iTunes Pre Release hints Blu-ray For Mac?

Continuing a pattern of biweekly releases, Apple tonight seeded the fourth beta version of iPhone OS 3.0 to developers. Apple also issued a developer pre-release version of iTunes 8.2, which is required to activate the new beta. No new features in the fourth beta version have been revealed as of yet.

One forum poster points out that the latest iTunes 8.2 beta carries references to Blu-Ray data from Gracenote, suggesting that iTunes could support the reading/recognizing of Blu-Ray discs. This note is not present in the current version of iTunes:

[Rockstar]

spelling error in the title.

EDIT: nvm fixed

[butterfinger]

telling a friend the other day that I won't be picking up a new Macbook until they have blu ray support. Looks like I'll be getting a new one sooner than later.

[DELTABOY04]

better late then never..

[DJ]

Once that's in, I'll be happy to get one.

[Blades08]

There are a couple of issues with Macs supporting bluray.

1) unless you have a 17" macbook pro, 720p is all your going to get on every macbook 13" and macbook pro 15". Only the 24" inch screens on macs run 1080p the rest do 720p. So you won't get full resolution (you can output to a 1080p tv)

2) there is no option for a bluray player to be added in

The more important is does quick time player support bluray if it does then all you need is a bluray player option (if Apple decides to put it in as an option)

[The Dixie Flatline]

My Macbook Pro 15 inch is currently running at 900p, not 720p; that is with a Nvidia 8600 series graphics card.

From the Apple website:
15-inch MacBook Pro

* 15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with support for millions of colors
* Supported resolutions: 1440 by 900 (native), 1280 by 800, 1152 by 720, 1024 by 640, and 800 by 500 pixels at 16:10 aspect ratio; 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, and 640 by 480 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio; 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, and 640 by 480 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio stretched; 720 by 480 pixels at 3:2 aspect ratio; 720 by 480 pixels at 3:2 aspect ratio stretched

13-inch Macbook:

* 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with support for millions of colors
* Supported resolutions: 1280 by 800 (native), 1152 by 720, 1024 by 640, and 800 by 500 pixels at 16:10 aspect ratio; 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, and 640 by 480 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio; 720 by 480 pixels at 3:2 aspect ratio

My uncle just purchased a Mac Pro and had a BluRay drive installed and you can also buy an external, which I am soon planning to buy, if you have a notebook. Also my copy of Roxio Toast 9 does have BluRay option.

[Blades08]

The point I was trying to make is the reason for bluray is 1080p so it would be a moot point trying to run in on a 720p system. Can you even watch movies at 900p or does it default to 720p? I didn't think you could, even though the systems native resolution supports 900p. I have a Macbook pro aluminum and all the media I have defaults to 720p even though I run 900p as a default resolution.

Correction: I meant Apple does not offer any bluray as an option to their systems not 3rd party.

[butterfinger]

You say it is a moot point, but it really isn't. If blu ray is going to take over as the new format, they need to have it in as many devices as possible. I own over 130 blu rays, and I would very much enjoy the option of being able to bring them with me on a trip to watch on my Macbook, 1080p or not. I don't think people usually buy computers to watch movies on anyway, so this could mostly be considered an added bonus. The only thing that would really push me to get a 17 inch Macbook Pro is if they have the ability to write blu rays as well as read them. Other than that, I'll just get another Macbook, but be able to watch my movie collection whenever/wherever I want.

[Blades08]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't bluray the new HD format winner? Why would there need to be one in every device, it's the only HD format available and the adaption rate will pickup when it gets cheaper. It would be good for Apple to offer it as an option but then it means Apple will have to revamp most of their lineup with screens that are capable of 1080p. It would go against common and business sense to offer a player as an option if a product can't show off full 1080 and only do 720p (which pretty much excludes all 13 and 15 inch macbooks, Apple LCDs 22" or lower including the ones with Macs built in). Apple would get slammed in reviews and forums for that. So that's the moot point I'm referring too. Unless Apple is going to be offering bluray to their high-end lineup alienating the rest of the lineup you can see why apple won't do it. Plus, they got their itunes store with 720p HD movies. Don't get me wrong I have a macbook pro and love it. If the macbook pro did 1080p I would want bluray as an option but it doesn't so to me, it's like having a V8 engine and only getting 4 cylinders from it but paying V8 dollars. If money isn't an option you can always get a Dell or HP 17 with discounts it will come out to 1500-2k with a bluray player, or a 15-16" HP for about $1200 for movie watching on your travels that offer 1080p.

Also, I bought my Dell Inspiron 7000 back in the day (1998) for $3000 just so I could watch Dvds and hook it to my TV the funny thing is even back in those day the resolution was 1600x1200. I'm not sure why Apple won't do 1920x1080 on 13-15" macbooks today. I still use a 17" Dell that can do that from 2005 (1900x1200).

[The Dixie Flatline]

I would mostly want it for the ability to burn my videos off on Bluray and play it on the Ps3. As for playing a movie on a 15 inch screen 720p would suffice for now. I have only played about 10 movies on my computers over the last six years, so it is not a big deal, but eventually I will upgrade anyway and it will be a nice option. I do agree totally that Apple does need to start offering better options for displays.

The only reason I disagreed with you is because you worded your opinion in a way as to say that we Mac users were completely out of luck when it came to HD options. All I was doing was showing that there were other options, sorry about that. Anyway, thanks again for your reply.

[butterfinger]

Duh, we all know the are the "HD" format war winner, but they need to compete with DVD now. DVD players are in just about every device, so it would be common sense to apparently anyone but you that blu ray players in more devices are good for the format. Blu ray's only competition was not HD-DVD, it's REAL competition is DVD, and this economy is really slowing down the adoption rate. What you imply about it not making sense for Apple to offer blu ray in 720p Macbooks isn't completely ridiculous. Should 720p HDTVs stop having HDMI ports since they can do full 1080p anyway? 720p is still better resolution than DVD last time I remember, and the smaller screen makes 1080p a complete waste of time. Even the average Best Buy employee would tell you that 1080p is practically worthless unless you are getting a 42 inch TV or larger. Does that mean people shouldn't enjoy hi def movies on blu ray? No. I have a 52in Samsung and a 32in Bravia, and I can tell you that I still refuse to watch DVDs on my Bravia even though it isn't 720p. It still looks significantly better than DVD quality (unless you waste your money on an upscaler).

[Blades08]

DVD is in every device because it's dirt cheap to make, bluray is not. When bluray gets dirt cheap I'm sure it will be at that time. I'll am saying is it would not make sense for apple to do so and would cause unwanted attention to apple by offering a bluray player with less then 1080p resolution on most of their screen resolution lineup and apple sells 720p movies in the itunes store to go along their 720p playback capability of most of their products. Your argument about HDMI is not validate but I get your point, HDMI is not made specifically for 1080p it is used by it, HDMI is a specification that allows digital video and audio content at 480-1080p and more in the future to devices.

I personally I'm not loyal to any type of media technology, I just care about the content. I would personally prefer to get hd movies on a SDHC card if I could, all HD movies are already in digital format already and can be put on any media format providing the space is enough and the movies codecs are available to play it. So the smaller the cost the better it is for everyone and a lot of devices have SDHC slots in them already. My Samsung with DLNA technology can play movies using (usb 2) hard drives, thumb-drives, SD cards, so then I wouldn't need anymore more technology except software - updated codecs (it can do HDWMV (minus sound), WMV, H.264, etc....) downloaded via internet right into my TV.

What I really like to see is cheaper SSD and SHDC. I prefer solid state over optical which is the way things are going eventually as optical and hd's get replace by solid state technology in the future, however if another technology comes out that is better then I'm all for it as long as the price is low for everyone to adapt.