Licensing could definitely do with unification but it doesn't seem too complex for content providers - obtain a CPA Light licence from http://www.blu-raydisc.info for $500 annually and an AACS basic one off licence for $3000 and pay 4 cents per disc thereafter. The big companies would probably pay for the full CPA licence and volume AACS licence. Replicators, hardware manufacturers and software tool devs would have different fees to pay and may also need to licence from MPEGLA.
It certainly seems disingenuous for Apple to claim they can't work it out when they sit on the BDA board and have an army of lawyers must have engaged in tens of thousands of billable hours gone into protracted negotiation and lengthy contracts with all the various content providers.
It would be more truthful for Apple to just say they suddenly don't like Blu Ray because it interferes with their own business model.
Great point about being 1 of the 18 board members of the BDA...why spend the $50,000 annual fee to be a board member if you're not going to fully back the format?? It doesn't make sense to me.
While I don't care about Blu-ray support on my laptop, I would at least like the option of Blu-ray on an iMac since the beautiful 24" display is perfect for watching 1080p content, however, these announcements don't bode well for the next generation iMacs.
Apple may not get my business if they don't include Blu-ray in their next iMac upgrade, instead, that $ will go towards a Sony, HP or Dell all-in-one PC with Blu-ray support.
“An engineer explained to us that hundreds of ear impressions were gathered in the name of research, and while each one obviously boasted its own unique shape and size, one single characteristic remained uniform across the board: the entrance into the ear canal is not a perfect circle, it's an oval.”
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He's totally right too, the Blu-ray licensing is a mess. You'd think being on the board of the BDA would've gave them influence over it.
As for the HDMI comment, it is only useful for TVs and really doesn't make much sense on a notebook.
The MacBooks aren't netbooks. They cost way too much to be one.
Maybe it has something to do with Sony?
If they were the main developers, maybe they want to have their laptops out first to try to get sales?
I dunno.
Licensing could definitely do with unification but it doesn't seem too complex for content providers - obtain a CPA Light licence from http://www.blu-raydisc.info for $500 annually and an AACS basic one off licence for $3000 and pay 4 cents per disc thereafter. The big companies would probably pay for the full CPA licence and volume AACS licence. Replicators, hardware manufacturers and software tool devs would have different fees to pay and may also need to licence from MPEGLA.
It certainly seems disingenuous for Apple to claim they can't work it out when they sit on the BDA board and have an army of lawyers must have engaged in tens of thousands of billable hours gone into protracted negotiation and lengthy contracts with all the various content providers.
It would be more truthful for Apple to just say they suddenly don't like Blu Ray because it interferes with their own business model.
Great point about being 1 of the 18 board members of the BDA...why spend the $50,000 annual fee to be a board member if you're not going to fully back the format?? It doesn't make sense to me.
While I don't care about Blu-ray support on my laptop, I would at least like the option of Blu-ray on an iMac since the beautiful 24" display is perfect for watching 1080p content, however, these announcements don't bode well for the next generation iMacs.
Apple may not get my business if they don't include Blu-ray in their next iMac upgrade, instead, that $ will go towards a Sony, HP or Dell all-in-one PC with Blu-ray support.
I think the idea would be to be able to use your Macbook as a Blu-ray player hooked up to a TV. That's why HDMI on a notebook makes sense.
But I think the Macbook's prices are the real bag of hurt.