If you are a member of The Blu-ray Disc Association (BRDA), there’s no doubt that someone like Apple CEO Steve Jobs practically denouncing support of the very format you’re entrusted to hype feels like a knife in the heart.
9to5Mac has followed up on a recent Steve Jobs e-mail reply to an enquiring fan on the subject of when Blu-ray support for the Mac might finally arrive. As you’ll recall, Jobs replied, “Blu-ray is looking more and more like one of the high-end audio formats that appeared as the successor to the CD -- like it will be beaten by Internet downloadable formats.”
Jobs famously referred to Blu-ray as “a bag of hurt” during a keynote Q&A, but now The Blu-ray Disc Association is firing back, claiming that while Jobs’ comments are “genuine,” they deny that physical formats are on the decline in favor of Internet-based streaming or downloads.
“According to market analysis, Blu-ray disc has a rate of adoption is very similar to that of DVD at the same seniority,” explains Andy Parsons of The Blu-ray Disc Association, via Google translation. “We agree that the Internet will increase its importance to both stream that content to be scarce, but we do believe that the physical media like Blu-ray disc will continue to dominate for many years, due to ease of use, high durability, and certainly the ability to deliver high definition experience and quality available anywhere.”
Parsons’ data on Blu-ray adoption comes courtesy of Adams Media Research, who claims 18 million U.S. homes with Blu-ray by the fourth quarter of this year, which equates to “the same numbers as the penetration of DVD to Q1 of the fifth year on the market of that size.”
Given Apple’s recent cloud-based rumors and the popularity of such streaming services as Hulu and Netflix, things don’t look so rosy for Blu-ray, but these are still early days and things could go in either direction -- well, except for Apple providing Blu-ray on the Mac, which appears not likely to be coming anytime soon…
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dellastmediaLLC
July 13, 2010 at 7:41am
The problem with flash memory as an effective form of backup is that it's far too expensive to match the capacity of regular drives. We've got another 3-5 years before we start talking about hard drives that match the capacity of spindle drives. Sure, solid state and flash are the future, but why keep your customers hamstrung with technology that's 10 years old, so they can wait another 3-5 years to get something better?
The biggest problem with downloadable content are the service providers. It's in their best interest to keep consumers paying a premium for as slow an internet speed as possible. No one should have to pay well over $100 just to get 25 Mbps speeds, but that's where it's going to stay for as long as possible. We're only on the threshold of streaming technology, and to discount hard copies this early in the game is naive. Just as much as it's ignorant to think that we'll always need hard copies for entertainment (music, movies, etc).
Plus, you have to bare in mind that HD content is still not the same resolution as actual film. The file sizes of 2k and 4k projects are astronomical, and although there's technology to use those huge files to edit with, there's still no viable way to get them to the consumer. Technology is going to have to advance far enough to make that picture quality a small enough file size that it could be streamed and that a ways off. Certainly at the limited speeds the majority of the US is at.
So, yeah, Blu-ray is just a new format between the old way to get things and the future, but the future hasn't happened yet. We're close, certainly within our lifetime it's no doubt, but there's no logical explanation to keeping your customers using antiquated technology when new tech is available at an inexpensive price.
And sure, you can get aftermarket Blu-ray burners for your Mac (I have one for work) but the average computer user wants the simplest solution, which is not buying aftermarket gear and installing it. (Although, I have a feeling this is going to change as well, as technology becomes more available to children at younger ages).
Hubbard
July 12, 2010 at 7:36pm
To compare DVD sales numbers to Blu-ray numbers and expect the same rate of adoption is ridiculous!
When DVD sales grew their competition was VHS! My MOM could tell the difference between VHS and DVD. Now we have DVDs that look pretty darn good to the average consumer, and we're asking these people to adopt Blu-ray (well actually the hardware manufactures who need to sell more boxes to stay alive) and the studios (who like to drag their feet and soak up every last dollar from every format before moving on to the next "great evolution").
The fact is; Blu-ray is a stop-gap between DVD's and content delivery (ICD) in HD, and Its not that far away. When a simple way to access HD content (movies) is established, you will see Blu-ray go the way of the buggy whip! In my experience convenience wins over video quality where the average consumer is concerned (look at what happened to CD sales with the introduction of MP3's). As long as the ICD model serves up a consistently smooth experience and delivers at least 720p quality people will drop Blu-ray like a bad habit.
When this happens the breadth of content available will make the current Blu-ray selection at Best Buy look like a joke!As far as Blu-ray for storage, I agree with the person who said Flash is the future for this requirement. Face it folks, the physical disk is almost dead.
SpaceTrucker
July 12, 2010 at 1:54pm
It's a Never Was and Never Will Be! Especially on the Mac. IF you are so needy of one, there are MANY aftermarket ones that work just fine with the Mac. There are better ways to store your media that don't take up nearly as much space as a CD and hold even more than the BRD will ever hold at a comparable cost. Solid State and Flash is where it's at and that is the future of the Mac, why are you listening to your cry baby PC fanboys, your too grown up now, you have a Mac!
randoo53
July 12, 2010 at 10:49am
Steve, I love your products and agree with your decisions most of the time, but this time your views on BluRay are a little more than myopic. As with the above posters, I too would like a separate backup onto a disc that I can store. Why make it only about movies?
I wish you would step back and re-think this one....
dellastmediaLLC
July 12, 2010 at 8:26am
I think it's crucial to have physical backups of files. Hard drives are nice to backup to (which I do), but they can fail, and are much more fragile than optical media. That's why I backup files to optical media as well. With a Blu-ray disc I could backup much more with fewer discs to go through which would be a blessing. For Apple to keep Blu-ray optical drives out of their computers only because of the entertainment revenue that may be lost from iTunes is narrow minded.
tmhale13
July 12, 2010 at 8:02am
I agree that digital downloads will cut into the physical media being sold today. But, with that said, where is the harm in using Blu-Ray drives in lieu of the current Superdrive in Apple systems? Even with the growth of down-loadable content, there is a need for a physical media reader of some sort. I get that Apple is concerned with the cut it could make in the HD Movie downloads from iTunes, but maybe it is time for Apple to say that they will use Blu-Ray as this physical interface. I could see their argument if they were going the way of the MacBook Air and removing any optical drive. But they are not (yet) and should move on to Blu-Ray to give their loyal customers the best optical option currently available.
