Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Macbook Pro, MacBook
A big bag of Blu-Ray hurt for Apple
In fact, if Apple has their way, there may not be a physical media of choice for high-definition content -- Phil Schiller pointed out that iTunes has plenty of HD TV and movie options without ever tying Apple down to licensing a specific format.
Which is exactly everything we said last week. And I'm drinking the kool-aid, actually -- a while back, I was one who would have said that people need their physical media, but nowadays, I'm not so sure. I haven't bought a DVD, HD or otherwise, in months and months, and yet I've purchased and seen plenty of HD content in iTunes and over my Xbox and cable connection. Blu-Ray may have won the HD disc format wars and claimed the country, but maybe there's nobody living there any more.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
MCW said 8:39PM on 10-15-2008
"...we're waiting until things settle down and Blu-Ray takes off in the marketplace."
What the crap do you even mean by "Settle Down" Jobs? I can't help but noticing the Sunday paper's pushing Blu-ray the same as DVD now, so you're going to have to get with the times at some point. I have my movie collection going, so I don't know what you're talking about.
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Le Big Mac said 9:40AM on 10-16-2008
Maybe it's Jobs' Suz-Tzu approach: "We're waiting" means "Wait for the next version in January" and "no interest in touch screen" means "wait until the MacWorld intro of touch screen iMacs.
Gandalf said 10:32AM on 10-16-2008
HD on iTunes is great and all, but I still want 1080p for my 1080p HDTV.
iTunes won't deliver that for a while. They will eventually make it to 1080i, but by then, we might have Red-Ray … hahahahaha.
Give me 1080p content on iTunes and I'll buy an apple tv and download content, until then, I'll use my PS3 to watch awesome HD content.
Scott said 4:03PM on 10-16-2008
I thought this really dumb 1080 vs 720 thing was done and people had moved on. your like a bunch of kids that talk about horse power on cars because higher numbers are better.
The independent experts all tend to agree on this point.. 1080p is just about the least important factor in picture quality particularly if you are seated outside the physical boundaries where our human eye can no longer discern the resolution differences. This is a sliding distance scale which depends on screen size in relation to seating distance. Here's one such chart example:
http://hdguru.com/wp-content/uploads...ance_chart.pdf
Color accuracy, contrast, black levels, scaling/processing all come before resolution in importance. The smaller the panel, the less important resolution becomes UNLESS you will be using the panel as a computer monitor (where you'll often be seated within 4ft. of the display, and at a distance that close, you will much more likely notice & appreciate the difference). On a 37" panel, for example, you have to be within 5ft. to tell the difference. And that's under ideal circumstances.
Disregard any poster who suggests otherwise. They are seeing something other than the true difference between 1080p & 720p when they claim they can tell the difference even on smaller (37"-42") panels beyond 5-6ft. The difference they claim to see is likely to be in the processing of non-native signal, i.e., panels will typically display their native rate better than they can a lesser resolution which the panel then has to scale to match it's own.
Jesse said 8:47PM on 10-15-2008
Too bad broadband in the US is completely inadequate for most people to deliver the kind of HD fidelity people want. Sure, renting a few 720p movies with a 60% on rotten tomatoes is OK, but what if you want your absolute favorites in high bitrates. Not to mention, the DRM mess. Big content will no doubt want to control how and where you play their content.
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Brian said 4:26AM on 10-16-2008
Jesse you are a wise one. Having just purchased my first movie on iTunes I can safely say that it will probably be my last.
My reason, I wanted to burn it to DVD to watch in bed but as most of you will know you cannot do this. Back to Amazon or the many other companies that can deliver next day and allow me to watch my movie where I like.
Richard. said 8:51PM on 10-15-2008
what about the company making those RED cameras, the rumor is that they're working on a physical media DVD too... Apple helped them with a special codec and final cut support, etc... Maybe Apples waiting for then?
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NutMac said 9:09PM on 10-15-2008
Blu-Ray is the modern day lasersisc. Both represent movie and home theater buffs' format of choice. But sadly, not the next generation mass consumer format they once aspires to. That said, I hope Apple TV type of product would gain Blu-Ray someday. I just don't want to buy PS3 or dumb Blu-Ray player for my home theater.
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toke said 7:55AM on 10-16-2008
Very good comparison to laser disc.
The difference is that bd is also a data storage format.
And the only one after dvd.
Optical media is not going away for a decade. Then ssd memory will be in same price range. Hdd's will never be reliable enough for long term storage.
Also we need standards for distibuting content. iTunes movies play only in apple's products. Bd plays in every ce manufacturers player.
Tony said 9:19PM on 10-15-2008
Regardless of IF Blu-Ray takes off, its not going away. The PS3 uses it as its disc media. SOOO even if for some reason no one stamps ANY movies on BD and they all go to digital media, the PS3 will still need to have its games stamped on BDs.
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napdaddy said 10:07PM on 10-15-2008
Well, you better hope Blu-Ray does better than UMD. And if RED is indeed working on physical HD media it'll most likely eat Blu-Ray alive.
freefone said 9:36PM on 10-15-2008
blue ray is nothing but a poorly conceived effort by the studios to artificially inflate files sizes to inhibit online sharing. good for jobs to put the old foot down. i sure as heck can do without it, now and ever. peace out.
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MCW said 10:14PM on 10-15-2008
That a boy at simplifying it to your dumb standards. Just because you don't own an HDTV and don't understand the difference between a DVD and a Blu-ray doesn't mean it's a way for studios to stop downloads.
MANY NEW BLU-RAY RELEASES INCLUDE A DIGITAL COPY FOR FREE YOU STUPID MORON.
Galley said 9:30PM on 10-15-2008
And how long will it take Joe Sixpack to download a 50GB 1080p movie? Days? Weeks?
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ill trooper said 11:10AM on 10-16-2008
I think Joe the Plumber with all his 'series of tubes' has a better chance...
El Taco said 9:37PM on 10-15-2008
so there's no way to make an external Blu-ray drive thats compatible with OS X?
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RobK said 9:40PM on 10-15-2008
You are all forgetting what happened with the OTHER format War. There is a war still going on between Super Audio CD (SACD) and DVD Audio (DVD-A) to replace the Audio CD format for music.
First, everyone said these new audio formats would never take off until this Audio Format War was settled. (sound familiar).
Then, DUAL FORMAT Audio Player came on the market that played both SACD and DVD-A. That did not help since the price of the players was STILL TOO expensive. (Sound Familiar).
And Finally, the price of the dual format players did come down. (You can buy an OPPO DV-980H for $169 or so).
And yet it NEITHER SACD and DVD-A have taken off. (And yes, you can still buy SACD's and DVD-A's. See look at Amazon.com).
Why? CD was GOOD enough for the VAST majority of people. And people HATED the DRM on SACD and DVD-A.
I predict the same thing will happen with Blu-Ray. People will just say DVD's are good enough on my new HDTV. I do not need anything better. And if I want I can easily rip the DVD to my Mac for viewing on the airplane. It is much more difficult to rip Blu-Rays.
Blu-Ray is doomed to fail just like SACD and DVD-A.
Sony, the Movie Studios and the Record Companies do NOT get it.
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art4mad said 10:24PM on 10-15-2008
Comparing SACD and DVD-A and Blu-Ray is ridiculous. Totally different.
People generally do not gather around their stereos with family and friends and listen for hours to music for entertainment, nor do they build their living rooms around their stereos. They do this around their TVs and home theater family rooms all the time. Movies are events and the renting and watching of films and TV programs are daily occurrences in most US households.
Consumers proved with MP3s that portability and convenience trumped high fidelity by a wide margin. SACD and DVD-A offered nothing to the consumer they wanted enough to replace all their CDs with these new formats discs and players. They were doomed as niche markets from day one.
People value what they can see much more than what they can hear. 50" HDTVs are selling like hotcakes and the B&Ms. Consumers are going to want real HD content for these TVs. Upconverted DVDs are not going to fulfill that need, especially after seeing HD programming on their new TVs via cable or satellite programming.
Downloadable HD content is years ways from being fully viable in US households. Probably 10 years until mass consumers are ready and able to go disk-free with their media. BD will be the last optical media, but it will replace DVDs unless Sony and the BD folks keep dragging their feet. Pricing right now is all that is getting in the way of mass adoption, and the licensing BS that Jobs is lamenting.
Topher808 said 9:47PM on 10-15-2008
If no hardware at least just give us DVD Studio Pro Bluray Support. I'll buy a drive my self and install it in the macpro myself. We did and it worked... also I tool an old sony external dvd enclosure turned it into external bluray firewire burner.
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ill trooper said 11:10AM on 10-16-2008
Yes, this is how I feel too. It's a professional solution to authoring DVD menu systems, it supported HD-DVD, but Blu-Ray is AWOL from DVD Studio Pro. They're slipping on the pro apps - January will likely see a bunch of updates in this area... I hope.