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New Macbook – Deliberately hobbled?
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Well, you guys have convinced me. Apple no longer cares about us! The world is ending!!!!
😉
Winston A. Cely
Editor/Owner | Della St. Media, LLCSound it out: Nu-clear, not nu-cu-lar.
Mac Pro 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
4 GB RAM | Final Cut Studio 5.1.4 | Aja Kona LHe -
[Ben Holmes] “I saw that Walter – I posted in it! I know the lack of FW came up in it, but that’s not my point here. My point is WHY they dropped it.”
The MacBook is a consumer product. Consumers don’t use Firewire, at least not very many of them. Nobody in my family, none of my friends even know what Firewire is. They all use USB devices in their homes. Even their video cameras all have USB outputs on them these days.
Only the folks I know professionally use any sort of FW devices. So removing the Firewire creates more of a difference between the MacBook and the Pro.
Don’t see why it’s a big deal. If you want to edit on the thing with Firewire, then get the Pro. I’m not going to edit on a 13″ laptop with or without Firewire. I’m especially not going to edit on a laptop with a glossy screen so that takes out both of those.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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[Andrew Kimery] ” If Roxio can figure out the ‘complex’ licensing issues I’m sure Apple can too.”
It wasn’t so much Roxio figuring out anything but more like Roxio being swallowed up by Sonic Solutions who’s sole market has been high end DVD authoring for 10 years. Scenarist is the only other pro-level bluray app to compete neck and neck with Sony who is new in this area. Sonic scenarist had their foot in the doors of all major studios already and we all have noticed how Sony can’t focus in any particular market but rather competes with everyone for everything. Hey, maybe with Sony Blu-Print now vieing for scenarist’s market share Apple is sitting back planning to buy Sonic after Sony squeezes them down. They are certainly in a position to toss a few wrenches in their spokes. I can see it now, Apple Scenarist… part of the new FCS3 suite.
“thou can not stir a flower without crumbling a star” ……Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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[Andrew Kimery] “But when asked about Blu-ray Steve jobs recently said, “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.” Which of course means Apple wants you to use the iTMS to get your entertainment even if that drives Pro users away from the Mac platform. If Roxio can figure out the ‘complex’ licensing issues I’m sure Apple can too.”
Go read my blog about Adobe Encore CS3 and BluRay. The licensing part of it isn’t the problem. Making a reliable BluRay authoring software is. We spent 12 months trying to make Encore work as Adobe claimed it would, and it never did. I’ve lost over $12,000 because of Encore and now Adobe is inviting me to buy CS4 because they’ve fixed all the problems we pointed out. So it actually works now.
If Apple doesn’t want to support BluRay right now, that’s fine by me. We now have NetBlender’s DoStudio which does work as advertised and we’re authoring multiple titles. When Apple is finally ready, I hope they learn the lesson from Adobe and ensure they actually can make a properly working authoring tool BEFORE they release it to the public. It’s a LOT more complex than creating a DVD Authoring tool.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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Rennie,
I was just using Roxio as an example. There are other companies that offer BR capabilities on some level (playback movies, author movies, or just burn files onto BR discs) and if they can do it so can Apple. I wouldn’t be surprised though if Apple did wait until a BR software company was ripe for the picking as Apples MO leans more towards acquisition than in-house development.Walter,
I’m very aware of your struggles w/Encore (although I can’t remember if the PC version is as problematic as the Mac version) and I’m glad you’ve found a better solution. The more trails you blaze the easier you make it on the rest of us. 🙂My point w/the Blu-Ray rant was that Apple refusing to support BR on any level (playback, authoring, data storage, etc.,) isn’t because they can’t it’s because they don’t want to. And, IMO, a big reason they don’t want to is to protect their net-based media distribution efforts.
-A
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[Winston A. Cely] “Apple no longer cares about us! “
Hi
Don’t kid yourself. They never did care (about us).
But this week we were supposed to be in awe of the strikingly simple unibody design elegance – and a huge proportion of the core user-base are distinctly not, over the design-over-function no-FW issue…
That maybe is making a dent in the laser-tooled aluminium-smooth Apple corporate consciousness.Next year we will no doubt be expected to be in awe of how Snow Leopard will make full use of the new MacBook Pro’s 9600M GT graphics processor for increased render power, whilst the native 9400M chipset will handle the GUI display.
…maybe we will. Maybe not.Maybe we’ll be more concerned that the legacy codebase of FCS and QuickTime will still be creaking under the demands of providing the required functionality of a 21st century pro app editing suite.
Apple have everything to prove at this point in time. 😉
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[Andrew Kimery] “And, IMO, a big reason they don’t want to is to protect their net-based media distribution efforts. “
What does this have to do with anything? If I made a BluRay disc in DVDSP (if it was possible) or Encore, what does that have to do with Apple’s download service from iTunes? Nothing at all, really. All major movie studios are going to release their movies on BluRay anyway. Not ramping up to support BluRay right now is not going to help or hurt iTunes movie sales. Also, as of right now, there’s exactly one BluRay burner that I know of for a Mac. In order to get that integrated into the OS, Apple has to license the BluRay tech from Sony. Not sure if that’s something they want to do and it will do nothing but drive the cost of their computers up. Not only do they have to pay for the burner, but they have build in the software capable of burning to BluRay to make it as easy as it is to do right now with the OS’s finder (i.e., no other software needed). Sure, maybe they could make a build to order option, but I bet people would balk at the cost. Also, I doubt you could have a BluRay player that is also the equivalent of the SuperDrive (meaning able to burn regular DVDs and CDs). It’s an in between time right now and we have to wait it out.
I truly believe the Steve Jobs is right. The licensing to produce BluRay DVDs is very very complex. Have you tried to get a BluRay professionally replicated (not copied but professionally replicated and stamped)? It’s not easy and it certainly isn’t cheap and a lot of that cost is the licensing of the BluRay name, not to mention the fact it’s hard to find places that will do it for you.
I bet it could be done today, but it couldn’t be done the way Apple wants it. It’s a fact of life that that’s the way the company is run and I am surprised people still bitch about it. They do things Apple’s way, and that’s it. Take it or leave it. There’s always Linux or windows.
Jeremy
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[Jeremy Garchow] “Also, as of right now, there’s exactly one BluRay burner that I know of for a Mac. “
There’s at least two that I know of, not including the external LaCie.
[Jeremy Garchow] “In order to get that integrated into the OS, Apple has to license the BluRay tech from Sony. Not sure if that’s something they want to do and it will do nothing but drive the cost of their computers up.”
It can’t be that expensive. Our fully loaded HP Workstation with the BluRay burner included was only $1,700. I don’t think you have to license anything from Sony for the BluRay player, it’s the authoring software. Our BluRay burner for the Mac was only $540.
[Jeremy Garchow] “Not only do they have to pay for the burner, but they have build in the software capable of burning to BluRay to make it as easy as it is to do right now with the OS’s finder (i.e., no other software needed)”
They really don’t even need to do that. Roxio Toast has been able to burn to BluRay disc for two years now. It just shows up as a 25 or 50GB BluRay disc and you can burn data to it just like you do any CD or DVD.
[Jeremy Garchow] “I truly believe the Steve Jobs is right. The licensing to produce BluRay DVDs is very very complex. Have you tried to get a BluRay professionally replicated (not copied but professionally replicated and stamped)? It’s not easy and it certainly isn’t cheap and a lot of that cost is the licensing of the BluRay name, not to mention the fact it’s hard to find places that will do it for you. “
The licensing is not complex. The actual authoring software is complex. DoStudio does allow you to get professionally replicatable discs for only $250 per month to license, on a month to month license. In fact we got a call from one of the commercial BluRay replication houses to let us know about this software. They had tested it and it actually works to spec. It’s a great low cost option for boutique shops like mine.
It’s now quite easy to find BluRay replication houses. Certainly much easier than it was 14 months ago when we started authoring BluRay discs here.
[Jeremy Garchow] “I bet it could be done today, but it couldn’t be done the way Apple wants it.”
THAT is something I will absolutely agree with you on. Our 14 month journey into BluRay has put me in touch with some amazing folks who are authoring BluRay discs for the major studios. What I have learned is that creating BluRay authoring software is incredibly complex. As one engineer explained to me, “A 16 year old can write DVD authoring software. BluRay is incredibly complicated.”
Adobe Encore has shown me what happens when you bring out a product with not much understanding of what the product has to do in order to work. Even DoStudio is a very very young software and there are growing pains with it. But NetBlender has been very responsive and quick to produce updates.
I believe Apple is looking at things like Scenarist, BluIt, Encore and DoStudio to see what they do and how they do it. When they are ready to release a BluRay authoring software or add it to DVDSP, they will want it to work pretty much like DVDSP, just pick and template and drag and drop. This is VERY complicated in BluRay. There are tons of conditions and now with BluRay 2.0, there are all sorts of additional java functionality that can be added, especially if the unit is connected to your internet network. But nobody knows how much of this functionality will actually be desired and used by the general public, or if they will even figure out how to use it.
So my belief is that Apple is simple biding its time to see what the BluRay market wants, taking its time to engineer something that actually works, and then it will release the product to market in due time. Not sure if we’ll see anything in 2009, but I would suspect by 2010 Apple would have something out unless BluRay has already been replaced by something else.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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Paul, I hate to disagree, but I do think Apple cares about us. They just have their own plans, and typically (not all the time) they’ve not let us down – even when our plans don’t exactly match up. 🙂
Winston A. Cely
Editor/Owner | Della St. Media, LLCSound it out: Nu-clear, not nu-cu-lar.
Mac Pro 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
4 GB RAM | Final Cut Studio 5.1.4 | Aja Kona LHe -
[walter biscardi] “It can’t be that expensive.”
You are forgetting Apple’s markup. So the cost of a BluRay burner for a Mac right now is $540 and then $99 for Toast? Even if it was that much, imagine the throwback you’d get from raising the cost of every Apple computer by that much, or more.
[walter biscardi] “They really don’t even need to do that. Roxio Toast has been able to burn to BluRay disc for two years now. It just shows up as a 25 or 50GB BluRay disc and you can burn data to it just like you do any CD or DVD. “
Any do you really think Apple would sell a computer and tell you to go buy Toast to increase its functionality? No way. People are going to want to burn BluRays of their kids soccer games from IMovie without buying an extra add on.
[walter biscardi] “The licensing is not complex. The actual authoring software is complex.”
And when you go to replicate, it’s a $4,500 licensing fee just to get started. At least it was last time I called around.
[walter biscardi] “It’s now quite easy to find BluRay replication houses. Certainly much easier than it was 14 months ago when we started authoring BluRay discs here. “
Oh yeah? Where? I am curious as I have not been successful in my area (Chicago). If anyone knows of one in the area, I am all ears.
[walter biscardi] “A 16 year old can write DVD authoring software. BluRay is incredibly complicated.” “
And that, I’m sure, is what is holding Mac development back and what Jobs is referring to.
[walter biscardi] “Not sure if we’ll see anything in 2009, but I would suspect by 2010 Apple would have something out unless BluRay has already been replaced by something else. “
And that’s the waiting period I mentioned earlier. I guess I am just tired of all the complaining is all. I also think the argument about Apple wanting to protect its download service is invalid. I don’t know if anyone remembers, but it took a VERY long time until the Mac was able to basically incorporate DVD into it’s OS in a way that was available to every person that picked up a Mac. They aren’t going to go backwards at this point and release hardware without software. It’s not their way. Also, once Bluray player reach $150, then we will see a huge demand for BluRay.
BluRay is not an option on the Mac right now. Walter, you seemed to have found a decently priced solution on the PC. As of today, that’s what people need to know. Apple will get around to it when they feel like it.
Just curious, how many people on this thread have had their clients actually ask for BluRay? In my 5 years of HD production, I have had exactly 2. Also, if you don’t own a Sony PS3, how many of you own BluRay players? Walter, I know your answers already.
Jeremy
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