Mac Adoption of Blu-ray

alra111

alra111

Registered
I was wondering if anyone here has the latest info on...

(a) Whether Mac will adopt Blu-ray exclusively

(b) When the first Macintosh computer with built-in Blu-ray drive would be available

(c) Whether Apple will release an external Blu-ray drive for existing Mac computers

Thanks,
Alra111
 
Just guessin'
a. not too likely, the drives are still way too expensive.
b. probably this spring, with the MacPro being first.
c. Only Apple would know, but LaCie has just announced a BlueRay external.
 
Five bucks says there will be some Blue-Ray vs HD-DVD announcement at the MacWorld conference keynote next week. For now, their official stance is that they are planning to support both formats, and Apple is a member of the Blu-Ray group.
 
DeltaMac said:
Just guessin'
a. not too likely, the drives are still way too expensive.
b. probably this spring, with the MacPro being first.
c. Only Apple would know, but LaCie has just announced a BlueRay external.
Click to expand...

I agree on 2 over 3, but I expect b. to be iMac first, as the iMac is the one for home use. Unless we get a surprize with the Mac mini and iTV.
 
BluRay is not merely for home use, though, chevy (consider the price as well). I'm waiting for large-capacity optical drives for backups, myself.
 
Right now, we have nothing to go on but history. History leads me to these guesses:

A. I'm already starting to hear about Blu-Ray/HD-DVD hybrid drives, so Apple might use those, but depends on the price and timing of those drives, and also on politics. Apple did not wait for DVD±RW drives; they used DVD-RW (no '+' compatibility) first, and even after they started using ± drives, they crippled them so they'd only burn '-' media. Apple is invested in Blu-Ray, so I think they'll use Blu-Ray exclusively for as long as they can possibly justify it.

B. History is mixed on this one. Apple was pretty quick to add DVD-RAMs to their pro line, but very slow to offer CD-RWs (they saw this as an either/or thing, apparently, and chose DVD-RAM). I expect them this year, first as a BTO option on Mac Pros, then standard, and then available on other models as well.

C. Well, Apple doesn't offer external DVD±RWs, so I doubt they'll offer external Blu-Ray drives. They'll probably leave that up to third parties like LaCie, who've been serving the Mac community well for many years.
 
No, he meant DVD-RAM. Apple was quick to offer DVD-RAM drives on pro machines. For a short while, that is.

Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD come very _early_ for the majority of home users/consumers as well. It's the year 2006 that, for the first time, more people have DVD players than have video recorders. You know: VHS. ;) The adoption rate of DVD might still be called "good", but it took years and years in that market. And _before_ DVD had conquered VHS, they start a new war about Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. People out there are slow - and weary. They don't easily forget. You want a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD mixed device? They'll come out _eventually_, but right now there are none. Sony (Blu-Ray) certainly has a little edge with the PS3. On the other hand Blu-Ray comes to consumers later, with less titles etc. and higher pricing (apart from the PS3). (A nice comment I've once read about how the PS3 _won't_ become the living room's Blu-Ray player: "Try tell your kid to stop playing and sod off because you want to watch 'Titanic' in HD resolution now...") ;)

Either way... I look at prices in Switzerland for the Pioneer BDR-101A Blu-Ray drive (internal) and see about 1000 USD for one. We're quite _certainly_ not there just yet. I also couldn't find pricing on media, but I doubt they're very inexpensive yet. ;)

Apple _might_ offer a BD drive as an option, though.
 
LG announced it was going to release a DVD player capable of Blueray and HDDVD shortly.

Maybe it won't be too long before a drive like this is available for computers with write capabilities.
 
Mikuro said:
Right now, we have nothing to go on but history. History leads me to these guesses:

A. I'm already starting to hear about Blu-Ray/HD-DVD hybrid drives, so Apple might use those, but depends on the price and timing of those drives, and also on politics. Apple did not wait for DVD±RW drives; they used DVD-RW (no '+' compatibility) first, and even after they started using ± drives, they crippled them so they'd only burn '-' media. Apple is invested in Blu-Ray, so I think they'll use Blu-Ray exclusively for as long as they can possibly justify it.

B. History is mixed on this one. Apple was pretty quick to add DVD-RAMs to their pro line, but very slow to offer CD-RWs (they saw this as an either/or thing, apparently, and chose DVD-RAM). I expect them this year, first as a BTO option on Mac Pros, then standard, and then available on other models as well.

C. Well, Apple doesn't offer external DVD±RWs, so I doubt they'll offer external Blu-Ray drives. They'll probably leave that up to third parties like LaCie, who've been serving the Mac community well for many years.
Click to expand...

Would you buy LaCie? I heard several accounts of their drives failing REALLY fast and once you hear that it's hard to forget.

Alra111
 
alra111 said:
Would you buy LaCie? I heard several accounts of their drives failing REALLY fast and once you hear that it's hard to forget.
Click to expand...
I would, and I have. I've had a LaCie DVD±RW for about a year, and I've never had any problems with it.

The only LaCie drives I would stay away from are the Porsche HD models. I've heard a lot of bad things about those, but generally LaCie has a good reputation.
 
i've had a laCie 80GB Porsche 3.5" for two years now, and it's going strong.

drives fail. i wouldn't necessarily blame the case-makers for this. i've had two hard drive failures within a year in an iPod 4G, but you don't hear many people slanting them on here, but statistically, from my point of view, Apple are shoddy and laCie faultless.
 
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