I have many DVDs still to create and I have no interest in the "cloud".
However, I would be quite happy to see iDVD disappear along as its functionality was integrated into iMovie. I doubt that'll happen so iDVD needs to stay.
The thing most people I know think about when they start iDVD is the following:
- So, how do I get rid of all these embarrassing menus and just make a plain dvd with my movie?
Seriously they should have just made it as simple as with the burn folders in the Finder. Why not make a DVD folder, toss in a couple of movies and say burn to DVD?
Now that DVD is kind of behind us, what REALLY*would be a worthy successor to iDVD would be an HD youTube Apple tool. (I know youTube is doing some HD recently, but it doesn't really play that well... on macs... yet.) I wish that instead of Apple trying to make a buck out of the Cloud here, that they team up with mighty youTube and create an enhanced HD youTube Apple interface.
Apple iBluRay for consumers? I wouldn't wait for it. But DVD Studio Pro should definitely get a BluRay update. It's probably hard to leverage the full potential of the BluRay format into a reasonable straight forward app though. Probably why it's being so delayed.
The example in the story about Apple getting rid of 3.5" floppies doesn't really apply unless Apple plans on elminating optical burners in their computers. The iPod example is equally irrelevant as the choice of storage medium in an iPod is not matter to most users, as long as it as the right capacity vs cost.
On the other hand, not even mentioning iDVD on the retail box is very odd. Even if they don't invest in updating iDVD, I certainly hope they continue to include it. I've used it many times (far more often than GarageBand or iWeb). Not every one has FIOS or even cable/DSL. And every iDVD project I've done had at least some navigation component to it that made use of iDVD's menus and chapters (ie, it wasn't a simply dump of a movie to a disc). You can't really do that with YouTube.
Maybe if Apple has no interest in it they shoud sell it to Roxio to include with Toast.
Next, Apple can make the eject key on the MacBook Air do something useful, like eject Network Storage, iDisks, iPods and other USB mass storage devices. Preferable via a large HUD style UI with an icon for each device or disk like the command-tab app switcher.
If I were CEO of Apple, I would rip that optical drive from the macbook.
The quicker physical mediums disappear the better.
I certainly would not miss it. I have used the drive maybe 5 times in the last decade.
Hear hear! I'm looking at the Macbook Unibody and thinking "get rid of the optical drive that I never use and add FW back"
I think Apple laptops are going to look a whole lot different in a couple of years. Optical drives will probably not be standard. Can't say I'll miss'em. As long as I have an external drive that I can use in a pinch for multiple Macs i'm happy.
Given Apple's healthy business in both HD and mobile movie rentals and MobileMe online publishing, contrasted with the disappointing pace of Blu-Ray adoption, it looks like the company has picked the right strategy.
I find it rather dubious tech reporting to cite an article over a year old to support one's assertion of the low rate of BluRay adoption, which was apparently written just before HD-DVD threw in the towel. While I don't have the current numbers, I imagine the rate may not match that of DVD's adoption, although I would be quite surprised if it is not steadily growing.
I think the real hold-up of widespread BluRay adoption is the simple cost per GB, compared to hard disk storage, which is still rather high. If and when BluRay can come anywhere close, and then drop below the current cost per GB of hard disk and flash storage, it might have a chance. But I have to agree with those who have cited optical storage as another complementary form of distribution for those situations where cloud distribution is either not possible, inconvenient, or too costly. I certainly don't have the funds or bandwidth to store all my HD footage in the cloud, and right now hard disks are significantly more cost-effective than BluRay, although it would be great to have affordable optical storage as a second-tier of archival capability.
iDVD is NOT for making commercial DVDs, it is a simple tool for making a DVD that will play in any DVD player. It does exactly what you said it should do, it even has an Easy DVD option when you connect a video camera and it will make a DVD right from it with one or two clicks.
It is very easy to use, much easier than iMovie.
What software do you use to make your DVDs?
I guess it couldn't be that you just misunderstood me, eh?
The part where I said I had years of experience with the software and had used all versions of it and helped others use it made you think: "Hey I know better than him!"
In fact, I was differentiating between the fact that most DVD players nowadays can play any old movie that happens to be on a DVD disc, (just as they can play MP3 discs), and the need to create a "commercial" DVD, with chapters and menus etc.
The former is in high demand, the later, not so much.
... I think the real hold-up of widespread BluRay adoption is the simple cost per GB, compared to hard disk storage, which is still rather high. ...
As someone with a huge DVD collection that has just switched to BluRay, I think this is spot on. Price, price, price.
When I go to buy a movie now, I always look at the BluRay option if it's there because it's higher quality, but it isn't really worth anything extra for most movies. It's even less worth it to buy a BluRay if you already have the DVD or VHS or Laser copies and most collectors who do the serious buying are likely to have these as well. Most BluRay discs seem to be priced at roughly double the DVD equivalent.
BluRay is really just a drop in replacement for DVD and won't take off until the price is basically the exact same as DVD.
I might add that digital movies are often no better.
I was looking at the "new arrivals" on iTunes the other day and one of them is "journey to the Centre of the Earth" with James Mason from the 60's. They want 20 bucks for it! We are talking a 40 to 50 year old movie based on an over 100 year old book. This movie has regularly appeared in bargain bins at movie rental places for over twenty years in the 2 to 3 dollar range in VHS and DVD but they want 20 bucks for a DRM'ed digital copy of it. I have a high definition VHS version of it right here with a big $2.99 sticker on it.
Needless to say, this is absolutely insane pricing and there are many many other movies like it in the store also.
I think the article may be right. Blu-ray is like SACD. It is very good but the price and convience of digital downloads may overshadow the better quality. I own 2 PS3's and two HP laptops with a BD-rom. I have over 50 BDs in my collection. But seriously, how many times do you watch a movie? A home theater with the sound system and big screen may be best with an optical disk but do the majority of us really have all that equipment. Enjoy Blu-ray while we have it. Jobs may be right.
Next, Apple can make the eject key on the MacBook Air do something useful, like eject Network Storage, iDisks, iPods and other USB mass storage devices. Preferable via a large HUD style UI with an icon for each device or disk like the command-tab app switcher.
Save messing around in the Finder sidebar.
YES! At the very least let it eject selected drives.
As for iDVD, I could see Apple leaving it out of future iLife boxes and just make it a free download, similar to iMovie '06 (well, before they took it down a few days ago).
There's already a precedent for Apple dropping SuperDrives in laptops - the MacBook Air - so it makes logical sense they'll do the same to the rest of their laptops in the near future. Disc drives take up space, add weight, and suck power. They'll still sell external disc drives for those that need them, just like they sell USB modems for people still on dial-up.
Over 30 of my friends who were die hard Windows users were all ******ing about MovieMaker and what a pain in the *** it was to use. "And don't get me started about trying to burn a dvd after finally getting the video edited."
I took my iMac to a group meeting and showed them how easy it was to pull video off a video camera, edit it, and then burn a DVD. About 80 people were there at the motorcycle social. I know personally of 30 of the people that bought Macs because of that.
Comments
However, I would be quite happy to see iDVD disappear along as its functionality was integrated into iMovie. I doubt that'll happen so iDVD needs to stay.
- So, how do I get rid of all these embarrassing menus and just make a plain dvd with my movie?
Seriously they should have just made it as simple as with the burn folders in the Finder. Why not make a DVD folder, toss in a couple of movies and say burn to DVD?
Now that DVD is kind of behind us, what REALLY*would be a worthy successor to iDVD would be an HD youTube Apple tool. (I know youTube is doing some HD recently, but it doesn't really play that well... on macs... yet.) I wish that instead of Apple trying to make a buck out of the Cloud here, that they team up with mighty youTube and create an enhanced HD youTube Apple interface.
Apple iBluRay for consumers? I wouldn't wait for it. But DVD Studio Pro should definitely get a BluRay update. It's probably hard to leverage the full potential of the BluRay format into a reasonable straight forward app though. Probably why it's being so delayed.
[ed: snipped quote. Hhow about NOT quoting the whole article to make a one line response!]
On the other hand, not even mentioning iDVD on the retail box is very odd. Even if they don't invest in updating iDVD, I certainly hope they continue to include it. I've used it many times (far more often than GarageBand or iWeb). Not every one has FIOS or even cable/DSL. And every iDVD project I've done had at least some navigation component to it that made use of iDVD's menus and chapters (ie, it wasn't a simply dump of a movie to a disc). You can't really do that with YouTube.
Maybe if Apple has no interest in it they shoud sell it to Roxio to include with Toast.
I've had way too many dye-based DVDs fail over time, and archival matters to my clients.
I think Apple is doing the smart thing here...
The quicker physical mediums disappear the better.
I certainly would not miss it. I have used the drive maybe 5 times in the last decade.
Save messing around in the Finder sidebar.
If I were CEO of Apple, I would rip that optical drive from the macbook.
The quicker physical mediums disappear the better.
I certainly would not miss it. I have used the drive maybe 5 times in the last decade.
Hear hear! I'm looking at the Macbook Unibody and thinking "get rid of the optical drive that I never use and add FW back"
I think Apple laptops are going to look a whole lot different in a couple of years. Optical drives will probably not be standard. Can't say I'll miss'em. As long as I have an external drive that I can use in a pinch for multiple Macs i'm happy.
Given Apple's healthy business in both HD and mobile movie rentals and MobileMe online publishing, contrasted with the disappointing pace of Blu-Ray adoption, it looks like the company has picked the right strategy.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
I find it rather dubious tech reporting to cite an article over a year old to support one's assertion of the low rate of BluRay adoption, which was apparently written just before HD-DVD threw in the towel. While I don't have the current numbers, I imagine the rate may not match that of DVD's adoption, although I would be quite surprised if it is not steadily growing.
I think the real hold-up of widespread BluRay adoption is the simple cost per GB, compared to hard disk storage, which is still rather high. If and when BluRay can come anywhere close, and then drop below the current cost per GB of hard disk and flash storage, it might have a chance. But I have to agree with those who have cited optical storage as another complementary form of distribution for those situations where cloud distribution is either not possible, inconvenient, or too costly. I certainly don't have the funds or bandwidth to store all my HD footage in the cloud, and right now hard disks are significantly more cost-effective than BluRay, although it would be great to have affordable optical storage as a second-tier of archival capability.
iDVD is NOT for making commercial DVDs, it is a simple tool for making a DVD that will play in any DVD player. It does exactly what you said it should do, it even has an Easy DVD option when you connect a video camera and it will make a DVD right from it with one or two clicks.
It is very easy to use, much easier than iMovie.
What software do you use to make your DVDs?
I guess it couldn't be that you just misunderstood me, eh?
The part where I said I had years of experience with the software and had used all versions of it and helped others use it made you think: "Hey I know better than him!"
In fact, I was differentiating between the fact that most DVD players nowadays can play any old movie that happens to be on a DVD disc, (just as they can play MP3 discs), and the need to create a "commercial" DVD, with chapters and menus etc.
The former is in high demand, the later, not so much.
"brain-dead stupid." ha classic Jobs. love it.
That was the stand-out line for me also.
....Now that DVD is kind of behind us, what REALLY would be a worthy successor to iDVD would be an HD youTube Apple tool..
Hey, come to think of it. Maybe that super duper new QuickTime X will host a movie distribution model to replace iDVD?.. just a thought.
... I think the real hold-up of widespread BluRay adoption is the simple cost per GB, compared to hard disk storage, which is still rather high. ...
As someone with a huge DVD collection that has just switched to BluRay, I think this is spot on. Price, price, price.
When I go to buy a movie now, I always look at the BluRay option if it's there because it's higher quality, but it isn't really worth anything extra for most movies. It's even less worth it to buy a BluRay if you already have the DVD or VHS or Laser copies and most collectors who do the serious buying are likely to have these as well. Most BluRay discs seem to be priced at roughly double the DVD equivalent.
BluRay is really just a drop in replacement for DVD and won't take off until the price is basically the exact same as DVD.
I might add that digital movies are often no better.
I was looking at the "new arrivals" on iTunes the other day and one of them is "journey to the Centre of the Earth" with James Mason from the 60's. They want 20 bucks for it! We are talking a 40 to 50 year old movie based on an over 100 year old book. This movie has regularly appeared in bargain bins at movie rental places for over twenty years in the 2 to 3 dollar range in VHS and DVD but they want 20 bucks for a DRM'ed digital copy of it. I have a high definition VHS version of it right here with a big $2.99 sticker on it.
Needless to say, this is absolutely insane pricing and there are many many other movies like it in the store also.
Hung UP to dry?
Nope, the phrase is "hung out to dry" as in abandoning someone or something.
BD Fan
Next, Apple can make the eject key on the MacBook Air do something useful, like eject Network Storage, iDisks, iPods and other USB mass storage devices. Preferable via a large HUD style UI with an icon for each device or disk like the command-tab app switcher.
Save messing around in the Finder sidebar.
YES! At the very least let it eject selected drives.
As for iDVD, I could see Apple leaving it out of future iLife boxes and just make it a free download, similar to iMovie '06 (well, before they took it down a few days ago).
There's already a precedent for Apple dropping SuperDrives in laptops - the MacBook Air - so it makes logical sense they'll do the same to the rest of their laptops in the near future. Disc drives take up space, add weight, and suck power. They'll still sell external disc drives for those that need them, just like they sell USB modems for people still on dial-up.
That said, they'd better not take it out of iLife any time soon.
I took my iMac to a group meeting and showed them how easy it was to pull video off a video camera, edit it, and then burn a DVD. About 80 people were there at the motorcycle social. I know personally of 30 of the people that bought Macs because of that.