iDVD hung out to dry as Apple pushes movies online - Page 3

You know, I am tired of hearing this excuse. Windows can do it with out fail so why can't Leopard? Nope.. That's not good enough. The sad thing is in order to watch a BluRay on my Mac, I have to boot into windows to do it. I don't care what Apple has to do.. That's just EMBARRASSING!

Apple has no choice.. they have to support it. What's taking them so long is:

#1 the DRM requirements on an operating system are Fierce. This is why Apple has moved to Snow Leopard being completely PowerPC free. It will have to be. This is also why they are moving to DisplayPort displays and video cards so that it's current shipping PC's will have the proper Hardware compatibility for when the movie studios enforce that restriction.

#2 The movie studios themselves have investetd too much in BluRay to see it not invested in by Apple. Apple could tell the Movie Studios stuff it.. we're not going to support Blu-Ray and then the movie studios will say.. Stuff it, we won't send you your movies...Yeah.. Not gonna happen. Apple is going to support BluRay

#3 Consumers..,I'm not alone that I live in a place where my comptuer is my everything including my vehicle to watch movies. I want to be able to watch a BluRay from Blockbuster from time to time. It's sometimes still more convenient than downloading from iTunes and quite honestly looks better. The only hold up is the DRM.

#4 Authoring a BluRay DVD is a pain the royal Butt! I know pro video people who still can't quite figure it out. It's a VERY difficult and elaborate thing to do. Sony is the only company that so far has a lock on how to do and do it well. If you buy their proprietary software, then you can do it.. (BIG SURPRISE!) Apple has to find a way to build this into FinalCut Pro's DVD studio PRO, AND iDVD! Toast does it too.. but even toast has issues.

#5 Apple would not waste it's time on the BluRay board if it weren't going to support it's technology. It's still on the board and has been there so that it can keep up with what's going on. Steve Jobs didn't say "We won't support BluRay". He said, "It's a mixed bag".. which means.. we are still ironing out all the issues we have with it and it will be ready when we do that..

BluRay is coming to Mac...

Anyway Blue Ray advocates, the next two/three years will see a MAJOR shift in how we view video, and I'm fairly certain that Apple will be at the forefront of it all.
That 'hobby' everyone ridicules (Apples ugly duckling) is going to morph into something quite spectacular.
>=40/50mbps fiber/adsl will be commonplace, 4g wireless, instant streaming of HD film has a convenience factor that makes physical media look clumsy . And services such as Youtube coupled with 'social' apps will replace the distribution aspect of physical formats. Optical drives will be rare on laptops/netbooks and non existent on phones (obviously, but my point is, our phones will become more signifiant viewing and storage devices).

No single above device or feature will destroy Betamax, but taken as a whole there are an awful lot of reasons to live in the 'cloud', and progress.

(sorry did I say Betamax? I meant Blue Ray)

so.... how will I rip my DVD's into soft-content forms without a DVD player?

and don't say a USB dvd player. because I REALLY want to carry around a DVD player anytime I want to rip something. and I REALLY want a DVD player that is slooooowwwwww when I'm ripping content. and I also REALLY want to use one of my USB ports up...

Oh, and don't forget ripping CD's with their much higher-quality formats than mp3 or mp4. Have to rip those too.

Then you can buy a notebook from one if the many other be does that will include an iticsl drive, but that is the inevitable trend. Your statement begs the question: Why are you traveling with so many CDs and DVDs that you haven't previously transfered? And do you think this is normal consumer behaviour?

BTW, if you are concerned about speed, then you shouldn't be using anything but a Mac Pro as Apple's 9.5mm slot-loading drives are often slower than even the drives in cheap notebooks from other vendors.

I'm not traveling with them... but if I pick up a DVD or CD somewhere while traveling I'd hate to keep it in my backpack the whole time (or if there were no CD or DVD drive not be able to view it). Granted this is a rare use-case. When I buy a portable pro machine, I want no restrictions. I buy it so I can do whatever I want on it, whenever I want. Take it off the macbook... fine. I think if they did that this year or next there would be hell to pay for it, but keep it on the mbp for at least a year after the mb kisses it goodbye.

and seems I've been told on the slow front , though dongle's are exceptionally annoying.

Plenty of HD content on Youtube now and Vimeo.


No keep in mind I don't advocate that a single computer user eschew the optical drive but in a family of multiple computers there really only needs to be one or two optical drives. You can install apps in dmg over a network.

Optical drives sound like a necessity but when you press some people they really haven't used their drive in months. When I exchange files I use USB flash drives or dropbox if the other person has signed up. Eventually with iDisk i'll be able to send a link to a file and they won't even need Dropbox.

Everyone's use is going to be different but frankly if the Ripit/Multiplex combo works well for DVD I'm moving to that.

Homes now how the equivalent of a small business in hardware from printers to phones to computers. Consumers now need to start thinking about sharing resources

That certainly is a reason you would need it but I still think your case is rare. With so many hotels having high-speed internet and digital downloads growing, I think most will want to rent online from iTS et al. instead of buying a DVD.

The new USB 3.0 spec shouldn't be your bottleneck with using an external optical drive, and that should easily happen before Apple is ready to remove the internal drive.

PS: Im surprised that the MBA was not introduced with a Flash drive installer. The CD/DVD sharing is nice, but the system shouldn't had to rely on any optical drive. I think it would go a long way to prepare people for the inevitable. Perhaps they will do that for the slimmed down code of Snow Leopard, so it'll fit on an 8 GB stick, instead of needing 16GB stick.

You are not too bright, are you? iDVD is very easy to use. Many people make DVD's from their home videos. Better than leaving them on tape. You don't know what you are talking about. It is far more convenient to send a DVD to a family member or friend than to try and explain to them how to go to a website and hope they have the right software to view it. Not all PC users like QuickTime either, so your MobileMe gallery would be useless for them. No one is going to put their family videos on YouTube either.

They don't have to learn how to author a DVD, iDVD does that for them. Commerical DVD's and BluRay discs are fairly lame? Wow, get a clue. When a director shoots a movie, he has a finished product. I don't need to see multiple angles. Just because a movie doesn't offer multiple angles, doesn't mean the format is lame. Since you claim to own 2,000 DVD's, I guess you must be really lame then.

Social apps will distribute family videos. Facebookers are already posting material which they would otherwise not post on youtube.

It's already happening, and it's unstoppable

That why Apple need to pull their finger out on the Social side of things.

Good luck with that dream. What is it like to live in a fantasy world all day long? Do you know that the Senate passed a bill to delay the Digital TV transition because they said a large amount of the population are not ready for it? Either they cannot afford a new TV, or that they could not get the voucher from the government (mainly because people that don't need them claimed them and the government ran out). The House denied it, but it could still be delayed.

Super high speed internet won't be as commonplace as you think. Either people won't be able to afford it, they don't really care for it, or it won't even be in their area. Instant streaming of HD? Good luck with that. DVD and BluRay aren't going anywhere. The millions sold daily confirm that. If I like a movie, I want to own it, not stream it over the internet. I would much rather watch a movie in 1080p, than in 720p. YouTube quality is crap and no one wants to crowd around a computer monitor to watch a video. The new popup ads on the video make it even more fun!

Yes and you can make your videos private on Youtube so that only those you want can access it.

Um well the fantasy world i live in is called England

BT "initial market deployment of the Openreach product in early 2010" 40mbps

Virgin 50mbps this year http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/08/v...s-cable-modem/

oh and it costs £35 very reasonable. If I add my extras of (50gb per month) I pay that price now.
Have a guess at what made up that 50gb? No not porn.

But ofcourse I dont really use 50gb per month cos I live in a dream world alll day long !

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Wheres the pink rabbit?


I dont know what strange outpost of the world you live in but almost ALL my mates stream their TV shows, infact last month I gave my TV to my mum because I simply do not ever turn it on. And they distribute their own works via the net as well. None of us use optical formats. Not for a long time. This is not fantasy, this is now.

Enough with the jaundiced attitude about broadband.

My gf has a 1Mb Verizon DSL package. We routinely stream SD Netflix and Hulu
content without too much buffering.

Later on we'll upgrade to 30Mbps cable for roughly $55 a month a 30x improvement.


Yeah I'd say our need for optical is waning. We've watched more streaming movies than actual shipped netflix discs.

Change like this happens quickly. 6 years ago music downloads took off..now look at what we have today.

I don't need anymore landfill clogging discs. iDVD should be kept for legacy application but honestly it's going to take me a long time to go through my 50pk of DVD-R.

a lot of people are asking how software can be distributed without and optical drive, and those people are failing to see the big picture.. thinking like that is the reason it's taking so long to get rid of physical media.

a few people have pointed out flash drives as an alternative, but that's still going to cost a decent amount of cost to package and ship...

people are forgetting about downloads. why not go to itunes, and download the newest version of OS X, or the newest adobe suite. It might take a while, but no longer than driving to the store and buying it and bringing it home. Those stuck in the world of dialup, would possibly be left int he cold, but if you are still using dialup, you probably aren't on the "get rid of physical media" bandwagon anyway. This is where thumb drives would come in handy, but I envision most content coming from the internet, and not thumb drives. Maybe instead of the apple store carrying 200 copies of OS X they only have 10, for those people stuck in dial up. If you are in the store, perhaps you purchase a card with the activation code, and take it home and plug that into itunes, it would be cheaper to manufacture, cheaper ti distribute, and better all around.

It's more than software distribution that is taking so long to get rid of physical medial. There is bandwidth caps and cost of higher speed internet. There is all my other physical media (what am I going to do with all the disc I currently have?). And how am I going to reinstall/recover if my computer crashes/replace HD? Boot off the DVD or flash drive if you want to use another form of physical media.

as for what you will do with your current piles of physical media lying around, you'll do what you did when VHS was deemed unnecessary, keep a legacy means of viewing it, until eventually you realize it's unnecessary and take it all to goodwill.

as for, what do you do if your computer crashes, you will hopefully be backing up an os purchase to an external drive or a thumb drive you already have lying around, which will be made a step in the installation process... "now, tell us where to make the backup of this software in the event of hard drive failure"... other software packages this could be a choice, or just redownload them, as they will know you legitimately paid for the software in the past.

the blocks of how could I do this, or what about this, while currently and installation of an OS doesn't require a backup, this could be done easliy and nicely done... and this is just something I thought up in 30 seconds, I'm sure appl people are paid much more to come up with similar ideas.

Something to keep in mind is that if the service's security is compromised, that privacy can go along with it. For example, a program managed to breach MySpace's security and I think it managed to make copies of "private" photos of about 17,000 users before anyone realized it happened. As I recall, the collection of photos was posted as a Bittorrent shortly afterwards.

Actually I would wager their is a lot more software that is distributed by the internet than their is being sold on a physical disc in stores. At this point its primarily only the largest apps that need to be installed from a disc, their are thousands of small to medium size apps that are available for download. Most developers I can think of only offer their software for download.

Looking at my own example, the only application I've installed from a disc in 2008 was Leopard. The past couple of years the only other app I installed from a disc was MS Office.

Other than those two all the other apps I've installed over the past couple of years have primarily been internet downloads.

Same here. Unless the product takes up a lot of space (ala ilife with the sound libraries) I usually do the download and archive the DMG if I'm worried about re-installation.

I need one optical burner for my Macs. It should rip music and movies fast and burn fast. That's it.

I'd rather have more RAM, or a better GPU in my computers. Now this is coming from a guy that 4 years ago swore he'd never buy software that wasn't on a CD. Now I look at the disc laying around and I don't even want to know what's on them.

A 2TB WD Green HDD is in my future for storing all this crap that I don't want to delete. I've got little desire to backup to DVD-R. Too slow and cumbersom.

Good thing I never had VHS collection. I do have a big CD and DVD collection (movies and software). I guess I could buy a hard drive and copy everything over if I really wanted to spend money just to change the way I store things.

As for using external drive or thumb drive, sounds like you are advocating physical media, just besides optical media.

It sounds like physical media and optical media isn't going anywhere soon, at least for me it's not. Good thing Apple has the Macbook and the Macbook air for those that don't want the optical drive.

I guess it depends on how you look at it, bytes, titles, or package (ie quicktime 7.5, 7.6). And are you considering illegal download? All Macs are sold with DVD's (Mac OS and iLife). Printers are sold with their drivers on CD's or DVD's. All the large software developers sell their software in stores with colorful boxes. So there is lots of software being distributed on discs.

If I want people to see any of my home/event movies they need to be on DVD (as well as online). The vast majority of people still use DVD players to watch movies because of the simplicity of use. Most of my friends and members of my family don't use computers beyond a bit of shopping and using facebook. Its only technophiles that can be bothered to link a computer to a tv. Why the hell would my silver haired old granny want to use youtube or whatever instead of a nice big tv to look at home movies. iDVD still has a place. Don't get me wrong, I use the net for most things but I am in the minority.

No I'm not considering illegal downloads, I'm talking about software that is either freeware or legally purchased. The major software developers that sell large/expensive software packages do sell them in retail packaging.

Small developers rarely to never sell retail software. Their are many more small developers who only distribute their software online. Most major software companies (Google, Yahoo, Adobe, AOL, Apple, Microsoft) are building online software services.

The last printer I bought. The drivers that came on the CD were old and did not properly work, I had to download the newer drivers.

A small sample of software apps distributed online:

-Pixelmator
-Quicktime
-Handbreak
-Audio Hijack Pro
-VLC
-Safari
-Toast Titanium
-Wire Tap Pro
-Firefox
-SuperDuper
-Google Earth
-EyeTV
-Flash
-Snapz Pro X
-Adobe PDF Reader
-Apple Aperture

I guess I'm misspeaking... I do mean optical media, not physical media. you need to store the data somewhere... even in the "cloud" is physically on a drive, just a server drive and not your own drive. I'm seeing a world with no music, or video, or software being sold on discs anymore.

why go to the store and buy a cd if you can get the music from itunes... the same theory applies to movies, and eventually software. of course the cost of video is still too high IMO to replace DVD, but it's coming. Movie studios still feel that DVD's is how most people want to get their content, and until that changes, they will continue to put resources there instead of into digital distribution. Once that happens and costs come down, you will start to see the change. I think people that think this is going to happen in 1-2 years are a little overboard, but it's coming sooner than later.

You have to understand, internet services are not being set up for your silver haired granny.

Internet services are being set up for people 30 and under who are becoming more accustomed to downloading media than purchasing physical media.

Bit of a niche market that

Would ImageBoot provide a potential way to install Snow Leopard (or any OS for that matter) without the use of an external source (be it a disc, hard drive or flash drive)?


http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...imageboot.html

Lot of you guys sound like a bunch of teens, who operate in a time horizon that's not lasting longer than half a school year.

Media needs to be archived!

I can still look at B&W photographs of my great-grand parents, or some oil-paintings of some even longer deceased ancestors.

So now we have the video crazy world, heck, we have even cheap HD cameras.

Do you think you great-grandson will still have that link on youTube where you posted your massively quality degraded version?

Online video distribution is nice for a quick share, it has no pupose for high-quality video that becomes part of a family history. And that's just for private stuff.

There are plenty of low-budget movies/videos being made that don't need any fancy DVD authoring, and iDVD does the trick just fine, furhter for anything from example reels, photo portfolios, etc. that you may want to stick in an envelope along with your resume it is perfectly well suited, DVD Studio Pro is overkill for that.

I guess I must have missed the headline announcing CD's death. Last thing I read was that CD was STILL 80% of all music sold. Yep, certainly seems like the internet has replaced CDs. When did 20% make anything a standard?

Also, comparing Blu-Ray to DVD-Audio (or SACD) isn't very accurate. Unlike Blu-Ray, DVD-A/SACD was never well supported by the studios. Even SACD's creator, Sony, didn't bother to release much of anything on the format. The situation was worsened when one of the studios introduced the DualDisc format.

And these USB flash drives you're depending on to kill Blu-Ray discs. They currently seem to top off at 64GB, not much more space than a Blu-Ray disc. Of course, they're also in the $120 range for consumers. I don't know how much cheaper those might be if purchased in bulk by a movie studio, but even then printing a Blu-Ray is still going to be many many magnitudes cheaper. And talking about hard drives, you quickly run out of space. A 1TB drive might give you space for 50 Blu-Ray quality movies. Then it's off to buy another one.


Where are you getting downloads that are higher quality than Blu-Ray's? The answer is nowhere. The best you're going to download is ILLEGAL rips of Blu-Rays. Most downloads and streams top out at 720p. None of them (except maybe the illegal rips) offer Blu-Ray's lossless audio. All of them are low bit rate. Certainly doesn't sound as good as Blu-Ray (and definitely not better).

And exactly how are downloads/streams any more compatible when you want to watch them on your TV? The only way that would even be vaguely true is if everyone hooks their computer up to their TV. Without hooking up your computer to the TV, download services are pretty much completely incompatible. Netflix streaming is only available on the Roku box, Xbox 360 and HD TiVos. iTunes HD movies can only be viewed via the AppleTV and standard iTunes video can only be viewed via AppleTV or an iPod connected to the TV. Live Marketplace videos are only available on the Xbox 360. Playstation Store videos are only available on the PS3. Amazon Unbox is only available on TiVo. Vudu content requires a Vudu box. That certainly sounds like an awful mess of compatibility. You can pick up any Blu-Ray player and KNOW you'll be able to play any Blu-Ray movie.

There are lots of benefits to downloading movies and software, but there are lots of obstacles too. There is the monthly bandwidth caps being proposed by ISP (both DSL and cable). And using movies as an example, many people don't want to replace their DVD players when they work pretty darn well, especially if they have a large movie collection.

I think download will come, but it is going to come much easier for those that don't have many DVD's.

Windows fails everytime it wakes up.

And the sluggishness of Vista may have a lot to do with being weighed down by Blu-Ray's DRM.

So Apple may actually have Sony to thank for its current market success since Vista's public rejection.

I think CD and DVD or whichever will be their physical media successor will go the same way as the hardcopy (printout) when the computer revolutionized the office. Physical media will stay. The amount of paper going to the landfill has even increased although the general believing was that the paper industry will go down because no one needs paper anymore!

I noticed I made the mistake of referring to 'physical media' when in actual fact my beef is with optical discs.
Just for the record I do not think all physical media will die, phones, flash drives, and HD will still exist for a while, though their days are also numbered in the long sight.

Merely an example of why iDVD is still useful. Not everyone lives life via a computer screen getting frustrated because the tech world isn't moving forward fast enough.

Some are moving faster than others

Digital Britain ...interesting name. Let's hope they don't muck it up with too much anti piracy.

I am another person who uses iDVD on a frequent basis and want this option for sharing movies, photos, etc. I have created several movies and/or slideshows that are on a larger scale than some quick little 3-5 minute video someone might post on MobileMe, etc. Also, MobileMe does not provide enough storage for the type of projects I want to create, and buying additional storage on MobileMe is on the pricey side. Most people I know would rather have a DVD they can watch on their TV. While I might put a shorter video on MobileMe where I can selectively share it, I want the option to burn to a disc. Whether in time that becomes Blu-Ray or something else remains to be seen. However, for now, iDVD is a well-used app on my computer. JMO. \

Look guys, I firmly believe downloading is the future of video distribution. And even I like iDVD.
Disc-burning isn't going to disappear just because downloading becomes prevalent.

I don't think that Apple's online moves are the sole reason iDVD is being ignored like this.

Most people aren't aware that iDVD adds a serious cost on to the iLife suite.
Apple has to pay a DVD licence for each copy.

That used to be something like $20., but I don't know what it is currently.

If disc-burning isn't the primary way that iMovies are shared in the future, it seems reasonable that Apple might pull iDVD out of the suite and make it available on its own. That way, those who are using its capabilities are the ones to pay for it.

I think that's what Apple's preparing for here.

Hahahaha,

I always laugh at you small percentage of people who sit at your computer all day and think everyone else loves the puke that is youtube. There are many who prefer to watch movies that aren't 30% macroblocking, washed out colour and tinny sound.

The reason blu-ray is taking off like wildfire now is b/c it can carry up to 50 GB of data. Try downloading that in your mom's basement!

Youtube is for for the same people who love 192 kbps mp3's and can't understand why anyone would want to buy a CD. Ugh, some people need to remove the sh!t from their ears and eyes.

I think the true reason is that big blu elephant in the room. Apple isn't adopting blu-ray and iDVD only opens the door to the question of "why can't we burn movies on blu-ray?"