Galley

It sucks that I have this magnificent 1920 x 1200 screen on my iMac, and no way to watch BDs on it.

October 03 2008 at 11:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Galley's comment
lane

Download a HD movie from iTunes, and watch away!!!

October 03 2008 at 3:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
geekmorgan

Aaron:
The 17" MBP is available with a 1080 capable display.

October 03 2008 at 9:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Andrew

It's a joke that Apple says anything about HD (iMovie HD, etc) when they don't do anything to support it. At a minimum, support burning to 3rd party players. I don't need them to include one but if I edit a movie in iMovie HD I should be able to burn a true HD movie. Ridiculous.

October 03 2008 at 9:25 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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