Blu-Ray Disc Association Welcomes Apple

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The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) today announced that Apple® will become a member of the consortium’s Board of Directors. Apple has been a leader in driving consumer adoption of DVD authoring since January 2001, with the introduction of its SuperDrive™, the industry’s first high-volume CD- and DVD-burning drive, and its revolutionary iDVD® and DVD Studio Pro® software applications. Apple is also helping bring High Definition (HD) to market with a complete line of HD content creation tools for consumers and professionals alike including iMovie® HD, Final Cut® Express HD and Final Cut Pro® HD editing software.

Additionally the next release of Apple’s QuickTime® software, QuickTime 7, will feature the MPEG developed H.264 Advanced Video Codec (AVC) which has been adopted for high definition DVDs. Apple will release QuickTime 7 in conjunction with the release of Mac OS® X version 10.4 “Tiger,” the fifth major version of Mac OS X that will ship in the first half of 2005.

“Apple is pleased to join the Blu-ray Disc Association board as part of our efforts to drive consumer adoption of HD,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Consumers are already creating stunning HD content with Apple’s leading video editing applications like iMovie HD and are anxiously awaiting a way to burn their own high def DVDs.”

View: Apple Home

“Apple has a long history of technical innovation around DVD hardware and software, and their support of the Blu-ray Disc format is a testament to their commitment of ongoing innovation. The Blu-ray Disc format provides the immense capacity and the revolutionary functionality that Apple’s loyal customer base will be sure to enjoy,” said Maureen Weber, chief BDA spokesperson and general manager of HP's Optical Storage Solutions Business. “We’re thrilled about Apple joining our 16-member board, and we look forward to working with them on the development and promotion of the Blu-ray Disc format.”

The BDA was created to broaden support for Blu-ray Disc—the next generation optical disc for storing High Definition movies, photos and other digital content. Blu-ray Discs will have five times larger capacity than today's DVDs, with a single-layer Blu-ray Disc holding up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc holding up to 50 gigabytes of data. Current DVDs hold 4.7 gigabytes on single-layer discs and 8.5 gigabytes on dual-layer discs.

About Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is a next-generation optical disc format being developed for High Definition video and high-capacity software applications. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data.

#1 WinMacLin on 10 Mar 2005 - 19:00

<Not Surprised> Steve said he would be driving HDTV with Sony's help and since Sony are backing Blue ray its only natural for Apple to get behind it.

in Other Apple<>Sony news.
Sony to release Apple PSP sync software.

(15 replies) #2 Annatar on 10 Mar 2005 - 19:15

Watch as how now every apple user will say now Sony is cool and is a good guy.

#2.1 NinjaMonkey82 on 10 Mar 2005 - 19:55

Not this Apple user. Sony's products have gone downhill over the last few years. There digital music players have always been bad, for the longest time they didn't even play MP3s! Sony definitly isn't my first choice anymore when I'm looking for new consumer electronics.

With that said I hope Blu-Ray becomes the standard. It seems like the better format.

#2.2 WinMacLin on 10 Mar 2005 - 21:24

Have to agree - I am also an Apple user and I would not buy anything from Sony they overcharge for LESS FEATURES! at least with the high cost of Apple hardware you get more features for your money.

#2.3 b0b on 10 Mar 2005 - 22:12

^^^

That is EXACTLY what Apple does. You are a hypocrite.

#2.4 vancity001 on 10 Mar 2005 - 22:18

^^^ Come on, we all know Apple has the best features. How many sony devices do you known that can shuffle?!?!

#2.5 WinMacLin on 10 Mar 2005 - 22:24

Its not b0b - Do some research.

Best value laptop - iBook
Best Powerhouse laptop - Powerbook
Best no nonsense plug and play computer - iMac its simple as.

#2.6 aristotle-dude on 10 Mar 2005 - 23:30

He's not a hypocrite. Just because you may not value all of the extra features Apple provides (ie. Firewire, DVD/CD-R Combo drive, bluetooth). Apple does not supply bare bones machines (except for the mini) deal with it.

There are plenty of people who do value those features.

#2.7 b0b on 11 Mar 2005 - 00:14

Why doesn't NASA for example use Apple XServer(sp?) then? .. Because it has no chance against an IA-64 box (actually, nothing on earth does, but ohwell).

#2.8 roadwarrior on 11 Mar 2005 - 00:35

Hey b0b, you do realize that there are more Apple XServe based supercomputers in the Top 10 than IA-64 based systems, right? And NASA does make use of one of those, by the way. http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/34668.html

#2.9 gunky on 11 Mar 2005 - 00:51

haha! way to bring in the steamboat of truth, road warrior

#2.10 b0b on 11 Mar 2005 - 03:29

Here is the most up to date list:

http://www.top500.org/lists/2004/11/

none of which are on OS X.

#2.11 jerry on 11 Mar 2005 - 03:41

QUOTE

none of which are on OS X.

I thought we were talking about Apple hardware ? Why did you bring in OS X ?

Way to dodge the topic and keep trolling, which apparently you are good at.

#2.12 bilemke on 11 Mar 2005 - 04:22

There are a lot of non Apple users that valued those things a long time before Apple integrated them in to their machines. Furthermore, there are a lot more softwre products that add value to a "DVD/CD-R Combo drive" on a non Apple machine then on a Apple.. And wow, a "DVD/CD-R Combo drive".. Make the name a little longer.. Pretty sure the first DVD burner I had could read and write CD-R's too.

I maybe do not value my DVD burner or Firewire (1394) as much anymore as I expect it as a norm when I buy a computer. Wait, I don't buy computers, I buy parts and build my own.. Anyway, if I were to buy a HP or Compaq or Dell...etc... I would expect no less then a DVD burner for what Apple charges for a machine.

BTW...

OS or hardware... Fine... I will defend his little statement you attacked..
Processor Family of Top 500 Super Computers

@jerry.. Lot of posts here on neowin.. How many of them have been useless posts quickly calling someone a troll? 4 Comments in this news post already and nothing made of use. Short of the comment about the picture of the Panther box.

Last edited by 4554 on 11 Mar 2005 - 04:32

#2.13 roadwarrior on 11 Mar 2005 - 17:37

@ b0b: I guess you missed #7 on the list, the VT supercomputer. Funny, the only IA-64 system I see used nearly twice as many processors to achieve just slightly better performance (two spots higher). Not exactly what I'd call stellar performance.

@ bilemike: Yeah, the largest percentage might be Intel, but where are they on the list? From the looks of it, there are only two or three in the top 20. The majority of the top 20 are PowerPC based systems, including Mac based systems.

#2.14 bilemke on 11 Mar 2005 - 19:23

Top 20.. how many of them are the newest.. I bet they will be tried out.. And that will be the end.. Something new and then back to real cpus.. Only sad thing about the list.. I wish there was a AMD category for all the Opterons that must have been sold laster year.

#2.15 PureLogic on 15 Mar 2005 - 14:47

lol this Apple user doesn't have any hardware at home with Sony on it

#3 Mathiasdm on 10 Mar 2005 - 19:20

Hooray! Let's hope Blu-Ray wins the format war

#4 Sinzen on 10 Mar 2005 - 19:22

sweet.......when I finally roll around to getting an Apple, it might have a blu-ray drive.

#5 eilegz on 10 Mar 2005 - 19:51

well the death of hd-dvd

anyways i hate all this format war whoever wins its probably not the users or customers that have to deal with incompatibility between both formats. too bad that these companies dun understand this.

(3 replies) #6 RangerLG on 10 Mar 2005 - 20:07

I'm not suprised. Microsoft is backing HD-DVD, so it is natural that Apple would back Blu-Ray.

#6.1 Mathiasdm on 10 Mar 2005 - 20:27

I never heard anything about Microsoft backing HD-DVD. I believe you might be misinformed (though I'm not sure).

#6.2 eilegz on 10 Mar 2005 - 21:18

nahh microsoft wanted to support it for xbox but to cut cost they rather use normal dvd instead of hd-dvd they dont want to compete with sony with format wars anyways so basically microsoft wont support hd-dvd at least for now.

And now that we look for it most computers companies support ble ray disc (like dell and apple) so microsoft have to support br-d they want it or not

#6.3 theyarecomingforyou on 10 Mar 2005 - 21:45

Ultimately it is good that Microsoft aren't using HD-DVD for Xbox 2, as Blu-Ray is a superior format - by not adopting it it allows Sony to push BluRay as the next consumer standard.

#7 StuRReaL on 10 Mar 2005 - 20:14

yay nice one Apple

let have blu-ray live we don't want JVC creating another inferior format which the masses then use. I'll personally be buying a blu-ray drive

betamax vs VHS

#8 Solarix on 10 Mar 2005 - 20:42

lol first thing i saw when i red the title was "why am i not surprised"

(3 replies) #9 SlakeT on 10 Mar 2005 - 20:54

Not good for Blu-Ray technology. ipple will do what they always do. Force their user base to use it and make it completely incompatible with 95% of the rest of the world. Either that or maybe ipple finally has figured they best jump on the wagon if they want to compete as a computer company and not just a music company.

#9.1 jerry on 10 Mar 2005 - 22:02

^ dont make any sense at all.

#9.2 Skyfrog on 10 Mar 2005 - 22:24

ipple will do what they always do. Force their user base to use it and make it completely incompatible with 95% of the rest of the world.

What is an ipple, and what are you blathering about?

#9.3 jagedEdge on 10 Mar 2005 - 22:47

What the **** are you on? Let's see, it's called the Blu-Ray STANDARD for a reason, and it's not like you can't, right now, take a DVD and play it on a PC but not a Mac. As a matter of fact, it's usually the other way around, where the DVD will not play correctly in the PC but play perfectly in the Mac.

#10 terryb on 10 Mar 2005 - 21:15

go blu-ray!

#11 robpears on 10 Mar 2005 - 21:56

nice i have liked the look a blu-ray for a while but unsure of its future

#12 mac15 on 10 Mar 2005 - 22:15

I was hoping Apple and every other computer maker would hold out and see which format takes off, Blu-Ray is technically superior but its more expensive.

#13 jerry on 10 Mar 2005 - 22:17

why does this article have a shot of a Panther retail box ?

(9 replies) #14 TwoTailedFox on 10 Mar 2005 - 22:24

You all know what this means!

With Apple joining the Blu-Ray Board, all Blu-Ray DVD-Players made will use one button to operate it, no backwards compatability, and it will cost twice as much as it should do!

#14.1 Skyfrog on 10 Mar 2005 - 22:29

Go you!

#14.2 bucko on 10 Mar 2005 - 22:52

It does not mean that at all you fool

#14.3 SlakeT on 11 Mar 2005 - 02:05

With Apple joining the Blu-Ray Board, all Blu-Ray DVD-Players made will use one button to operate it, no backwards compatability, and it will cost twice as much as it should do!

Wait second. You forgot they will all either be made in cheap white plastic or look like a giant aluminum electric razor. Oh ya, it will also have used parts in it and be five times as much as it should be.

LOL!

#14.4 Skyfrog on 11 Mar 2005 - 03:21

The article didn't say that Apple is taking over the Blu-Ray Disc Association, just that they joined. I guess you had to show off your razor sharp wit anyway though, and make no mistake you guys are really hilarious. I actually fell off my chair from laughing so hard at your clever and original "jokes", they were just so amusing. Seriously, your posts weren't lame and foolish at all. Everybody give them a round of applause.

#14.5 jerry on 11 Mar 2005 - 03:43

Eloquently put Skyfrog, good job.

#14.6 eAi on 11 Mar 2005 - 11:46

Ageed...

#14.7 TwoTailedFox on 11 Mar 2005 - 14:14

I should probably end my posts with the tag </JOKE> to avoid any confusion next time

#14.8 dp123 on 11 Mar 2005 - 17:11

Or </IDIOT>

#14.9 DenS on 11 Mar 2005 - 21:05

lol

On topic:
Good move from apple.

#15 thenay on 11 Mar 2005 - 10:30

This will help Blu-Ray win over HD-DVD big time

Good move Apple!

#16 advancedboy on 12 Mar 2005 - 14:21

Is this Blu-Ray stuff anything like the proposed holodisks people have been squeeming over since the 60's? They hold 1TB of data, etc.

If you don't know what I mean:
Link 1: itweek
Link 2: itweek
Link 3: itweek

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