“According to annual figures released in January by industry trade group the Digital Entertainment Group (DEC), overall home entertainment revenue grew 0.2% in 2012, surpassing $18 billion,” Dennis Sellers reports for Apple Daily Report. “And while DVD sales are way down, Blu-ray is doing well. Strategy Analytics says the global Blu-ray Disc Player market grew 19% in 2012 as consumers continue to migrate from DVD to Blu-ray. The increasing availability of high definition TVs and video content and the lack of sufficient Internet bandwidth in some regions are driving the growth of Blu-ray players, says the research group.”
“For cinephiles like myself, the best of all worlds is in a ‘combo pack,’ a Blu-ray disc that also has (ideally) DVD, iTunes and UltraViolet versions,” Sellers reports. “I guess it’s possible that Apple could put software “hooks” into Mac OS X Mavericks that will allow you to play Blu-ray discs on your Mac with third-party hardware. Alas, those chances are about a million to one.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: 4K Ultra HD (UHD) television plus High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), aka h.265, delivered via cable, satellite, and/or high-speed internet (20+ Mbits/sec) is where the future lies, not conventional Blu-ray Disc on current HDTVs.
‘I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,’ [Steve Jobs] told me. ‘It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud.’ No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. ‘It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.’ — Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
Blu-ray is a bag of hurt. – Steve Jobs, October 14, 2008
Related articles:
Apple to open Mac slots to Blu-ray? – February 27, 2009
OWC debuts faster ‘Quad Interface’ Mercury Pro 8X Blu-ray drives with FireWire 800/400, USB2, eSATA – February 24, 2009
Don’t hold your breath for Blu-ray Macs – October 16, 2008
Live coverage of Apple’s ‘spotlight turns to notebooks’ event – October 14, 2008
Who cares about Blu-ray on Macs? – September 30, 2008
LaCie doubles burn speeds to 4x for d2 Blu-ray Drive – May 27, 2008
Cringely: Why Apple CEO Steve Jobs is holding back Blu-ray from Macs – March 14, 2008
Apple TV 2.0 vs. Blu-Ray, DVD and HD Cable – February 13, 2008
Japanese Mac users get first Mac OS X-friendly Blu-ray burner – August 02, 2006
Roxio Toast 7 for Apple Mac adds Blu-ray support – July 25, 2006
4K video: Total overkill for any average user. It is a professional level of resolution. As ever: There is no point in having overkill visual resolution if your eye can’t SEE that resolution. 1080P will remain the consumer standard. I predict.
Meanwhile, 4K and 8K are going to be standard in the digital movie business.
As for Blu-ray: After quite a few years of RIPOFF pricing via Sony, the cost of burn discs as well as burners has come down to ground level where mere humans can buy them. The Blu-ray players are now reasonably cheap.
So, go buy a cheap Blu-ray player and connect it to your Mac, have fun. If you want to burn Blu-ray data, have fun.
The problem comes in when you want to burn legitimate Blu-ray media discs. That’s where Sony impose their draconian DRM (digital rights manglement) garbage three times over! This includes Sony requiring surveillance of your hardware via the Internet. DRM crap is specifically why Steve Jobs called Blu-ray ‘A BAG OF HURT’. And it is.
But there are ways around that hurt. And I won’t be sharing them here.
Relevant information:
$40 software to play Blu-ray on Mac:
Play Blu-ray Movies On Your Mac Without Converting Them First
http://blog.macsales.com/12010-play-blu-ray-movies-on-your-mac-without-converting-them-first
OR use VLC, for FREE, to play Blu-ray on Mac via these instructions:
Wonder how to get your VLC 2.0 to play encrypted blu-ray discs? Here’s how.
http://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name
I don’t agree with Mac Daily New’s take. It’s actually slightly arrogant. I know what Steve Jobs said and he probably was right. But Optical Media has a role to play. At least if you want to “OWN” your content so to speak like iTunes that Mac Daily News should be familiar with, and not have to pay every month to keep access. I bought 4 DVDs just last week. Bly Ray might have been a Bag if Hurt but is it still? Perhaps Apple can support it in the future when its easier to license. I would like my computers to be able to play back a simple Bly Ray, seems basic and essential to me. But yes, some day everything or at least 99% of everything will be streaming but that will take longer than you think, like everything does. And as I said, I am interested in owning my content so I would prefer the Blu Ray for a one time fee and not have to pay every month even though I would do that too. But streaming, DRM and total control, tracking by the media industry can’t be the only way.
I prefer to buy media on iTunes rather than physical discs. Besides, Blu-Rays used to cost $50 for the first month or so and yet you could get it on iTunes in HD for $20. Aside from that, optical discs are generally bad because they’re easily damaged. Even without that, it’s a lot easier to copy an iTunes movie to an external hard drive than to copy a DVD. Once you’re past DVDs, why not skip Blu-Ray and just go to iTunes?