Hi,

I own a Quad 3.0Ghz Mac Pro that I purchased in September 2006. It has the Radeon X1900 card in it, hooked up to a 23" Apple Cinema Display.

I'm a composer and a film maker, so I watch a lot of movies. Lately i've found that every good film that comes out is available on Blu-Ray. More and more people are buying Blu-Ray. Some Blu-Ray discs are even in the top 10 selling DVD's on amazon.com.

I watch 1080p trailers from apple.com, so I know what true HD looks like on this screen, and there is a clear difference between it and DVD. Michael Clayton is a new film which I particularly enjoyed, and i'd like to buy it tomorrow when it comes out, but i'm faced with this dilemma. I can't buy it on Blu-Ray because I won't be able to watch it, and if I buy it on DVD, then i'll end up selling it or throwing it away when apple finally does support Blu-Ray on the Mac Pro.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but don't I need an HDCP Video Card, and an HDCP display, in addition to the Blu-Ray optical drive? What is Apple waiting for? Do I need to resort to buying a Sony laptop that plays Blu-Ray disks, and plugging in my ACD to it when I want to watch movies? Do I need to resort to downloading torrents of HD Rips of films?

Apple is seriously lagging behind here. I don't know what ol' Steve is thinking.

[FFL]

It reminds me of how slow Apple was in adopting CD-RW drives.

[PKIDelirium]

How is it lagging? Blu-ray hardware is still very expensive, and they were probably waiting for the format war was over to start including it.

[turtle]

Well, I just sold a BR internal drive for $199.99. Comparing this to an internal DVD from Sony that's $80, this isn't too over priced.

[Jerman]

Unfortunately you will be unable to watch Blu Ray on the ACD even if you purchase another machine, as Blu Ray requires the display to have HDCP. Kind of surprises me that HDCP is still not available on Apple's displays, just to prepare for the future...

[beardedmacuser]

Originally Posted by Jerman Unfortunately you will be unable to watch Blu Ray on the ACD even if you purchase another machine, as Blu Ray requires the display to have HDCP.

Really? So nobody with a PS3 can watch Blu-ray unless they have an HDCP-compliant display? If so, that sucks. What about all the folk who use component video rather than HDMI+HDCP?

[ghoti]

I agree, Apple really needs to get its act together on this one - and I don't even care too much about HD stuff, nor do I own a real HD TV or screen that's large enough for 1080p (my tv set is "HD ready" ). I guess they were hedging their bets so they would not be burned by betting on the wrong format. But now there is no more excuse. It would also make a lot of sense together with their whole HD thing for the Apple TV, etc.

Originally Posted by beardedmacuser Really? So nobody with a PS3 can watch Blu-ray unless they have an HDCP-compliant display? If so, that sucks. What about all the folk who use component video rather than HDMI+HDCP?

The image gets scaled down to DVD resolution and the sound is mixed down to stereo, AFAIK.

[beardedmacuser]

Originally Posted by ghoti The image gets scaled down to DVD resolution and the sound is mixed down to stereo, AFAIK.

Ooh... that sucks. I wonder how many consumers have been burned after buying a PS3 to play Blu-ray on a non-HDCP display (or they chose to use a component cable rather than an HDMI cable), and how many are watching down-scaled Blu-ray thinking it's HD?!

[Dorian Gray]

Originally Posted by beardedmacuser ...and how many are watching down-scaled Blu-ray thinking it's HD?!

Would explain why half of them can't seem to see a quality improvement.

[Paranoid666au]

Originally Posted by ghoti The image gets scaled down to DVD resolution and the sound is mixed down to stereo, AFAIK.

Nope, with Blu Ray and HD DVD stand alone players as well as the PS3, component can output up to 1080i. If the Image Constraint Token flag is activated in a movie title, then the video will be scaled down to 480p over component. No titles have yet been flagged with ICT.

The PS3 can output 5.1 from the optical port when playing a Blu Ray but you can't get the high res audio in 5.1. For example, PCM 5.1 only comes out the optical port in stereo. But Dolby Digital, DTS, DTS HD, DTS HD MA (DTS core only) and I think True HD comes out in 5.1 Of course sound quality is downgraded but still sounds fantastic and better than DVD in many cases

With computers it's much more restrictive. You've got to have a HDCP graphics card and HDCP display. I don't think there's any option to output in VGA or other analogue; at least in HD.

[beardedmacuser]

Originally Posted by Paranoid666au With computers it's much more restrictive. You've got to have a HDCP graphics card and HDCP display. I don't think there's any option to output in VGA or other analogue; at least in HD.

Unless you use something like AnyDVD HD.

[Bryson]

Remember, by buying any product with HDCP, you Let The Bastards Win™.

That is all.

[jbsengineer]

What about this:

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/19...tor-into-a-tv/

Originally Posted by beardedmacuser Ooh... that sucks. I wonder how many consumers have been burned after buying a PS3 to play Blu-ray on a non-HDCP display (or they chose to use a component cable rather than an HDMI cable), and how many are watching down-scaled Blu-ray thinking it's HD?!

Well if they think it's HD, they'll see a quality improvement even if there isn't any. That's how the mind works.

[dfiler]

Originally Posted by beardedmacuser Really? So nobody with a PS3 can watch Blu-ray unless they have an HDCP-compliant display? If so, that sucks. What about all the folk who use component video rather than HDMI+HDCP?

Blu-ray disks play at full resolution via component. The catch is that holywood won't let DVDs be upscaled over component. Completely asinine right? The studios even had a vote recently and decided to maintain that restriction despite it being ridiculous.

High def audio is available without HDCP as well. The catch is that our optical standard only has enough bandwidth for 2 channels at that bitrate. High def surround sound can be heard by either using a billion analog RCA outs, or an HDMI cable.

Also, unless your display runs at a multiple of 24hz (and also doesn't manage to muck up the signal along the way with 3:2 pulldown) 1080i and 1080p delivered movies are pixel-for-pixel, frame-for-frame identical. There are only a handful of displays on the market that meet this criteria. Even most of the 120hz panels still impose 3:2 pulldown, making 1080p 100% identical to 1080i.