[warnergt]

Got it. Thanks.

[Eden Aurora]

AppleGirl, I have the same problem that you mentioned earlier. I have HD video footage on my camcorder. I've imported that footage into iMovie09. I've edited it. Now i want to get it to some of my friends, many of them have blu-ray players. Not sure what my options are.

If i burn to a regular DVD, it's not in HD quality. If i post online, they have the burden of watching it in a small window and have to deal with the incredibly long download times.

Is there really no way of getting it from iMovie09 onto a blu-ray disc?

[warnergt]

As I said in this thread, I'm making Blu-ray high definition discs now.
You need a Blu-ray writer and you need software.
Blu-ray writers are relatively cheap (< $200).
Media is getting cheap (approaching $3).
For software, Toast is cheap but it didn't work
for me (but there is a newer version now).
I'm using Adobe Encore CS3 which comes
with Adobe Premiere -- not cheap --
but affordable if you can update from a
previous version.

[Eden Aurora]

Warnergt, can you update your Toast software with the latest patch and let everyone know if that solved your problem. I don't think Adobe Premiere is for me. Not only is it expensive, but it's complicated and i probably couldn't figure it out.

Please let me know about Toast. Which version are you trying?

[warnergt]

It's not a patch; it's an upgrade. And it cost $100.
I have a working solution (Adobe Encore) which I believe is
far more powerful. Between the upgrade price and the fact
that the previous version didn't work for me, I'm not interested
in the Toast upgrade.

[[MaC]BoOk[PrO]]

Nah, apple doesnt make a blue-ray player YET. But im sure if you got an external drive that the new mac Nvidia graphics cards would be more than able to support blu-ray external drives. The only company that actually makes blu-ray players IN the computers right now is sony, and they stink . Hopefully apple will come out with a computer that can play blu-ray. Hope this helped

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by [MaC]BoOk[PrO] 

Nah, apple doesnt make a blue-ray player YET. But im sure if you got an external drive that the new mac Nvidia graphics cards would be more than able to support blu-ray external drives. The only company that actually makes blu-ray players IN the computers right now is sony, and they stink . Hopefully apple will come out with a computer that can play blu-ray. Hope this helped

There are plenty of companies besides Sony who make computers with built-in Blu-ray players. Dell for one. In fact, MOST major companies at least have Blu-ray as an option.

The graphics cards in Macs have nothing to do with why Apple hasn't made it an option. Even if you got an external Blu-ray drive, you still wouldn't be able to play Blu-ray movies on your Mac. The OS doesn't support Blu-ray playback - THAT is the limitation, not the graphics card.

[warnergt]

I'm not an expert on it but I believe the graphics card is a problem. Blu-ray requires DRM on its high-def digital output. Consequently, to view a full HD resolution from a Blu-ray digital source, you need a video card and/or display that can handle the signal with the DRM. For HDTV, this is done through the HDMI interface.

The new Macs and iPods have been quietly introducing different video interfaces. I suspect this is very much related to being able to support Blu-ray. Time will tell.

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by warnergt 

I'm not an expert on it but I believe the graphics card is a problem. Blu-ray requires DRM on its high-def digital output. Consequently, to view a full HD resolution from a Blu-ray digital source, you need a video card and/or display that can handle the signal with the DRM. For HDTV, this is done through the HDMI interface.

The new Macs and iPods have been quietly introducing different video interfaces. I suspect this is very much related to being able to support Blu-ray. Time will tell.

Perhaps you are right that the video card plays some part, but I maintain that the OS must also support Blu-ray playback (i.e., encryption/decryption). Until OS X supports playback, it won't matter WHAT video card you have in your Mac. Try it: plug in an external Blu-ray player to your Mac with a high-end video card and try to play a Blu-ray movie. It won't work because the OS doesn't support it. Apple has to provide OS level support for the encryption/decryption of the HD signal from the source to the output - they haven't done that yet.

[Eden Aurora]

Apple today released a new version of Final Cut Studio. Which contains Final Cut Pro 7.
One of the new features is an easy export to Blu-Ray Disc (provided you own a Blu-Ray recorder).

Does this mean i am able to play Blu-Ray on my computer? Or does this mean that i will only be able to burn a blu-ray, but not watch (provided of course i have a blu-ray burner). And does this mean that the OS now supports Blu-Ray? Someone must know.

[Eden Aurora]

Today, there are rumors swirling around that the next iMac will have a built in blu-ray player/burner. Of course, just rumors.

[Eden Aurora]

Again, today i see rumors about iTunes 9 supporting blu-ray. I thought the computer couldn't play back blu-ray without new hardware. Anyone have knowledge on this topic?

[Eden Aurora]

I keep reading about the NEW iMac which is going to be released in the next 3 weeks. The big/surprise feature is going to be blu-ray support via blu-ray burner. This is amazing news if true, however, i wonder what Mac Pro users think.

If Apple chooses to update this feature for iMac users and not Pro users, i imagine a lot of Pro's will be pissed.

[Eden Aurora]

time keeps passing. new iMac doesn't have blu-ray support.

what is everyone doing with their HD video from their camcorders?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Eden Aurora 

what is everyone doing with their HD video from their camcorders?

I don't make my own videos. Nobody wants to see that crap anyways. Not even in HD.

-t

[Eden Aurora]

Am i the only person who wants their video footage in HD quality?
Kind of odd that not many people are burning blu-ray disks these days.

[webraider]

Originally Posted by Eden Aurora 

Am i the only person who wants their video footage in HD quality?
Kind of odd that not many people are burning blu-ray disks these days.

No you're not the only person, however this is something that you CAN do on a Mac if you have a burner and Toast. Also, If you are fortunate enough to have compressor, you can also burn a BluRay. You don't have to wait for Apple for this feature, although I am confident they will eventually release more software supporting BluRay. They are just taking their sweet time doing it.

[Eden Aurora]

What does Compressor do?

[angelmb]

Originally Posted by Eden Aurora 

What does Compressor do?

It's part of the Final Cut Studio suite.

Blu-ray disc and DVD burning. You can now easily burn a Blu-ray disc or a DVD directly from Compressor. Quickly add a menu to your disc by choosing one of the beautiful Apple-designed HD or SD templates or, to achieve a specific look, import and use third-party or custom templates.

Apple - Final Cut Studio - Compressor 3.5 - Streamlined Encoding & Delivery

[webraider]

Originally Posted by angelmb 

It's part of the Final Cut Studio suite.

Blu-ray disc and DVD burning. You can now easily burn a Blu-ray disc or a DVD directly from Compressor. Quickly add a menu to your disc by choosing one of the beautiful Apple-designed HD or SD templates or, to achieve a specific look, import and use third-party or custom templates.

Apple - Final Cut Studio - Compressor 3.5 - Streamlined Encoding & Delivery

It's also part of Logic Studio.

[Eug]

Now that my Firewire DVD burner no longer works, I'm considering getting a Blu-ray burner.

Any recommended Blu-ray burners? Either external Blu-ray drives or else an internal one with an external 5.25" drive enclosure? I looked at this slimline Asus drive. The USB-powered aspect of it is nice, but it'd probably just sit on my desk anyway, so having an external power supply is OK too. However, I've not seen any reviews of that unit. It may make more sense to just get an external drive enclosure with an internal drive.

I'd use Toast with it, for burning data.

[cgc]

Originally Posted by AppleGirl1990 

Apple is normally a trend setter, so i'm super surprised they havne't enabled iDVD to burn to external blu-ray burners YET~!

Didn't Steve Jobs say Apple was essentially skipping Blu-Ray and going w/ downloads instead so they are kind of in a round about way being a "trend-setter"?

In a 2008 interview Steve said, "Blu-Ray was a bag of hurt" and he didn't want to impose it's kooky and confusing licensing on it's consumers (through high pricing or restrictions). At a 2010 interview he added, “Bluray is looking more and more like one of the high end audio formats that appeared as the successor to the CD – like it will be beaten by Internet downloadable formats.”

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Now that my Firewire DVD burner no longer works, I'm considering getting a Blu-ray burner.

Any recommended Blu-ray burners? Either external Blu-ray drives or else an internal one with an external 5.25" drive enclosure? I looked at this slimline Asus drive. The USB-powered aspect of it is nice, but it'd probably just sit on my desk anyway, so having an external power supply is OK too. However, I've not seen any reviews of that unit. It may make more sense to just get an external drive enclosure with an internal drive.

The 10x LG is well reviewed, add a matching enclosure for $165 total in funny money.

[Eug]

Hmmm... Weird, the Firewire DVD burner is working again. I reinstalled the 2.0.1 IOFirewire......kext update again and rebooted and this time it worked, so I guess the 2.0.1 update has a fix for it. Dunno why it didn't work the first time.

Nonetheless, I'll still get a new BR burner. I'll keep the DVD burner for DVD-ROM bit-flagging for region-free DVD+R, and I'll use the BR burner for secondary backups.

Anyone know what the max burn rates over USB2 are with that Vantec USB2 enclosure? My guess is that the 10X Blu-ray might max out the enclosure, but then again it won't matter since anything beyond 4X for BD-R media costs way too much anyway.

My local shop also has a Vantec USB2/eSATA enclosure, but it costs more and no Mac supports eSATA yet.

[mduell]

USB2 on a Mac will limit you to about 4x. There's no real cost savings going to a slower burner.

[Eug]

4X? I was hoping for 6X or more, but like I said, it's a moot point until media prices drop dramatically.

Thanks for the LG recommendation. I did a search, and found it going for $116 on sale - locally too so no shipping cost. You can also patch the firmware to do autoreset for DVD region coding, but I won't bother because I already have drives for that.

BTW, 10 Verbatim 4X discs is about 30 bucks so I'll pick some of those up too.

P.S. Do any of you use LTH BD-R media? I'm a little wary of it. The 4X media I'm getting is not LTH.

[olePigeon]

Will your movie not fit on a dual layer DVD?

[Eug]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Will your movie not fit on a dual layer DVD?

Data backups. I'm always uncomfortable having only hard drive backups.

For example, it will be nice having all my home iTunes files backed up on just a few discs, that I can store off-site (in my office) in the closet.

The main reason I didn't do this sooner is because of cost. The drives are still over $100 (I was wanting to see them at $99), but the good news is that the media is now a LOT cheaper. In fact, it's competitive against DL DVD too.

At <$3 per standard 25 GB disc (and <$2 per LTH disc), BD-R is now affordable.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Eug 

4X? I was hoping for 6X or more, but like I said, it's a moot point until media prices drop dramatically.

The best consistent USB2 performance I've seen on a Mac is about 20MBps and 1x BR is 36Mbps, so that's about 4.4X. CalDigit reported 32MBps sustained on USB2 in their recent USB3 testing, that'd be 7.2X.

[Eug]

For a 22.4 GB burn, I'm getting 5X out of my USB BR drive according to Toast (with 6X media). (For some reason the drive wants to burn my 4X Verbatim media at 8X, and 6X Verbatim media at 10X, but I just burn at the specified speeds.)



I'm using the LG BH10LS30 with the Vantec eSATA / USB 2 enclosure.

BTW, it's not the best designed enclosure I must say. The front bezel is cheap plastic and it can be pulled off easily, and the fan is always on. To disconnect the fan, you have to diassemble the entire electronics portion of it, to get at the power lead to the fan to unplug it.

Also, it's unstable in the vertical orientation. It doesn't come with feet, so being metal it slides around on the desk, and it easily tips over. So, I just have it flat.

[Eden Aurora]

So are any of you guys with the Blu Ray burners using it to burn iMovies? if so, what program do you use to burn and how well does it work?

[willed]

Wow, a two year-old threat that's still going. You guys are nothing if not persistent!

But ultimately, it's pretty clear that unless you're doing BD authoring professionally (with the software costs which that implies) it looks like this is never going to be an option. Particularly because:
- even the latest Mac Pros don't offer BD as an option. BD has been around for years now - Apple could have worked out the DRM issues if they wanted to.
- The recently announced Mac App Store gets rid of the final reason most people need a DVD player in their laptops these days - to install new software. Steve said the MacBook Air showed the way of things to come. Not long now before the higher end MacBooks lose their DVD drives too. (The other reason of course would be to watch DVDs, but Apple doesn't want you to do that, it wants you to buy form the iTunes Store.)

The only problem with their strategy is that Apple TV and iTunes Store only support 720p, not 1080p. But most people don't really notice the difference anyway, and in time 1080p will be made available.

Apple want you to keep everything on your Mac. If you need to view it on a TV, use your (mandatory) Apple TV. If you need to send it to friends, even YouTube does 1080p now.

Annoying I know, but that's one of the joys of living in a walled garden where Steve makes the (sometimes pretty arbitrary) rules.

[Eden Aurora]

Forget for a moment how your friends and family view your homemade blu-ray movies. Blu-ray disc, Apple TV, YouTube.....the method of sharing is something we have debated for quiet some time. I personally would like to burn to a disc and have friends play in a player (much like a regular DVD).

Lets also focus on the method of storage. HD footage takes up a huge amount of space. I don't want all my video on my disk drive. I currently have hundreds of gigs of HD video in iMovie and it's causing iMovie to run like a snail! Additionally, i have hundreds of gigs taking up valuable space on my hard drive. Sure i can get external hard drives, but i can't share it easily from that. Am i suppose to send my external hard drive to my friends?

So from this perspective, sharing via blu-ray disc solves 2 problems!