The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) today announced that Apple® will become a member of the consortium’s Board of Directors. Apple has been a leader in driving consumer adoption of DVD authoring since January 2001, with the introduction of its SuperDrive(TM), the industry’s first high-volume CD- and DVD-burning drive, and its revolutionary iDVD and DVD Studio Pro software applications. Apple is also helping bring High Definition (HD) to market with a complete line of HD content creation tools for consumers and professionals alike including iMovie HD, Final Cut Express HD and Final Cut Pro HD editing software.
Additionally the next release of Apple’s QuickTime software, QuickTime 7, will feature the MPEG developed H.264 Advanced Video Codec (AVC) which has been adopted for high definition DVDs. Apple will release QuickTime 7 in conjunction with the release of Mac OS X version 10.4 “Tiger,” the fifth major version of Mac OS X that will ship in the first half of 2005.
“Apple is pleased to join the Blu-ray Disc Association board as part of our efforts to drive consumer adoption of HD,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO in the press release. “Consumers are already creating stunning HD content with Apple’s leading video editing applications like iMovie HD and are anxiously awaiting a way to burn their own high def DVDs.”
“Apple has a long history of technical innovation around DVD hardware and software, and their support of the Blu-ray Disc format is a testament to their commitment of ongoing innovation. The Blu-ray Disc format provides the immense capacity and the revolutionary functionality that Apple’s loyal customer base will be sure to enjoy,” said Maureen Weber, chief BDA spokesperson and general manager of HP’s Optical Storage Solutions Business in the press release. “We’re thrilled about Apple joining our 16-member board, and we look forward to working with them on the development and promotion of the Blu-ray Disc format.”
The BDA was created to broaden support for Blu-ray Disc — the next generation optical disc for storing High Definition movies, photos and other digital content. Blu-ray Discs will have five times larger capacity than today’s DVDs, with a single-layer Blu-ray Disc holding up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc holding up to 50 gigabytes of data. Current DVDs hold 4.7 gigabytes on single-layer discs and 8.5 gigabytes on dual-layer discs.
About Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is a next-generation optical disc format being developed for High Definition video and high-capacity software applications. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data.
About the Blu-ray Disc Association
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.
More about Apple’s upcoming QuickTime 7 here.
Hey look Apple and Walt Disney are at the same table again. Actually the list has a lot of strang bed-fellows. All we need is Sir Bill Gates and Co. (or whatever the Brits titled him now)
I always like to see Apple in alphabetical lists with other major industry players.
Yes, there may be some strange partnerships there, but did anyone really doubt Apple would end up going with Blu-ray instead of HD-DVD since they apparently will be partnering with Sony on other video endeavors as well?
From what already heard about the formats, Blu-ray was far better than the other. Isn’t this true?
And remove the stupid 5-changes of region limitation in your DVD Player.
given the absurd fact that DualLayer DVD drives has been out for over a year – with close to no major brands shipping blanks (!?) I’d say blueRay blanks will be purchaseable in late 2012. Tech-synergy my arse.
I guess they really wanted to drive home the point that a single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data, otherwise they would not have bothered to tell us that a single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data twice.
But AndyC, I was under the impression that a single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data.
Is that not right?
Or maybe a single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data is the correct info.
Please clarify.
I’ve got an old (still working fine) LC III Performa and the 3.5 in. floppy disk drive was called a superdrive. This term really has a history.
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Actually, I believe a single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data.
I feel Apple is coming to the table late this time. Hell, even Dell — the perennial “I’m not going to adopt something until it is already a standard so I the least R&D I can get away with” company — joined before Apple.
There are BD players and recording systems already shipping. The problem is they are several thousand dollars.
see:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/08/hd_and_hdtv_analysis/
for a decent (not great) analysis of most (not all) things HD
Actually you are all wrong.. The Dual layer Blu-Ray disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data and the Single layer Blu-Ray disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data
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Bobby, IIRC the first Apple “Supedrives” were the first ones to support the 1.44 MB floppies. Also IIRC the first system to ship with that was the Macintosh IIx in September 1988. The chip that interfaced to the drive was the SWIM (Super Wozniak Integrated Machine) chip.
You mac zellots, talking all about how your single-layer Blu-Ray disks will only hold 25 gigabytes of data and your double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data.
Hewlett Packard is going to allow support for the “Blu-Ray” disks that will be able to hold about 50 gigs of data (if you burn it duel layer, 25 gig single layer)
Dells are going to burn “Super-Duper-Disks”, or Blu-Ray disks, that will be able to contain 25 gigabytes of data , FOR A SINGLE LAYER! That means that your double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data!!!!
You guys should all stop singing hippie songs around your flower power eMacs and swich to Dell (or HP, did you know that in the near future you will be able to put a DVD into your HP, the SAME SIZE of a regular DVD, but it will be able to hold up to HALF OF 100 GIGABITES !)
Macs suck, PC’s rule, blah, blah, blah.
Finally! I can fit ALL my porn on ONE disc!
Well, yeah, if you could fit all of your porn on a single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data or a double-layer Blu-ray Disc that will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data.
Just under 25Gb of stuff I think. It’s all those CD sized movies which make it look “bad”.
😀
(on a more serious note: it’s a lot of data to lose for whatever reason – you’d wanna keep some backup copies of important stuff like family photos/movies and so forth.)
Just as a correction the single layer discs will hold 25 gigs, the dual layers will hold 50 gigs.
Please do not get confused out there!
Thanks
Bill Gates’ mom holds 25 gigs in her mouth.
Well, since the UFOs use blue light beams to transport people up, I assume that blue is the best color for DVD lasers.
Blue Ray is going to die a slow death unfortunatly.
What they don’t say is HD-DVD’s have less capacity BUT present DVD manufactoring and burning machines can easily be adopted to do HD-DVD.
This means Blue Ray disk makers will have to charge more for new equipment, which will be passed on to content providers and reflect in higher prices for Blue Ray DVD’s.
Even the name “Blue Ray” gives a feeling of failure next to “HD-DVD” which accuratly describes these new DVD’s.
“High Content DVD” or “HC-DVD” would have been a better choice instead of lame “Blue Ray”.
Don’t invest in any Blue Ray stock, the “HD-DVD” name will stick in peoples minds and will win out eventually and the lower price from lower cost of manufactoring will seal Blue Ray’s fate.
Sorry Apple your not that much of a driving force in the market place.
it doesn’t matter how much data can be stored, if I can’t burn it, I won’t buy it
Apple Rules!!:
Under normal circumstances I’d agree with your conclusion, however you’re missing several factors from your analysis which make the future more difficult to predict…
a) Sony now owns two major content providers: namely Columbia-Tristar and MGM/UA, the latter holding the somewhat lucrative James Bond franchise. With Disney on board, that’s three studios batting for Blu-ray. Admittedly, HD-DVD has Warner, Paramount and Universal on board. So now, the big questions are (if you assume that Dreamworks will go with HD-DVD, given that it seems to partner more regularly with Paramount/Universal for distribution due to Spielberg’s historical connection to MCA)…which way will Fox jump.
b) Blu-ray is going to kill HD-DVD for data back-up: which means it will kill HD-DVD for data origination as well. In other words, when you’re editing a movie on Avid or whatever, you’ll probably be archiving on Blu-ray.
c) HD-DVD may well win out on content providers if Fox jumps on board. The only problem is that Blu-ray has Dell, Hitachi, HP, Panasonic, Pioneer, Sony and Samsung supporting it from a CE point of view. And now Apple has formally come on board as well.
The two major CE supporters for HD-DVD are NEC and Toshiba, and it’s worth noting that – based on current predictions – Apple’s global sales will soon exceed those NEC/Toshiba combined.
So, whilst backwards compatibility may be nice, capacity and marketing budgets are going to dictate who wins this – and I think it might be Blu-ray.
HD-DVD would have been the better choice for Apple. Just because the other format holds more data does not mean that it is better. There is only so much space you need for a two hour long HD video. Most of that extra space that Blue Ray will provide will most likely be used for crap that nobody watches, like outtakes, lost (ie unecessary) scenes and alternative endings.
As for data backups, the best long term formats are still DLT tapes and for the rest of us DVD is plenty. I do not know what Avid editors would use, they are a niché market.
Like Super Audio CDs and DVD-Audio, high definition video formats will fail to take over a significant part of the market they want. Personally, I think DVD is good enough for casual movie watching.
On another topic, I wonder how soon Apple will include Blue Ray drives into their Mac Mini. With its DVI output this little Mac would be a good accesory for digital televisions.
Well as long as HD-DVD players and Superdrives can play either I guess we can enjoy the best of both worlds.
Cheaper HD-DVD’s for our movies and more storage capacity with our Blue Rays.