[intlplby]

how long do most of you people speculate it will be until we see Blue-Ray drives or HD-DVD drives in a powermac and somewhat affordable recordable discs?

i'm looking to replace lots of my DVD backups with a few Blue-Ray discs instead

[DMBand0026]

Apple will be using Blu-Ray in their machines. And I cant imagine it will be much longer, within the year I'd say. Especially since Steve Jobs declared 2005 "the year of HD." I'd expect them in PowerBooks sooner rather than later as the PowerBook should get a HD display sometime in the near future.

[ast3r3x]

However, I wouldn't expect them to have much use if they do go into a line. I haven't heard much of an update, but Toshiba and Sony decided to work together so there wouldn't be a format war didn't they? Try and take the best of each product and make one great thing? I can't imagine this would be easy though. But they said they were going to, so I don't get how these burners are coming out with Blu-Ray and how PS3 will have Blu-Ray. Seems like it would become instantly outdated.

[Bryson]

Originally Posted by ast3r3x However, I wouldn't expect them to have much use if they do go into a line. I haven't heard much of an update, but Toshiba and Sony decided to work together so there wouldn't be a format war didn't they? Try and take the best of each product and make one great thing? I can't imagine this would be easy though. But they said they were going to, so I don't get how these burners are coming out with Blu-Ray and how PS3 will have Blu-Ray. Seems like it would become instantly outdated.

I saw this article too. So everything is probably on hold until they thrash out a combined format.

[sunrain]

Originally Posted by Bryson I saw this article too. So everything is probably on hold until they thrash out a combined format.

There was something more recent on either Engadget or Ars Technica which basically said both sides have now said 'fuck you' and are back to war.

My understanding was that Blue-ray was best situated to become the recordable standard and HD-DVD was headed toward the commercial content replacement.

[Bryson]

Really? That sucks major ass.

[Robo]

That it does.

If I was asked to bet on which format would succeed, I'd put my money on Blu-ray - as long as Sony doesn't get all "My format! Mine!" with it (see: UMD). Everybody who buys a PS3 is going to have a Blu-ray player - that's a huge advantage. But like I said, unlike UMD, there's a competing format for the high definition DVD space, so if Sony starts pissing people off with Blu-ray, HD-DVD could gain some more content providers...

I know this sounds strange, but I just can't see a Mac getting a Blu-ray drive before the PS3. The PS3 basically is the launch of the new format worldwide, and "by the end of the year" just seems too soon for Blu-ray drives in Macs, "Year of HD" or not. (The PS3 is planned to ship next spring worldwide.)

[oldmacfan]

I for one will not buy either till they settle this problem. I waited a long time to buy a DVD burner and finally got one when I covered all the formats. It is so annoying the pissing match that is going on. Some of these companies that are fighting on this are also cooperating on other projects, irony.

[morningstarrising]

Well luckly, unlike Beta vs VHS and LaserDisc disasters, companies are alreay thinking ahead and looking to make Blu-Ray and HD-DVD compatible players. Which means you can buy HD-DVD movies play them in the player then rip them on to your Mac and burn them on a blank Blu-Ray disk and then play them on the same player.

So by the end of 2006, you won't have to choose a side, because this "problem" isn't going to go away for a long time(2008, the earliest) so you can play both sides with just one system. Won't be cheap, but playing Switzerland never is...

[hmurchison]

I just watched an Apple training video on DVD Studio Pro and Apple's engineer did NOT sound like the biggest Blu-Ray fan. He didn't slight BR but he said they don't have the completed specification from the BDA to the point where they could offer BR authoring in DVDSP4. He said they are all set for HD-DVD Type 1 and that's what we have today. He then said Apple is supporting both formats to see where the market is going and that their goal was to further HD delivery more than anything.

Anyone telling you that Apple is going to go Blu-Ray because they joined the BDA Board or had Sony reps walking on stage is just guessing. The final determination will be price and availability and HD-DVD is clearly in the lead here.

[morningstarrising]

Well that's because it will have machines and movies out this Chirstmas.

Apple might go dual and pick up both, but right now many see Apple going with Sony due to size(25GB is alot)

[intlplby]

thanks for all the info, but i guess my question hasn't been answered yet... what is the ETA.. estimated time of arrival... i.e. how long until we actually see them in the market place for consumption.....i have a lot of DVDs i want to consolidate

[flail]

A word from the president of Sony about the war and the PS3.

Article

[Franz Josef]

Originally Posted by flail A word from the president of Sony about the war and the PS3. Article

It's been mooted for while. Looks like we'll have 2 formats. Launching for Christmas does look a bit ambitious.