[JZ]

Don't get me wrong I think DVD is still alive too, I was just saying that appears Apple is looking to phase DVD out, so maybe they are not to interested in HD DVD or Blu Ray.

But Installing new software with no optical drive would suck if you had download the latest OS X untill we get much faster internet.

I prefer Blu Ray but if they ever get TV Shows and HD Movies on iTunes in Australia then Apple TV and no more (or at-least fewer) DVD's would be an option for me.

[Ken Gracey]

Yeah i hear you, Jamie...But based on apples past performance, i think blu-ray will still sadly be a while off, they are never that fast.

[Remy]

Well, HD DVD's officially dead. Toshiba announced they were ceasing production of all new players by the end of March, and the day after, Universal and Paramount said they were going Blu. This is great, because now Apple can be sure that Blu-ray won. Although, with Steve Jobs' speech that there is virtually no need for discs and announcing HD movie downloads - you can never tell. Can't wait to see that Blu-ray Mac now!!

P.S. Toshiba said they had no intentions of becoming a member of the Blu-ray Disc association.

[mac rant]

I had a play with a MacBook Air this week. I don't know what was wrong, but both the machines I used were very sluggish... to the point of unusable. That's not the general impression in the media, so I believe there must have been something badly set up. Maybe it was looking for a wireless disk or something. The eeePC on the next table was snappy to the point of being scary. (I went from, looking at the interface to having a skype call up and running in 10 seconds.)


From that first look at the Air though, it's hard not to think of the Air like the  TV, an extension of the iPod family! It's not your primary machine, but one that you dump stuff onto and take with you. It's a bit unfair to call it an iPod, just because it has an iPod hard drive, because the CPU is an entirely different beast. It's a full Mac. But in the short hands on, felt like an iPod with a full screen and keyboard attached.

POINT IS (you knew I'd get there, or maybe you didn't) - operating from a disk over the wireless network isn't going to be a viable option. Yes you can load data on & off, but you can't play a blu-ray movie that way. The Air won't even play a DVD that way! It's very much copy on/off, not a working situation.

Maccast quoted TV HD movie data rate at 4MB/sec, compared to blu-ray's 40MB/sec. These are entirely different animals. HD over the net is an interesting concept, but as Alex Lindsay so neatly put it on TWiT this week, it's HD, but not HD quality. Yes, it's 1920x1080, but it's too compressed to look like the real thing.

And nobody has hard drive space for hundreds of HD movies (at 20GB or more each), much less back the stuff up!

So, BD is a necessity for Macs. Unfortunately, Apple seems to wait until they're >$50 before putting optical drives in their machines. I'm going to be cynical and say it's so they have their 'usual' margin to work with. BUT, since blank discs are still in the $30 (W) - $70 (RW) price range, it's not really feasible for 'everyone' to be making BD movies from their iMovies... just yet... but it would be nice for it to be possible, for those that REALLY want to do it. And you'd really have to WANT to, at those prices.

HOWEVER... there remains the possibility of putting short moives on standard DVD in AVCHD format that will play in a BD player. Short movies are exactly what iMovie '08 was made for and I'm hopping mad that Apple hasn't made that option available before now! Especially since there's enough players out there now to have decided the format war.

Toast will get you 50GB on a single disc for a backup, but only Win**ws will let joe-public make a BD to play in a BD player. And there are -no words- for how mad that makes me!

[Remy]

Yes, you're right. TV is great with HD, but it's no Blu-ray (or even HD DVD). The bit rate mentioned by mac rant proves that. The resolution for TV is 720p, compared to Blu-ray's 1080p. Really, it's in between DVD and Blu-ray. That doesn't mean it won't be popular though. They're only USD4.99, they're easy to download, and much like Foxtel Box Office, you don't have to leave your living room. However, there are only 81 movies on TV, compared to more than 400 on Blu-ray, and now that they've got all the studios (Sony, Disney, Fox, Warner, Universal, Paramount, Lionsgate, Weinstein), that number will increase rapidly. I just can't wait to get Apollo 13 on Blu-ray...

Thanks to all so far for replying!

[Ken Gracey]

Remy the biggest difference between apple T.V and foxtel box office, is the speed to which the movies down load. I cant imagine sitting waiting for a 2 hour movie to download from the Net, when i can select it on my Foxtel I.Q, and have it ready to play instantly, and also still be able to watch it for 24 for $5.95.

[Remy]

That's true, TLCAUS. Absolutely correct. Whenever I get a movie on my Foxtel IQ I don't wait either because it comes through the satellite. And I can record it before it self destructs in a couple of days. In terms of the bit rate and resolution though, it's very similar.

Thanks for your insight.

[mac rant]

About region coding for Blu-ray Discs. It seems that it's not strongly supported by the studios.

bluray.liesinc.net

is testing US releases (which work out at least AU$10-15 cheaper than Australian releases) and it seems many, but not all, are what they call 'region free'.

This probably explains my test results (Australian BD players play US BDs without complaint). Check their listing if you're considering sourcing other than local.

EzyDVD have 3 for the price of 2 specials in their 'bricks and mortar' shops at the moment... which brings them closer to US prices.

I agree that Region coding is a bit of a deal-breaker. Hopefully, as with DVD players, over time, multi-region BD players will become the norm. Until then, hang on to your upscaling DVD player if you have R1 DVDs.

[Remy]

Here's the idea:

Sony - used to be region-free, now region-coded

Fox - strong on region-coding

Disney - kind of a mix really, half and half

Warner - always region-free

Paramount - was and will be region-free (also see Universal)

Universal - probably region free because it'll follow HD DVD's policy

P.S. Alot of the movies released here are region-free except Fox. Fox only releases movies on Blu-ray (not that they'd support HD DVD) because of extra copy protection called 'BD+'. The three movies I own (all purchased in Aus), Spiderman 3 is all-region (Sony), Fifth Element is all-region (Sony), Die Hard 4.0 is region B (Fox). And also, is that really true about EzyDVD - because if it is, I'm down there before the end of the minute.

P.S.S. Happy birthday Steve Jobs - 53 today. 

[Ken Gracey]

My sources tell me to expect new Macbooks on Wednesday, will they have blue ray drives , i doubt it. But we can all live in hope.

TL

[Remy]

No Blu-ray Macs this week in the update. Let's just hope they're soon. Here's how I think they'll do it: Mac Pro (June-ish), MacBook Pro (October-ish), MacBook & iMac (January 2009), MacBook Air (June-ish 2009) (as an external USB drive). A little prediction.

EzyDVD has reduced its HD DVD titles, some to as little as $4.92, JB Hi Fi has removed them off shelves and marketing players as "super charged DVD". The Xbox 360 HD DVD Drive is only USD49. About half of the Amazon Blu-ray Paramount titles are back in stock, and they've listed Blades of Glory again - although still as "Currently Unavailable". Dreamworks says they'd like to release Bee Movie on Blu-ray (March release), and Universal's HD DVD plans are "in flux", according to Reuters.

Anyway, that's the update. Thanks for all the replies so far!

P.S. iPhone/iPod touch SDK is 6th March 2008. Looking forward to it. Finally I'll be able to use up some of that 16GB!!

[Some Random Bloke]

The Xbox 360 HD DVD Drive is only USD49.

Isn't there something perversely satisfying about that?

[mickdevlin]

Here's how I think they'll do it: Mac Pro (June-ish), MacBook Pro (October-ish), MacBook & iMac (January 2009), MacBook Air (June-ish 2009) (as an external USB drive). A little prediction.

AppleInsider has a rumour that MacBooks and MacBook Pros will be updated in June.

[Ken Gracey]

my sources are saying new iMacs on wednesday, watch this space

[golfer]

my sources are saying new iMacs on wednesday, watch this space

new imacs?

[Ken Gracey]

apples history has been to update the iMac ever 180 to 210 days the last imac update was 205 days ago, so I am backing my sources to be spot on the money

[mac rant]

I have a mate waiting on a new iMac 24" - to see what they offer. It appears Intel's high chip turn-over rate is driving Apple to update their line quicker. We shall see, but that's as it should be. This doesn't bring great speed improvements, but it will sell more Macs, once people see that Apple is prepared to 'keep up'.

Maybe we'll get NVidia video cards. That would be a significant improvement. Make the model line-up more consistent

I'd dearly love them to have BD combos or burners, but I don't think Apple's there yet.

Just as importantly - there's no software that can make a BD player compatible disc (DVD or BD), to make video output viable. 25GB or 50GB for backups would be nice (what Toast does now, with an external drive).

[mickdevlin]

I'd suggest that future posts on hardware be posted to the Hrdware forum. After all, Macworld SF is practically ancient history now!

[Ken Gracey]

Good point Mick, But i guess the only problem now is this Forum has grown and grown and grown to the point where it has taken on a life of its own now.


TL

[Ken Gracey]

Good point Mick, But i guess the only problem now is this Forum has grown and grown and grown to the point where it has taken on a life of its own now.


TL