Will Apple support Blu-Ray?

[benthewraith]

They've already got authoring drives but it doesn't seem to matter. Reports are already suggesting that HD DVD is on its deathbed. That might not mean much, but considering the pricing it should have some public support. The trouble is that Blu Ray has bigger studio support and regardless of the price of its player, it will make headway.

Perhaps, though people forget that Intel & Microsoft are with the HDDVD crowd, along with Universal Studios. The majority of computers are being made with either AMD and Intel processors. This is good news going for the HDDVD camp. If the HDDVD camp can drive down the price to $99, $100, it will win. And with a giant software company, a major movie corporation, several hardware companies, a couple of computer companies, Toshiba has the resources to combat Sony.

 

[bousozoku]

My 2¢ : I agree that Sony will not win. Why? Because Sony is one company; Toshiba, NEC, Microsoft, Intel, etc. are all large name companies with either efficient (or semi-efficient lol) products or are in large scale with the ability to collaborate to effectively put this product(?) out in a standardize way. Standardized way, I'm meaning it'll be cheaper than the competition, more stable, faster, etc. Sony has tried and failed numerous times with their older technologies because they don't have the support to back up those technologies.

Well that's my 2¢

Of course, and these companies know nothing about consumer electronics, do they?

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is responsible for establishing format standards and promoting and further developing business opportunities for Blu-ray Disc - the next-generation optical disc for storing High Definition movies, games, photos and other digital content. The BDA has over 100 members. Its Board of Directors consists of Apple; Dell Inc.; Hewlett Packard Company; Hitachi, Ltd.; LG Electronics Inc.; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Panasonic (Matsushita Electric); Pioneer Corporation; Royal Philips Electronics; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; Sharp Corporation; Sony Corporation; TDK Corporation; Thomson; Twentieth Century Fox; and Walt Disney Pictures and Television.

Pioneer, Philips, and Sony have been responsible for the various digital media formats to date; well, those that succeeded.

 

[princealfie]

No idea but I prefer HD-DVD more than Blu_Ray...

 

[Eidorian]

Wasn't there an update to DVD player for 10.4 that gave it better HD-DVD support? I don't see either camp winning right now. It won't be apparent until the players hit below $200 and the movies are all over Wal Mart for $19.99. HD-DVD seems to have the upperhand right now in terms of price.

I'm just going to wait until someone wins. I'm sticking with my Phillips 5960.

 

[bbrosemer]

But a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD season probably won't even need multiple disks because it can fit much more data per disk. Or it will at least be less. Not every show is in HD, most would not benefit from having a much greater resolution than seen on TV, so they could put more episodes on less disks.

It is a giant jump from DVD nothing is going to compare to the jump made from VHS to DVD the pure and simple difference that is going to prevent people from moving away from regular dvd's are the price, which due to this the price of regular Dvd's should only come down which would be awesome, and hardly any TV's support true HD anyway. There also are no players on the market that support it either, I know right now that my simple RGB component in right now will be perfect for the forseeable future the picture is great and I dont care that I get a few hundred more pixels its not worth the money the human eye is becoming closer and closer to the real problem not the imagine we can not all that well distinguish the differnce as well as when we put a VHS next to a DVD.

 

[portent]

C|Net's hyperbole notwithstanding, Apple has decided to remain as neutral as possible.

Apple is committed to both emerging high definition DVD standards—Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. Apple is an active member of the DVD Forum which developed the HD DVD standard, and last month joined the Board of Directors of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

(source)

It's not just Sony or Phillips or Toshiba; both camps are being too stubborn to warrant Apple's (or anyone else's) commitment. I'd rather have BluRay's higher storage capacity, but I'll wait until one or the other is in a stable position.

 

[vv-tim]

No idea but I prefer HD-DVD more than Blu_Ray...

As a consumer... it makes a lot more sense to support Blu-Ray. It's a theoretically superior format, offering higher capacity disks than HD-DVD. If I'm looking for the next storage medium (all other things equal), I'm going for higher capacity rather than which one has a cooler name or better marketing.

And to the guy that said something about Sony going it alone against Toshiba, Intel, Microsoft, and NEC...

Uhhh... dude, you haven't been following this, have you?

First of all, it's the movie studios that are going to war, not Toshiba/Intel/Microsoft/NEC. Just because they BACK the format doesn't mean they'll have anything to do with its success.

Basically, the market will decide based on buying patterns. If Blu-Ray has a superior choice of titles from movie studios and people buy Blu-Ray players instead of HD-DVD, more and more studios will jump ship and either start making both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray titles or switch purely to Blu-Ray. Same will happen vice-versa.

 

[michaeldmartin]

At the moment, blu-ray disks are cheaper (25 vs 30) hold more, have a better (but more expensive) player, and will be in several major devices. Most major is the PS3; which will market for under 800, so desktop blu-ray drives will definitely at LEAST be obtainable at 500$. Newho, 100Gig blu-ray disks have been spotted, so it has much more potential than HD-DVD. Basically, if you compare it to VHS and BetaMax, Blu-ray would be betamax, except it also holds more than VHS. Even the porn industry (which made vhs the winner over betamax) is endorsing Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray should, by all means, win. It is a better format with better odds, but you'll just have to wait and see.

Also, 75% of the movie industry has pledged support for Blu-Ray. You tell me; who's going to win?

 

[benthewraith]

At the moment, blu-ray disks are cheaper (25 vs 30) hold more, have a better (but more expensive) player, and will be in several major devices. Most major is the PS3; which will market for under 800, so desktop blu-ray drives will definitely at LEAST be obtainable at 500$. Newho, 100Gig blu-ray disks have been spotted, so it has much more potential than HD-DVD. Basically, if you compare it to VHS and BetaMax, Blu-ray would be betamax, except it also holds more than VHS. Even the porn industry (which made vhs the winner over betamax) is endorsing Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray should, by all means, win. It is a better format with better odds, but you'll just have to wait and see.

Also, 75% of the movie industry has pledged support for Blu-Ray. You tell me; who's going to win?

The ones that get the cheaper players first. Which still look like HDDVD. Also, unlike Blu-ray, players are going to be backwards compatible.

Also, I never said that Sony was going it alone (I know they have tons of movie companies doing it).

 

[bousozoku]

Perhaps, though people forget that Intel & Microsoft are with the HDDVD crowd, along with Universal Studios. The majority of computers are being made with either AMD and Intel processors. This is good news going for the HDDVD camp. If the HDDVD camp can drive down the price to $99, $100, it will win. And with a giant software company, a major movie corporation, several hardware companies, a couple of computer companies, Toshiba has the resources to combat Sony.

One, failing studio doesn't really help. Of course, Artisan Entertainment could join the fight since they already produce Windows Media-compatible DVDs.

The ones that get the cheaper players first. Which still look like HDDVD. Also, unlike Blu-ray, players are going to be backwards compatible.

Also, I never said that Sony was going it alone (I know they have tons of movie companies doing it).

A player isn't much without pre-recorded media.

 

[JackSYi]

Apple has pledged support for the format officially, but there is no word when and how this will be done. My guess is you won't see it for a while still, there are hardly any set top players yet. As the tech prices go down, Apple will probably include them in the highest scale line and work their way down. Nobody really knows though except Steve

That makes the most sense to me. The Mac Pros will probably get them first (maybe as a BTO), then will trickle its way down until the Mac Minis (maybe).

 

[poppe]

Beta is still around and still superior. Go to any TV broadcast or editing house, and they will be using Beta for storage and broadcast.

I work at a TV Broadcast and Yes we still use beta. I wasn't talking about that.

What I was talking about was how come no one mentions the Beta vs. VHS war. I was under the impression that VHS one the consumer battle, even though Beta is better.

 

[poppe]

Truly I think we should all skip HD DVD and Blue ray and get the Hologram discs i once read about!

 

[poppe]

Holographic recording technology records data on discs in the form of laser interference fringes, enabling existing discs the same size as today's DVDs to store as much as one terabyte of data (200 times the capacity of a single layer DVD), with a transfer speed of one gigabyte per second (40 times the speed of DVD). This approach is rapidly gaining attention as a high-capacity, high-speed data storage technology for the age of broadband.

from http://www.physorg.com/news967.html

300 GB Hologram Discs by 2006 (doubtful though in my opinion), but here you go. http://www.bitburners.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=177&Itemid=2

And to even have more: http://www.inphase-technologies.com/technology/

 

[simplymark]

The ones that get the cheaper players first. Which still look like HDDVD. Also, unlike Blu-ray, players are going to be backwards compatible.

Also, I never said that Sony was going it alone (I know they have tons of movie companies doing it).

That's quite inaccurate - http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/#bluray_backwards_compatible

It seems that many of the people commenting on this issue are very ill informed. I suppose that is the case in most forums, but really folks do a little research before posting incorrect info.
Blu-ray has far far far more industry support than HD-DVD, not just the major movie studios, but most of the major media/drive manufacturers as well, and it's already been stated that APPLE HAS OFFICIALLY PLEGED SUPPORT FOR BLU-RAY. So they (Apple) have a vested interest in the formats success. I really hope Blu-ray wins out, it really is the technically superior format, but as someone said we know what happened to Betamax.

 

[steve_hill4]

One issue with Betamax that seems to be getting overlooked here is Sony's refusal to license others to manufacture the players/recorders until it was too late. They wanted to keep it in-house and reap more royalties.

With Blu-Ray, they are the main partner in what includes most of the major manufacturers of visual electronics, (video and TV related that is), a larger number of movie studios, computer manufacturers, (Dell, Apple and HP as BR has 25GB rather than 15GB per layer and has the potential of up to 8 layers, rather than 3), as well as the porn industry, a major slice of the gaming industry and has newer technologies, (TDK's protective BR surface claims to withstand even screwdrivers scratching them).

My point, it is being licensed and embraced by all sides. Every flaw of Beta, (except perhaps costs), has been ironed out this time around. BR should win and if it doesn't, something surely has gone wrong.

 

[bbrosemer]

Im still confused as to why anoyone actually wants either of these neither are going to win until the player costs < $200 and the disc with a movie on it costs about the same as a DVD until then I will not purchase either because this is just another stupid and pointless formatting war in which big biz will decide who to support and the richest 1% of america decide to put their money into so they can make more money, either way who gives a crap as long as these two get cheap and help us the consumers.

 

[Eidorian]

Im still confused as to why anoyone actually wants either of these neither are going to win until the player costs < $200 and the disc with a movie on it costs about the same as a DVD until then I will not purchase either because this is just another stupid and pointless formatting war in which big biz will decide who to support and the richest 1% of america decide to put their money into so they can make more money, either way who gives a crap as long as these two get cheap and help us the consumers.

*ahem*

I don't see either camp winning right now. It won't be apparent until the players hit below $200 and the movies are all over Wal Mart for $19.99. HD-DVD seems to have the upperhand right now in terms of price.

I'm just going to wait until someone wins. I'm sticking with my Phillips 5960.

 

[bbrosemer]

*ahem*

Well then I would have to agree..

 

[bowens]

As for Sony putting them in their computers.........I hope Toshiba and other said companies do the same. I'm kinda rooting for Sony not to win this.

Toshiba has been putting HDDVD drives in laptops for at least a few months. http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/toshibadirect.to?page=ces06_hddvd&seg=HHO&location=learn_about

 

[fiercetiger224]

The porn industry will decide on who wins.

 

[bbrosemer]

The porn industry will decide on who wins.

As sad as that may be that is probably true.

 

[aristobrat]

With the rise of P2P file sharing, I wonder how much influence porn has over physical media anymore???

 

[vv-tim]

With the rise of P2P file sharing, I wonder how much influence porn has over physical media anymore???

A lot. Strangely enough, I'm sure the possibility of high-definition porn appeals to a whole lot of people. The porn industry is surprisingly very "hip" with technology, often embracing it before mainstream. They have quite a bit of swing.

 

[Timepass]

I see blue ray winning the war in the long run. HD dvd can not competete with Blue ray in data storage. The physic of it will not allow it. I wouldnt be surpised to see some type of hybread form. Using a blue ray with HD fomating.

HD still uses a red lazer which limits puts phycal limitation on data density that can not be broken. Blue ray using a much much tigher wave lenth allows for a much much high data density and on top of that they can go to 10 layers instead of the current limition of 2 layers with the red lazer. So it more data per layer and 5 times the number of layers that = a ton more space.

That is the reason I see blue Ray winning in the long run. HD upper data limits are much much lower than Blue ray. Now I wouldnt be surpised to see the 2 make a hybrad.

Also this bring back memory of the DVD format wars a while go bettween - and +. I think there never was a winner. I still see both formates. The DVD burners dont give a hoot about it since they can burn in both formates. DVD players dont care since they can also read both formates. I really wondering what the end result is going to be of this war. It not going to be able to end as easily as + and - DVD formate. I wouldnt be surpised to see players support both but the disk format is going end some time.


Consumers do not want confusision they just want stuff that works so I would not be surpised to see the makers just support both formates in there drives. And when that happens Blue ray will replace HD just do to raw data storage capiblities