OT: Apple and Blu-Ray

Action Jackson · Post by **Action Jackson** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 4:57 pm

Why is it that Apple still don't provide Blu-Ray drives as an option for their new Macs? Many PC manufacturers have it available, at least Sony (Duh!), even as a rewritable Blu-Ray drive, but it's not available for Macs. I thought they were one of the most innovative companies and "on the edge", so to say, but they still offer only DVD drives as their only option. Can anyone explain this to me?

rbmonosylabik · Post by **rbmonosylabik** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:44 pm

Probably because they prefer betting on their own digital movie distribution scheme via iTunes for the time being.

If anything, I think they're waiting for something really big to happen in the physical media world that would allow them to get rid of the optical disk drive altogether.

arkoenig · Post by **arkoenig** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 10:01 pm

Action Jackson wrote:Why is it that Apple still don't provide Blu-Ray drives as an option for their new Macs? Many PC manufacturers have it available, at least Sony (Duh!), even as a rewritable Blu-Ray drive, but it's not available for Macs. I thought they were one of the most innovative companies and "on the edge", so to say, but they still offer only DVD drives as their only option. Can anyone explain this to me?

One reason might be that if you want to offer Blu-Ray, you have to have end-to-end encryption of the entire signal chain, including the bits traveling from your computer to the monitor. That end-to-end encryption facility has to be closely integrated with the operating-system kernel, and is one of the main motivations behind Windows Vista. Apple may well have decided that all the reengineering -- and probably loss of functionality -- isn't worth it.

husker · Post by **husker** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 12:32 am

If that were true then you wouldn't be able to watch blu-ray on a Windows XP pc - which you can...

and if Apples answer is that need to download 50GB from iTunes for a HD movies then good luck to them

forge · Post by **forge** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 12:56 am

I wonder if it's a quality control issue

I say this because just recently I've been reminded just how shitty DVDs are as a medium

I have VHS video cassettes that are 20 years old that still play, but a fucking piece of crap DVD that has just come out will skip like a bastard - I've had far more problems with DVDs than I ever had with VHS

again, the media giants making more cash trying to tout a new medium that is supposedly better but in reality isn't

arkoenig · Post by **arkoenig** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:02 am

husker wrote:If that were true then you wouldn't be able to watch blu-ray on a Windows XP pc - which you can...

You're right -- it's not so much the operating system that's the issue as the hardware. Look here: Irrespective of your operating system, your graphics card, driver, and monitor have to support content encryption. I misspoke when I said that that required specific operating-system support, though I do think that Vista has a bunch of DRM stuff in it that XP does not.

So the underlying issue is still the same: You need low-level support for encrypted content, and either Apple has that support or they don't.

Damon_Chambers · Post by **Damon_Chambers** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:27 pm

ive been wondering this myself. since br won the "war" a few months back i thought since apple pledged their loyalty to br a good while back they would start offering the drives in their computers fairly quickly.

i would love a br drive for my macbook.

ubermnd · Post by **ubermnd** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:05 pm

Roxio Toast gives you a codec to enable Blue Ray discs on your Mac... Not sure if its just for burning your own discs or whether it lets you watch them as well.

Never tried it tbh.

jonny72 · Post by **jonny72** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 6:35 pm

husker wrote:If that were true then you wouldn't be able to watch blu-ray on a Windows XP pc - which you can...

and if Apples answer is that need to download 50GB from iTunes for a HD movies then good luck to them

My understanding was that the entire signal chain has to be protected by / support the Blu-Ray security system and if it doesn't then you can't get HD quality, it will still play at a lower quality.

Apple would have to build in support though - to the graphics cards, drivers, displays etc. All of which will be a lot of work and hastle, add on the cost of Blu-Ray drives and it could push prices up noticeably. Plus its not really in Apple's interests at the moment as it would detract from iTunes and Apple TV.

Having said all that, I could really do with a Blu-Ray writer for backups.

inmazevo · Post by **inmazevo** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:10 pm

Steve Jobs effectively said, in a Key Note presentation earlier this year (or late last year, I can't remember) that DVD in general was sort of legacy.
It was something along the lines of "for those of you who are still doing DVD."

I took that to include all "solid" media, optical storage solutions, frankly, including the high def versions.

They're into iTunes, video sales, and iTV type stuff... digital media, with digital delivery and playback systems. That's what they make money on, and in many cases (as with compressed audio) the portability of the solution means that's what most people will buy anyway.

I doubt Apple will ever have a direct BluRay drive and support available from them.
They're busy dumbing down video the same way compressed audio dumped that down, and most people don't really care.

- zevo

OT: Apple and Blu-Ray

OT: Apple and Blu-Ray

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