Apple Set To Back Blu-ray?

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Analyst are predicting that Apple will throw its weight behind Sony’s Blu-ray format and start shipping Macs with Blu-ray drives. If this is correct, Blu-ray will have the backing of the Mac community, which means literally hundreds of new customers for team Sony. ;)

"We believe this is a key announcement as current Macs ship with the DVD format and Sony gains a strong ally in Blu-ray," the analyst told clients. He added that Disney, for which Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is a Director, is a firm supporter of Blu-ray, while rival Microsoft Corp. has placed most of its eggs in the HD-DVD basket.
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This would be surprising. I think i'll wait till they actually act on it to comment :)
 
I don't know which is funnier....the fact that this will net Sony a dozen more Blu-ray users, or the fact that it will double the Blu-ray user base. :p :D
 
Dell's XPS ONE also went with Blu-ray as well

oh and feature -> feature the iMac is cheaper ;)
 
Of course they would have to back blu-ray. Microsoft backs HD DVD so Apple can't support them too. Otherwise they couldn't have a commerical where Apple is watching a movie in "the best HD around" while PC can only get decent HD quality with their HD DVD drive.
 
thejulex said:
Couldn't care less. Blu-Ray is doomed anyway.
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Uh-oh....

Thread-I_like_where_this_thread_is_going.jpg
 
thejulex said:
Couldn't care less. Blu-Ray is doomed anyway.
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I'm not so sure. While many feel HD-DVD is the "rightful" format, Blu-ray's momentum is still significant despite major price slashes on HD-DVD players. I don't know specifically why, but, it's still around and kicking (for some reason).

And hasn't this been previously predicted about 6.5 million years ago?
 
thejulex said:
Hundreds in addition to current hundreds will give Sony a right to claim that "BluRay gained 100% more users in 2008 alone"
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You mean like how apple is making a big deal of their marketshare going through the roof.
 
The director of Transformers said not too long ago, that Microsoft doesn't want any of the formats to win, but rather just keep the format war even and unsure until the world is mature enough to handle digital distributions of HD movies. As it is now, most people prefer to buy physical media when it comes to movies.

Doesn't sound that far-fetched to me, and the same can probably be said about Apple, with their iTunes, Apple TV and all that. They want people to buy movies thru them, and not from others.

From what I've read, it seems like HD-DVD have a lead in the US, while blu-ray got a lead in the rest of the world, correct? Personally I do hope that blu-ray does win. However, if HD-DVD won, it would be nice too, because the damn format war would be over.
 
"Hi, I'm a Mac"
"And I'm a PC"
"Hey PC, did you hear I got this cool new Blu-ray player that makes me wicked-super-cool?"
"That's nice, I can have Blu-Ray, HD-Dvd, or both."
"Ohh..."


I love having choice. :D
 
Hrm, there move doesn't make much sense if they are all about less DRM. But, nothing really surprises me in the Mac world. :p
 
Meh, it's fun looking at the sides in format/tech wars, you usually see rivals lining up against each other head-to-head (though sometimes both members of the pair will be on the same side). I guess Apple just did it to spite MS?

I have a PS3 for Blu-Ray, and if HD-DVD ends up winning later...it still plays games and my existing collection of blu-ray movies.
 
Freddo said:
From what I've read, it seems like HD-DVD have a lead in the US, while blu-ray got a lead in the rest of the world, correct?
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What you're reading is apparently wrong. HD-DVD didn't win one week of the entire last year in nielsen videoscan. Not one week.

There is also no market in the world where HD-DVD is winning.

These are facts folks.
 
Since I'll probably get flamed: feel free to google some nielsen videoscan numbers for yourselves.
 
"Winning" is in itself a vague word. Units sold, money made, market share. Way too many different ways to decide such a vague word. I'm with MS, Let the noobs fight the war until digital distribution becomes refined for the masses. I get 99% of my movies digitally. If they offer good prices on the downloads, and non-intrusive DRM, I'll actually pay for em too.
 
The facts are HD DVD has climbed up from 20% market share to over 40% market share since April. It is gaining ground fast. Don't speak too soon. :p
 
If this is true another loss for the consumer/rights. Go read up on Managed Copy and Region Coding. Blu-Ray is all about the studios and very little on what the consumer wants. Here we are beating up on the RIAA and folks in the same breath then praise Blu-Ray.

Whacko
 
It seems kind of stupid for Apple to go Blu-ray. They should want videos to be digitally distributed through iTunes. It would be in their best interest if both formats failed, like what happened with the newest audio formats SACD and DVD-Audio.
 
Freddo said:
As it is now, most people prefer to buy physical media when it comes to movies.
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I'm one of those people. I greatly prefer to have physical media for anything, movie, music, games, software.

Its too easy to lose everything if you only have it in digital format.

This is really true when it comes to the average joe. They don't think that their machine will ever die and that it will last them forever, or that if it is going to die it will give them a warning so that they can back stuff up then. So when their machine dies they lose all their pictures, music and various other digital only media that they have. Same thing with programs, they buy a program, run the installer from the site. After their machine dies they lose all that software due to not having physical media and no install files.
 
Ethug said:
What you're reading is apparently wrong. HD-DVD didn't win one week of the entire last year in nielsen videoscan. Not one week.

There is also no market in the world where HD-DVD is winning.

These are facts folks.
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And how many of those were actually PS3s that we're counted as Blu-Ray units?
 
Since my HDTV is 'only' 34" (circa 2001), neither HD optical format is setting my loins afire. Upscaled DVD looks great, and I've no compulsion to begin replacing my 300+ DVD library. The studios will just have to make due with my 2 DVD purchases per month, and I'll have to make due with less than the very theoretical best.

Not saying that high def video doesn't look fantastic on a 46" or larger display, but the whole thing still feels like a rehash of the DVD-A versus SACD disaster. The consumer loses again.
 
Surprising? So Apple is on the Bluray Association for their health? Theyve been on the association since the beginning, the only surprising thing is them taking this long to finally support the product in their computers.
 
ya what would happen if they both supported the same format microsoft and apple are two opposite sides of the spectrum.
 
Everyone here seems very focused on the the format in regard to movies. Either format has enough capacity for that. I bet you would have a hard time telling which looks better, same title, same TV (I know this is hard to find, Planet Earth series comes to mind).
This is a good move in terms of capacity. Anyone doing digital video along with all of other gigabyte eating files will appreciate 50GB on a single dual layer disk vs. 30GB for HD-DVD. I know Toshiba is working on getting triple layer 51GB but then Sony an TDK are working on a 8 layer 200GB.
 
w1retap said:
The facts are HD DVD has climbed up from 20% market share to over 40% market share since April. It is gaining ground fast. Don't speak too soon. :p
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People always want to talk about "how much ground hd dvd is "gaining". HD-DVD isn't winning anywhere, and continues a downward slope. When you can't win one week out of the year in the country where you stand the BEST chance, which is the US, then you're screwed. HD-DVD is already all but non-existent in japan, and is floundering badly in Europe. Give it up already.
 
bpahrens said:
Everyone here seems very focused on the the format in regard to movies. Either format has enough capacity for that. I bet you would have a hard time telling which looks better, same title, same TV (I know this is hard to find, Planet Earth series comes to mind).
This is a good move in terms of capacity. Anyone doing digital video along with all of other gigabyte eating files will appreciate 50GB on a single dual layer disk vs. 30GB for HD-DVD. I know Toshiba is working on getting triple layer 51GB but then Sony an TDK are working on a 8 layer 200GB.
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Only now that studios are starting to use format based encodes rather than "one encode dumped into both formats" you're going to see a tremendous difference. Shoot Em Up on bluray for example has bitrates higher than HD-DVD specs at.
 
Ethug said:
People always want to talk about "how much ground hd dvd is "gaining". HD-DVD isn't winning anywhere, and continues a downward slope. When you can't win one week out of the year in the country where you stand the BEST chance, which is the US, then you're screwed. HD-DVD is already all but non-existent in japan, and is floundering badly in Europe. Give it up already.
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Spin it how you want. ;) Blu-ray isn't "winning" either if it is losing ground to a "losing" format.
 
Lets put this in perspective: Toshiba sold 90+ thousand A2's the first week of November with its $99 sale, and then lost in sales of movies every week for the rest of the year. I hate to see people sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring the reality of the situation. I'm no huge Sony fan either, but theres really nothing wrong with Bluray.
 
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