Bluray Player for OS X ?

[RivaiC]

Hi Guys..

On PC we have Cyberlink PowerDVD v9 that will allow us to playback Bluray media.

I'm trying to search availability for software player that will allow us to play Bluray Media on Mac ? Any idea about this ?

PS. Yes, i have bluray player/burner

Regards
Rivai

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Does not exist.... :(

I have to reboot into windows to or run the disc over to a windows machine to test my BD's I author (and in a PS3 and stand-alone players, of course).

[RivaiC]

Hi Jeff, thanks

(sigh) just like what i'm afraid of after countless search over this topic. I wonder what is Steve Jobs up to.

Regards
Rivai

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I wonder what is Steve Jobs up to.

...Not allowing competition with iTunes on the Apple platform. :out:

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

I wonder what it would take to write a 3rd party player, any ideas anyone?

[Jim Geduldick]

About the only thing you can do on OSX currently is play BD compliant files(mkv,mp4,etc)
and author them with a few choices(Encore,Compressor-makes compliant files,Matrox CompressHD and others)
You can play BD compliant files in QT and VLC and some other media players just not playback a direct BD disk for now. Who knows what Snow Lep will bring in Sept.

[RivaiC]

My intention to playback straight from the Bluray Disc itself. It will be inconvenient if we need to copy to HDD everytime we want to play something.

Instead of hoping from apple, i will be curious to see what third party developer will bring.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

A third party player application wouldn't be that big of deal to create. But it's not viable at this point until Apple decides to make Blu-Ray drives available as configuration options. Especially not viable as a product, given the licensing costs associated with the BD format. One other thing to consider is that as soon as Apple decides to include Blu-Ray drives in their systems, you can bet their DVD player app will be updated to support the format.

I believe that it eventually will happen. BD media is supported on OSX. I can write all the BD data discs I want right from Finder. I can author in CS4 and burn video discs in CS4 or Toast. Just can't play them and FCS2 doesn't support authoring BD. I think it will all change by the time FCS3 is released. If not, I will probably pass on the FCS3 upgrade since I need Blu-Ray abilities. ...Unless FCS3 offers something really spectacular that CS4 does not. Right now, the only reason I have to use any of Apple's production tools is for Color. That is where Adobe is really lacking at the moment -- ColoreFinesse just isn't on the same level.

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Due to the interminable wait for Apple to support Blu-Ray I have been considering putting together a cheap PC tower and stuffing a Blu-Ray burner/player in it. Issues are:

What hardware config would be needed to reasonably support the burner (RAM, GPU, etc)?

Would I need any software on the PC side beyond the OS and the Blu-Ray authoring package that comes with the hardware?

How cheap can this be done?

Can I encode on the Mac and then just copy the data? Should I?

One application for this in my world is for HD dailies distribution...

[Alex Carr]

Apple is obviously more interested in Digital Download Distribution. I am also more interested, because Blu-ray was already dead when it came out. I've hooked my computer up to my TV, and enjoyed all the luxuries of Digital Distribution.

[Blair S. Paulsen]

With a high quality encode at a reasonable bitrate via a decent connection downloaded media can be a great choice. That said, Blu-Ray typically delivers a higher bitrate, less compressed image via a player that has proper multi-channel audio outputs and 99% of the time will outperform the downloaded version.

There are a lot of reasons Blu-Ray has not become more popular and many articles have been written de-constructing various follies along the way, interesting reading if you're curious. The one issue I feel compelled to mention in this context is that the vast majority of viewers do not have display conditions of sufficient accuracy to appreciate the differences between standard def MPEG-2 encoded DVD and even the very best Blu-Ray titles - therefore they don't see a reason to shell out more money.

Until you deal with screen size / quality, distance from screen and ambient lighting conditions the issue is moot. Next up is color gamut, bit depth, encoding choice, bitrate and a host of other technical bits, not to mention that few consumer displays are properly calibrated.

I look forward to the next generation of display tech, perhaps OLED, and the availability of screen sizes in excess of 65" diagonal at reasonable prices so the average viewer sitting in the average living room at an average distance of around 9 feet (3 meters) from the screen can actually resolve enough detail to notice the difference. Until then...

Cheers - #19

[RivaiC]

Hi Alex, i'm not sure which country you are from. But looking at bigger picture thru out the whole world. Digital Distribution clearly is not the winner altho Bluray hasnt set its feet strongly to the market yet.

Jeff : Adobe is lacking of "Color" equivalent. Final Touch HD was made for Mac considering that there is no DI system for OS X platform those days. But when Final Touch HD acquired by Apple and turned into Color. It has become bundle competition more like Adobe vs Apple.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

IMO, the two biggest issues with Blu-Ray acceptance right now are:

1> Media prices. I like Blu-Ray and the idea of buying movies in 1080p HD that I can own on physical media, not tied to specific platforms and DRM (iTunes, etc..). But when they're $30 at Wal-Mart and the DVD release of the same product is $13, I take offense to that. And so do most other consumers. Player pricing is not that big of an issue and prices continue to drop. By this time next year, BD players will be well under $100.

2> Viewer perception. The mass consumer market doesn't see anything wrong with DVD. Everyone loves DVD. Most people view Blu-Ray as a "forced upgrade". In some ways, not unlike market perception of DVD when VHS was the dominant standard. But this time around, consumers are more resistant. It's difficult to extoll the benefits of Blu-Ray vs. DVD when over 60% of all installed HDTV sets in north america fall within the 32" to 46" size category and have 720/768p native resolution. Same with the benefits of Blu-Ray audio abilities. Most consumers don't have an audio system that makes adequate use of DD5.1 audio on most DVD releases. Do you think they care about Dolby TruHD, which the player has to down-convert for them anyway?

I do like digital downloads as a media source for rentals, PPV, etc., but I'm not a huge fan of purchasing movies this way. Current IP movie purchase services like iTunes are overpriced and their "HD" offerings are little better than DVD, nowhere near the quality of a good Blu-Ray release. I also find the DRM to be too restrictive in that I can't let a friend borrow the movie or re-sell the movie on ebay when I'm done with it.

All things considered about Blu-Ray market acceptance, it's happening. And anyone who calls it a "dead" format needs to double check the sales figures. Even in our current global recession, Blu-Ray is still selling at an increasing pace. Including PS3 sales, there are nearly 10 million Blu-Ray players in north american homes at this time. Blu-Ray has been available for 3 years now. DVD had an installed base of less than 9 million players (including PlayStation2) at the three year mark anniversary of its launch in 2000. Quite impressive considering the markets' hesitation over the HD format war.

Studios and retailers are finally catching on to the media pricing issue. And stores like Wal-Mart and Target are regularly discounting Blu-Ray titles to under $20 and rotating which titles are offered at the discounted pricing. We also have to consider that 10 years ago, it wasn't uncommon for many prominent DVD releases to approach $30 at big box retailers.

Blu-Ray also is the first major video distribution format where the players are fully backward compatible with the previous format. This helps many people feel secure in that they can upgrade, but yet continue to enjoy their current DVD collection on the new hardware. And while it is largely a good thing, it can also slow sales. People will still opt for the DVD version of a film when the price difference warrants it or depending on what uses they have in mind for the disc... Blu-Ray is a tough sell at $25 when a family can only play it on their primary TV. But the DVD, even though lower quality, is more attractive at $15 when they can also play it on other players they already have, portable players, easily rip it to ipods and other devices...


This thread has been 100% hijacked.

[RivaiC]

Jeff, i agree with you with this simple statement, Majority of people doesnt see anything wrong with DVD so far.

Hopefully when pricing of Bluray player drops down, it will have better acceptance. Now back to the topic, i want to see Bluray player on OS X !!!

[Eirik Tyrihjel]

I hate Apple for keeping us away from blu-ray, wheter you think blu-ray is the next step or not, Apple should have supported it long ago!

I can burn blu-rays on my mac, no thanks to Apple, I want to view them as well.

[Stefan Christou]

I agree. It's nice to have options. Spesh when you already own blu-ray films.