Apple calls Blu-ray "a bag of hurt"

[JayVe]

Looks like Steve Jobs isn't on board with the Blu (http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/14/steve-jobs-calls-blu-ray-a-bag-of-hurt/)...

Straight from El Jobso's mouth at today's notebook keynote: "Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt. It's great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we're waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace." Phil chimed in with "We have the best HD movie and TV options in iTunes." Damn.I thought Apple was a cornerstone Bluray supporter. Why the change of heart?

[Schnoogs]

The best HD movie options on itunes?

1080p? No.
Lossless audio? No.
The same movies as BluRay? No.

I'm gonna have to say BS to his statement.

[JayVe]

I'm gonna have to say BS to his statement.Well, even if his statement isn't true, Apple isn't adding Bluray support (or HDCP support) to their hardware/software, which isn't good for adoption.

Also, you will not believe how many people what comes out of Steve J's mouth as GOSPEL!

[fitbabits]

He's talking out his corporate ass here. If Phil thinks the best HD content is on iTunes, then someone needs to let him out the Apple Lab.

[Schnoogs]

Well, even if his statement isn't true, Apple isn't adding Bluray support (or HDCP support) to their hardware/software.

Apples uses products from ATI and NVidia...they will support it whether the want to or not.

[violent]

It's funny, I always see Apple as this separate entity. All of my equipment works nicely with eachother and anything Apple tends to fly alone. Even though my iPod works on my 360, I still use my Zune. If Jobs wants me to start caring about what he says, he better close the gap between my apple products and everything else.

[biosc1]

I find it ironic that Apple is complaining about the complexity of licensing someone else's tech...

[KingGorilla]

I thought Apple was a cornerstone Bluray supporter. Why the change of heart?

I think this (http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipod/family/apple_tv?cid=OAS%2DUS%2DKWG%2DAppleTV%2DV) is why.

[JayVe]

I'm guessing the Bluray licensing requirements have to be something like this:

(1) The licensed player must not be better in any way, shape, or form than the PLAYSTATION 3 (three)(TM)(R)(C)

;)

Kidding aside, the fallout (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS291&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Blu+Ray+"Bag+of+Hurt"&spell=1) from this is gonna be huge.

[KingGorilla]

I think we all should take Steve Jobs decrying phyisical media with the same attitude as that fuck-tard from Gamestop railing against Digital Distribution like a crazed old man seeing a moving horseless carriage for the first time.

[JayVe]

I think we all should take Steve Jobs decrying phyisical media with the same attitude as that fuck-tard from Gamestop railing against Digital Distribution like a crazed old man seeing a moving horseless carriage for the first time.

Are Macs still used heavily in the production of video? You'd think that if they are selling machines that studios are using to make HD video, that they'd want those studios to be as successful as possible, right?

Anyways, Stevie Jobs is looking rough. Maybe he's starting to lose it? In other quotes, he was noted as saying that HDMI wasn't any good because of its limited resolution. Is that right, or am I missing something? As far as I know, there isn't a resolution limit...

[KingGorilla]

Macs never have been used heavily for video production. Their in roads are the consumer market. Microsoft still has an iron fist around commercial. Most of the professionals that you see with them, like the folks you may see from Digg, have them to look cool. Macs have never had the chops for serious video editing, encoding, etc. The caliber of computer that is needed by Hollywood cost tens of thousands of dollars. Under Steve Jobs, especailly, the Mac line of computers have been designed for stylish consumer use, not professional applications.

The lack of video power is also, not coincidentally, why so few games ever come out for Mac.

[boratika]

The best HD movie options on itunes?

Yes and the iPhone is the best for portable gaming.

[KingGorilla]

I will lay this out here, Hi Def podcasts are reason enough to use iTunes. Most podcasts I know release on apple h.264.

[jeffbax]

Macs never have been used heavily for video production. Their in roads are the consumer market. Microsoft still has an iron fist around commercial. Most of the professionals that you see with them, like the folks you may see from Digg, have them to look cool. Macs have never had the chops for serious video editing, encoding, etc. The caliber of computer that is needed by Hollywood cost tens of thousands of dollars. Under Steve Jobs, especailly, the Mac line of computers have been designed for stylish consumer use, not professional applications.

The lack of video power is also, not coincidentally, why so few games ever come out for Mac.

You are on absolute crack. Final Cut Pro is almost the indisputable king of video editing, iMovie shits all over Windows Movie Maker, and the alternative Premiere came crawling back to the Mac after leaving it because Final Cut was kicking its ass so hard.

Honestly, desktop publishing is the market that kept Apple alive through its darkest times.

As for the games comment... Apple hasn't ever put much emphasis on games in the past, thats why they didn't get the support - they didn't support game developers enough. Additionally, they shipped relatively crappy video in their consumer Macs without methods to upgrade them. Their rise in market share now, and putting decent video in the new Macs as well as running X86 chips (PowerPC made the cost of porting out of DirectX even tougher) is changing things as can be seen with EA and some others embracing the platform more now.
I find it ironic that Apple is complaining about the complexity of licensing someone else's tech...
I don't, they generally avoid using anyone else's tech when they can avoid it.

I do find this BR position puzzling, however.

[KingGorilla]

I never said it doesn't happen, the aforementioned Digg graphics design pros. But I should clarify, I meant HollyWood, in particular effects editing, not so much just splicing scenes together. But you need the power that Windows based Pcs have, thanks to the highest end video cards and multi GPU configurations, for those things. I never saw anyone from Pixar talking about working with a Mac, last interview I heard the guy measuring his E-Peen with the 3 way SLI, and dual dual core processors on the company's custom motherboard...I drooled a bit.

[jeffbax]

I never said it doesn't happen, the aforementioned Digg graphics design pros. But I should clarify, I meant HollyWood, in particular effects editing, not so much just splicing scenes together. But you need the power that Windows based Pcs have, thanks to the highest end video cards and multi GPU configurations, for those things. I never saw anyone from Pixar talking about working with a Mac, last interview I heard the guy measuring his E-Peen with the 3 way SLI, and dual dual core processors on the company's custom motherboard...I drooled a bit.

Please, again you are crazy.

Mac Pros have not only had 8 Core systems for a while now, they've almost always been ahead of the curve of raw available CPU power. Not to mention that OS X and Final Cut have been ready to take advantage of multiple core for a while now, where for a long time Windows apps have been slower to become multithreaded.

I'm not even going to tough your Pixar comment... seriously, they have always edited/produced on Macs and rendered on cheaper Linux farms (though these have also changed to Macs lately I believe)

[biosc1]

I don't, they generally avoid using anyone else's tech when they can avoid it.

I do find this BR position puzzling, however.

My line of thinking was in regards to how they have always been a very close knit company, rarely even thinking about licensing out their own tech.

[OldJadedGamer]

This is the most damaging considering that Apple is on the Blu-ray Disc Association's Board of Directors.

[KidCactus]

The best HD movie options on itunes?

I don't even have the option to buy movies in iTunes...

[Schnoogs]

I don't, they generally avoid using anyone else's tech when they can avoid it.

I do find this BR position puzzling, however.

Apple doesn't build much of it's own hardware. The chips, boards, memory, HD and video cards are all off the shelf parts from other manufacturers.

They also support industry standards such as USB, etc.

They had no problem supporting CD and DVD either.

[OldJadedGamer]

Apple doesn't build much of it's own hardware. The chips, boards, memory, HD and video cards are all off the shelf parts from other manufacturers.

They also support industry standards such as USB, etc.

They had no problem supporting CD and DVD either.

It's more interesting considering Apple's past history of adopting stuff like this before any other the other major computer manufacturers. For instance, I have a 1X DVD burner in my first gen flat panel iMac. If Apple isn't adding Blu-ray by now then there is something very wrong behind the scenes ESPECIALLY considering they are on the board of directors.

[Harv]

What is wrong is pretty much what was said in the quote. Sony most likely has some licensing terms that Apple doesn't like that involve either financial or legal issues. When has Sony ever made anything easy for anyone to use their tech? Has Memorystick ever taken off in anything other than Sony products? What about Mini-disc? Need I mention Betamax? Sony has a way of building a decent piece of technology and then shooting themselves in the foot somehow in the way they disseminate said technology.

I don't think that will happen with Blu-Ray because eventually they will have to disseminate the tech to get more widespread usage and they've managed to kill off their major competitor format this time.

And yeah, HD movies off ITunes can suck it.

[jeffbax]

Apple doesn't build much of it's own hardware. The chips, boards, memory, HD and video cards are all off the shelf parts from other manufacturers.

They also support industry standards such as USB, etc.

They had no problem supporting CD and DVD either.
They build quite a bit of their hardware, and often contract custom parts. They just bought PA-Semi so that they could control all the chip design in their portables (and likely add-on chips for their computers).

They always designed hardware while they were PowerPC. Yeah they use more general chips now but find me ONE PC motherboard & chasis combination like that of the Mac Pro.

Designing desktop CPUs no longer makes sense, but they still get custom engineered parts (such as motherboards) because of their form factor requirements. They also were the main force behind other things like Firewire. They generally stuck with their own tech (like ADC) until something comparable became general enough (like DVI)

Still, you underestimate how much they customize compared to other PC manufacturers.
It's more interesting considering Apple's past history of adopting stuff like this before any other the other major computer manufacturers. For instance, I have a 1X DVD burner in my first gen flat panel iMac. If Apple isn't adding Blu-ray by now then there is something very wrong behind the scenes ESPECIALLY considering they are on the board of directors.
This is the much more interesting thing... there's got to be something up. Blu-Ray isn't just for movies... but perhaps Apple thinks that hard discs are enough for now? I'm not sure... smells fishy though
What is wrong is pretty much what was said in the quote. Sony most likely has some licensing terms that Apple doesn't like that involve either financial or legal issues. When has Sony ever made anything easy for anyone to use their tech? Has Memorystick ever taken off in anything other than Sony products? What about Mini-disc? Need I mention Betamax? Sony has a way of building a decent piece of technology and then shooting themselves in the foot somehow in the way they disseminate said technology.

I don't think that will happen with Blu-Ray because eventually they will have to disseminate the tech to get more widespread usage and they've managed to kill off their major competitor format this time.

And yeah, HD movies off ITunes can suck it.
Sony doesn't control Blu-Ray, there are a whole bunch of companies involved with its tech. This is a truly puzzling quote especially in light of Apple's content authoring.

Maybe they are waiting for Blu-Ray support in their video software before adding them to the hardware?