For the hardware side of things, Other World Computing has a variety of Blu-ray solutions for all Macs, as well as instructional videos on how to upgrade your Mac Pro with a new Blu-ray burner. Once you’ve got that part taken care of, you’ll need special software to make use of your new drive.

Burn High Definition Blu-ray Content

With more cameras supporting HD video, the desire to burn that content on a format that supports HD playback is increasingly important. Toast Titanium has had the ability to burn to Blu-ray discs since Toast 7.  Version 10 supports Blu-ray through a $20 plugin.  It works especially well with high-def videos created on your iPhone, Flip or other HD video cameras.  Just drag and drop your raw video files into a new Blu-ray video project and click the big red burn button. Be warned, the process can take quite some time to complete depending on your source format. If you opt to purchase Toast with your Blu-ray burner from OWC, you may want to check out its step-by-step account of how to burn your high-def video.  Toast developer Roxio also has a video tutorial of the process on its site.

Rip Blu-ray Content to Your Hard Drive

When it comes to getting the raw content of a Blu-ray disc onto your hard drive, Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper is about as good as it gets. Using the “Full Disc Copy” feature, you can preserve the Blu-ray’s original file structure.  The process is straightforward. Insert the Blu-ray disc, click on the “Full Disc Copy” button, and select a folder to copy to.  While Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper also supports conversion to popular device formats, I find that getting the raw Blu-ray files onto my hard drive, then using another tool like Handbrake to convert the file to the format I want is easier. Using the latest release of Handbrake which can now read Blu-ray file structures, and has an updated template that supports the latest Apple TV yields noticeably better results. Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper is on sale at the company’s site through Jan. 10, 2011 if you choose this option.

Play Blu-ray Movies on Your Mac

This is where it all starts to fall apart. Direct playback of Blu-ray content from the disc directly to a player is the real forbidden fruit. Leaving aside that Steve Jobs has changed Apple’s status regarding Blu-ray support from “Bag of Hurt” to “Mafia,” one would think that an independent developer would have stepped up sometime in the last two years to fill the gap.

You can work around this limitation by streaming a movie from a Blu-ray disc using MakeMKV and  then open the networked stream in VLC.  This trick may come in handy if you want to watch a Blu-ray movie on your MacBook Air using your Blu-ray drive in your Mac Pro.  The interesting part is that VLC can play the raw MPEG-2 Transport Stream files (.m2ts extension) after they have been ripped to the hard drive as outlined above, but can’t find the files on the disc itself.

Actually watching Blu-ray movies is my last priority when using the format on my Mac. Backing up or archiving content, or transferring my digital memories into a format I can easily share with friends and relatives are much more relevant. If I want to watch a movie, I’ll use Netflix or iTunes, which is probably why Blu-ray never officially made it to the Mac to begin with.

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The MacBook Air was released in 2008 with no optical drive, which started a flurry of rumors about Apple’s thoughts on where we were going as Apple mentioned the irrelevance of optical drives since content was available via iTunes and the web and you only needed one for installing software since even backups could be done over the air with Time Capsule. Apple still sells a $99 USB SuperDrive for the MacBook Air for people who need one. As a Macbook Air owner, I have never needed one since all of my software was installed via the web and all consumable content (movies, music and podcasts) are all available in iTunes.

The two most notable technology visionaries of our time, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, have both weighed in on Blu-ray since it became the standard physical media for  high-definition content so I thought it would be beneficial to provide their quotes here before I give a bit of my thoughts.

Bill Gates gave two very powerful quotes on the subject. The first:

“Well, the key issue here is that the protection scheme under Blu-ray is very anti-consumer and there’s not much visibility of that. The inconvenience is that the [movie] studios got too much protection at the expense consumers [sic] and it won’t work well on PCs. You won’t be able to play movies and do software in a flexible way.”

and:

“For us it’s not the physical format. Understand that this is the last physical format there will ever be. Everything’s going to be streamed directly or on a hard disk. So, in this way, it’s even unclear how much this one counts.”

[inline-ad align="right"]The note of it being anti-consumer is frankly a matter for any digital content these days. Movie studios will have their DRM on any future media that they control whether you get that content from Microsoft, Apple or built into a disk that you put into a dedicated player. DRM is the current reality unless you pirate it, but Gates’ comment about Blu-ray being the last physical media is very important. Gates actually said this in 2005. Yes, five years ago. Gates said this long before YouTube was a house hold name and at a time when the iPod with video was a brand new product and before the Apple TV. Of course, Microsoft had its home theater software built into Windows XP, but if you look at how we consume media today, it’s apparent that he was on to something.

Then, in October 2008, Steve Jobs gave his thoughts on Blu-ray with one line:

“Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt. It’s great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we’re waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace.”

Of course, Blu-ray has taken off in the marketplace but Steve hasn’t changed his tone very much in the last year and a half. An email response from Steve Jobs last week mirrors Bill Gates’ comment in 2005 and reiterates Apple’s stance on Blu-ray and pretty much sums up why we’ll never see the technology included in future Macs:

“Blu-ray 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.”

After the customer sends an email response to him again stating Blu-ray has a purpose for use of system backups and high-density storage or the distribution of home movies Steve adds:

“No, free, instant gratification and convenience (likely in that order) is what made the downloadable formats take off. And the downloadable movie business is rapidly moving to free (Hulu) or rentals (iTunes) so storing purchased movies or TV shows is not an issue.

“I think you may be wrong — we may see a fast broad move to streamed free and rental content at sufficient quality (at least 720p) to win almost everyone over.”

The rise in broadband speeds paired with the fact that you can download a movie anywhere in the world (with a cell phone connection) to your mobile device and it’s clear that Steve simply doesn’t see a point in Blu-ray being included given the complications of licensing it and echoing sentiment into Bill Gates’ opinions of DRM via the new format.

Steve thinks that with a Time Capsule or an online backup system (like SugarSync and Mozy) paired with YouTube for sharing video and iTunes at the center of it all with media consumption, the industry has made Blu-ray obsolete before it even makes it to Mac machines and I agree.

I once thought Blu-ray was a key addition to have on my Mac and now that I have a Mac without an optical drive, I don’t miss it. Everything I own is synced to my iMac and MacBook Air over the web in real-time, my iPhone and iPad can purchase movies and they download over the air and I can share a movie with my family that I shot and edited on iPhone 4 and uploaded to YouTube within one hour compared to burning and shipping a Blu-ray disk to them. Blu-ray is something a lot of pros want but it’s out of desire and not true need.

I’m not a professional filmmaker and I’m not working for a movie studio, but DVD Studio Pro and products like Toast from Roxio support Blu-ray if you buy a drive separately and plug it into your Mac. Apple just won’t be shipping support for the technology anytime soon and it may never include it in its machines and I bet that most consumers are okay with that.

In a word: No

In two words: Not Yet

Why I Buy Music from iTunes (and Amazon MP3)

For music, once iTunes Plus was the standard on the iTunes Store, I knew that I didn’t need to buy physical CD’s any more. All I was doing was ripping my music to 256kbps AAC or MP3 anyways, so why not just buy them that way? And album prices on iTunes were the same or lower than brick-and-mortar prices on CD’s. Take Amazon MP3 into account, and it was an easy decision to switch to digital purchases.

Why I Have Not Been Buying Movies from iTunes

Basically, it comes down to the stereo sound. I can’t stand the idea of not using my surround sound setup and massive subwoofer (it literally shakes my whole house…I love it). With lower picture quality and lame stereo sound, I was not tempted at all to get movies from iTunes. I did try a few 99 cent rentals and found that to be just fine, but my $9 Netflix membership gives me access to tons of streaming movies at the same quality.

Now that HD movies sport surround sound, I was anxious to compare some familiar titles where I could spot the difference in picture quality and audio.

Disney/Pixar Makes Great HD Material

I have kids at home and we are therefore obligated to pay our annual Disney tax to stock our home with family-friendly, candy-coated entertainment from our media overlords in Burbank, CA.  Some of the Pixar movies make great reference material to show off your home theater and I focused on these titles to compare the difference between iTunes SD & HD, DVD, Handbrake encodes, and Blu-ray.

Picture Quality

Let me say up front that the difference in picture quality between the various formats is clearly visible on a big screen. Blu-ray has the best picture quality and was correctly identified by all the members of my family in a simple visual test. The surprise for me is how close iTunes HD is to Blu-ray. I watched several scenes in Wall-E over and over again looking at the differences between the iTunes HD file and the Blu-ray Disc (BRD), particularly the first 10 minutes and the interior shots of the ship. The iTunes HD file was quite a bit better than what I expected and makes a serious case for choosing to buy content on iTunes.

For SD content, I watched Monsters, Inc. and compared the iTunes file (what Disney calls a Digital Copy) with a Handbrake 0.9.3 rip I made using the Apple TV preset (0.9.4, the current version, should produce similar quality output). The quality is almost identical although the Handbrake rip was slightly brighter. The quality is slightly below DVD, but so close that most people probably won’t notice.

For my money, the image quality is close enough on the iTunes HD files that I could be tempted to just buy them on iTunes. If you’re watching on a 42″ screen or smaller, the quality is probably indistinguishable.

Audio Quality

My Blu-ray player is configured to decode all the lossless audio formats and send 7.1 analog sound to my receiver. It works great. I was really concerned about the audio here because I would not buy anything with only a stereo track.

The audio on the iTunes HD movies is good enough to consider buying them. The difference between Dolby Digital and the lossless audio tracks is noticeable, but 5.1 surround sound is enough to get me over the bulk of my previous objections.

Convenience

Convenience is a big deal for me. I actually prefer having movies on my Apple TV because I don’t have to endure any forced advertising or trailers. I can just start the movie. I also like that my kids don’t have to handle the discs, avoiding the possibility of scratching them. Combined with the amazing Apple Remote iPhone app, the Apple TV is a great movie jukebox — even better than the 301 slot DVD changer I used to have.

Now that Extras are available with iTunes HD files, I think iTunes movies actually win on convenience, with one big caveat — you really need an Apple TV or a Mac mini media center connected to your big screen TV to appreciate them. A 27″ iMac would get pretty close on its own though.

Why Movies are Different than Music

I was a weekend musician for a large part of the 80′s and 90′s and I love music. I owned a SACD player because I loved hearing the subtle details in Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and the sound of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s fingers sliding across the strings in Texas Flood. But I only really enjoyed the difference when I was sitting in the “sweet spot” of my two-channel system with perfect stereo imaging. I couldn’t really appreciate the difference in the quality of the recordings between SACD and CD when I had music on in the background as I was working around the house. Music downloads are successful for the simple reason that convenience and quality are sufficient. The difference in quality does not bother people because you typically are not giving your full attention to the sound quality while jogging, working, eating, etc. and the convenience is king because no one is willing to get up and change a CD anymore.

Movies are different because you are planted in front of the screen for about two hours and typically devote your full attention to the film while watching it. This makes all the difference in comparing incremental differences in the quality of Blu-ray and iTunes HD. If I’m going to give my full attention to something for two hours, I want the best quality. I would be tempted by the convenience of iTunes downloads, but at the same price point, I just want the best quality.

What Would It Take for Me to Buy iTunes Movies?

Lower prices. The quality is fine for the movies that I watched. But at the same price point, I’ll take the Blu-ray and deal with putting the disc in the changer and the possibility that my kids might scratch them. If I really want the movie to be easy to get to for my kids, I’ll make my own encode and put it on my Apple TV anyways.

I would say 1080p or higher bitrate to bring the video quality closer to Blu-ray, but 10GB (or higher) downloads seem unrealistic at this point. Maybe someday that comment will seem shortsighted when we all have fiber to the home, but for now I think the best compromise is to get $5 and $10 movies from iTunes and $15-25 discs in the store.

What about you? Is iTunes HD enough for you in terms of quality/convenience? If not, what would it take?

Equipment Used: I compared the files using an Apple TV (3.0) and a Pioneer BDP-51FD connected to a calibrated 57″ Sony KP-57HW40 with a Denon surround receiver with 5.1 speakers (Infinity L+R powered full-range towers, 3-way center, bookshelf surrounds + SVS 20-39PC subwoofer).

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There’s nothing a Mac bought a year ago can’t do today, and nothing a Mac bought today won’t be able to do a year from now, just not as well.

That’s the problem for those seeking to maximize the value of their next purchase. If one believes the hype from none other than Steve Jobs himself, Macs are going to “take Apple to the next level” in 2010, and who doesn’t want to level up with Steve?

But even without the hype, there are three–well, really, two good reasons and one forlorn hope–to wait a while before purchasing your next Mac.

While Steve Jobs just pronounced Apple a “mobility” company at the iPad event, it’s actually been one for awhile. More than two out of three Macs sold are laptops, and if you are in that majority you should definitely wait for Arrandale.

That’s the mobile CPU from Intel launched at CES under the Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 variants. Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost technologies for improved parallelization and increased speed on demand have resulted in double-digit performance increases without a decrease in battery life.

Regarding performance, the desktop Core i5 and Core i7 can already be found in the high-end iMac, which admittedly are quad-core versus dual-core for the mobile versions. Nonetheless, Macworld found the that the “2.66GHz Core i5 iMac is the fastest standard configuration Mac we’ve ever tested,” and can be as fast as Xeon-based Mac Pros.

This is the kind of upgrade worth waiting for, and the wait shouldn’t be long. The MacBook Pros and the MacBook Air were last updated in June, meaning they are due for an update even without significant new technology. Keep in mind the MacBook, last updated in October, may continue to use a Core 2 Duo for market segmentation purposes. Since the iPad is set for launch in late March, and companies like HP are already selling Arrandale laptops, expect an update within weeks, possibly even sooner.

There’s something else HP is selling, the Envy 15 laptop with USB 3, and that’s the second reason not to buy a Mac right now. USB 3 has transfer rates of up to 4.8Gbps, though real world rates won’t be nearly that high, but then USB 2 doesn’t reach its theoretical maximum of 480Mbps, either.

We can expect that USB 3 will be multiple times as fast as USB 2, which is the kind of benefit instantly recognizable to anyone downloading images from a camera or backing up to a USB drive. While there are very few USB 3 devices available today, that will change quickly this year.

As to when to expect USB 3 Macs, a recent rumor in DigiTimes suggested Genesys Logic is sampling device controllers for Apple now, a claim which the company denied. Whether there’s truth in the rumor or the denial, Apple is undoubtedly working on USB 3 for Macs. The new bus could conceivably be part of the next round of updates in the spring, but if not then expect USB 3 Macs in the fall.

Something not to expect this spring, and that is suspect this year, would be Macs with Blu-ray. Just last month, it was attributed to Steve Jobs that Blu-ray is still a “mess,” and that Apple is waiting until Blu-ray sales “take off.”

According to market researcher In-Stat, that could be about 2013, if by “take off” one means exceeding sales of DVD players. Unfortunately, the predicted adoption rate for Blu-ray in PCs is even worse. Metrics firm iSuppli projects that by 2013 only 16 percent of PCs will come with Blu-ray drives.

If, like me, you are waiting for a Mac mini with Blu-ray, you probably won’t be buying this year. However, for those who plan on keeping their next Mac for one to three years, a Mac mini with Core i5 and USB 3 can likely be had this year.

The same can be said for every other Mac, too. While 2010 may or may not take Macs to the “next level,” both Intel’s new Core processors and USB 3 are significant upgrades. That’s why if you need a Mac today, buy one, but if not, tomorrow is definitely worth the wait.

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For the purposes of this article, I’m assuming you are using a Macbook or Macbook Pro, but the process works with desktop Macs, too, just make sure you know what kind of port your computer has. Your goal is to get both the audio and video from your computer into your TV. Unfortunately, Macs don’t have HDMI (audio and video combined) yet so we have to use two cables. Your new TV definitely has HDMI so we’ll use an adapter to make the connection.

Hardware

HDMI cables are very affordable on Monoprice: High Speed HDMI 1.3a Category 2 Certified Cable 28AWG – 6ft w/Ferrite Cores. You definitely need one of these.

First you must figure out if you have Mini DVI or Mini DisplayPort. If you have a unibody Macbook or Macbook Pro then you have Mini DisplaypPrt. If you have an aluminum Macbook or Macbook Pro then you have Mini DVI. If you’re not sure then take a look at these pictures.

Mini DisplayPort:

The adapter you need for is available here: Mini DisplayPort to HDMI. Connect the adapter to your computer and the HDMI cable, then connect the HDMI cable to an available input on your TV.

Mini DVI:

The adapter you need for Mini DVI is available here: Mini DVI to HDMI.

As for audio, you can use a basic stereo audio cable: 3.5mm Stereo Plug/Plug M/M Cable – 6ft. Connect it to your computer’s headphone port and your TV’s audio input. If your TV has an optical audio input then you can use this cable: Toslink to Mini M/M OD:5.0mm, Molded Type – 3ft. Your Macbook or Macbook Pro has a very unique audio output that offers both stereo and optical connections. Optical audio is not necessary, but if you can go digital then you should. (I was surprised to see my new TV only offers optical output and not input.)

One thing to note is on many TVs the one audio input is next to its corresponding video input.

As you can see, I purchased my HDMI cables from Amazon Basics.

Also, you are not required to use HDMI for video. You can also use DVI if your TV supports it. In that case you would need a DVI cable, and either a Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter or Mini DVI to DVI adapter.

If you want to get fancy and combine both audio and video into one simple solution then you should get this: Mini DisplayPort Male and USB Male Audio to HDMI Female Converting Adapter. It uses USB audio instead of the audio port. It’s more expensive but it’s definitely cleaner since you only need one cable going into your TV.

Software

Netflix instant streaming requires a subscription. If you have one, you can use your web browser to start streaming a movie, click Full Screen, and you’re done.

Hulu Desktop is a free application you can use to access Hulu content. It’s designed to be controlled by the 6 button Apple remote which may take some time to figure out.

I recommend turning on Mirroring in Display’s System Preferences. Then you can dim the Macbook/Macbook Pro’s screen and focus on the TV.

There’s an amazing app for the iPhone (one that requires an entire review on this site) called TouchPad ($3.99, iTunes link). It replaces the need for a separate wireless keyboard and mouse. The app controls your computer over WiFi. Setup instructions are quick and are available inside the app itself, so you don’t have to go looking through an online support page.

I hope these products and services help you get the most of your Mac and your new TV. I know they’ve completely changed the way I consume media in my own home.

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pocket BLU is a free download from the App Store that allows your iPhone to become a remote control for operating Blu-ray discs from Universal. It won’t work with just any movie, of course. Blu-ray discs need to be played using a Wi-Fi connected player, for one, and the title has to be specifically enabled to work with pocket BLU, something which will be indicated by a conspicuously placed logo.

The app will allow you to control playback of the film, and jump backwards and forwards to any point in the movie using a visual time line. You’ll also have access to a pop-up keyboard for entering data, which will definitely make any typing you need to do with your Blu-ray movie much easier. Finally, some titles will offer the ability to stream special content from the disc to your iPhone, which can then be stored for later viewing.

The app has promise, but limited as it is to one major distributor’s titles, it feels a little like yet another extraneous feature designed to add value to a format that’s failing to catch on with most consumers. Chances are, I’m never going to watch or care about the additional features included for pocket BLU users anyway, so why not just stick to playing back digital content on my Mac and using Rowmote or VLC Remote to control it? Take it from me, Universal, you’ll be far better off if you focus on delivering content to the iPhone platform, instead of just control mechanisms.

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The Apple rumors site is reporting that according to reliable sources (in this case, “two people familiar with the matter”), new dual-core iMacs have been in production since early September, in preparation for an October launch. One of the two familiars cited also added that the new computers will sport new, slimmer aluminum enclosures, and that they will indeed be cheaper than their predecessors.

AppleInsider goes on to suggest that the revised all-in-one desktops will likely resemble the recently released LED Cinema Displays, although that doesn’t necessarily appear to be based on information from their sources. They also cite “people familiar with Apple’s thinking” as claiming it’s possible the new models could include Blu-ray, a technology Steve Jobs once referred to as a “bag of hurt,” and one which has yet to really catch on with the mainstream buying public.

The site also dangles the tantalizing possibility of an enhancement to something related to audio, and one other unspecified improvement, both of which are according to separate sources who didn’t go into further detail because they weren’t supposed to. Which suggests they were supposed to dangle a couple carrots, I guess.

There’s no doubt Apple will refresh its iMac line, which continues to be a strong seller. The only question is when. If AppleInsider’s information is correct, and if Apple intends to try and spoil Microsoft’s Windows 7 release party and bolster its holiday sales, we likely will see new machines sometime in October.

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With Apple’s music oriented media event right around the corner, everyone is abuzz with thoughts about new iPods, Apple TV updates, tablet rumors and more. The one thing we can all but guarantee besides new iPods is an update to iTunes. But what will this version bring? Social aspects have been rumored, but there is still room for improvement. So, here’s my Top 10 wish list for iTunes 9.

1. More Stable & Efficient On Windows

This particular point doesn’t apply to me, as I am a Mac user, but I do know that the Windows version of iTunes has suffered in comparison to its Mac brethren. Though some of the programming technologies in the Windows world are not as robust as their Mac equivalents, I do hope Apple will continue to optimize iTunes as it adds new features. Currently, it’s just a resource hog.

2. Better Audiobook Support

iTunes is a great application to manage your audiobooks and Apple’s partnership with Audible makes it even easier to buy them. What really strikes me as problematic though is how cumbersome it is to sync specific audiobooks to your iPod or iPhone. At the moment, it’s either “all” or “none.” When you consider that some audiobooks have multiple files and some users have insanely huge collections of audiobooks, it really seems like an issue Apple would have refined already. Due to their length, most users listen to one or two audiobooks at a time and don’t need to bring their entire collection with them. The only solution to this dilemma is creating playlists for specific audiobooks and that’s more time consuming than it should be.

3. Better File Organization for Large Libraries

As our libraries of media content grow and grow, Apple is focused on being center stage in helping us organize it all. iTunes is a powerful application and supports a wide gamut of different file types (music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, podcasts, etc.). It would be ideal for Apple to allow users to manage those specific areas on different hard drives since some of us have iTunes libraries that are growing too fast to store on just one drive. We can work around this at the moment by turning off the “Keep iTunes organized” feature when adding new content, but a more elegant solution would be welcome.

4. Ability to Import Unencrypted DVD & Blu-ray Content

We all know there are licensing issues to work out, but since Apple feels its the company’s lot in life to manage all of my digital content, why not figure out a way to manage all of the physical content I have laying around too? If I can “find a way to decrypt my DVD” (hello VLC), then iTunes can make a copy of it. This has actually been rumored and I would love to see it come to fruition.

5. Support for HD content on iPhone & iPods

While at first this really doesn’t seem like an iTunes feature, I personally hate having to maintain two copies of content with compatible versions for my Apple TV and Mac (HD content) and my iPods and iPhone (SD content). For some cases this isn’t a problem, but I find myself watching a lot of HD podcasts and they simply will not sync. If Apple could resolve this issue, users wouldn’t have to download iTunes Store content like TV shows twice (one in HD and one in SD). They could just download the HD file and be ready to rock.

6. More Robust Tagging

There are lots of apps available (like MetaX) that give users the ability to tag their content with more useful information than what iTunes allows them to do on their own. Content from the iTunes Store features some of this useful information (like movie director, actors, etc.). Why can’t I edit this for my own content directly within iTunes? Why can’t I tag my own music as clean or explicit from within iTunes?

7. Lyric & Metadata Lookups

iTunes has the ability to lookup artwork for our own music that may be missing covers, but now that iPhones and iPods support lyrics, wouldn’t it be great if iTunes could search, download and tag your files with the appropriate lyrics? Better yet, it would be even better if iTunes could fill in missing metadata information like some third-party apps do.

8. More Robust Sharing Support

iTunes 4 brought about the ability to stream playlists to other iTunes users on a local network. This feature was hacked to allow users to stream across the Internet and Apple quickly released a patch to fix this. Since then, several vendors, first and foremost being SimplifyMedia, have risen up to provide this service again. While SimplifyMedia is great, a more ideal solution would show you your entire iTunes library, with podcasts, audiobooks, TV shows, and the like. To be honest, if Apple even rolled this out as a feature exclusive to Mobile Me users, and allowed the ability to view this content streamed via me.com, that would be enough to justify a membership to me.

9. Music Videos

Probably the smallest of all the content types in my library, music videos are just lumped together in my main library. How come there isn’t a separate section for music videos?

10. Easier Syncing Between Multiple Macs

At the moment, I sync my iPhone on my iMac, where the bulk of my media is stored (simply because it has the biggest hard drive). It would be great if I could sync my iPhone or iPods there for some content, but sync it to my laptop for contacts, calendars and iPhone apps as that content changes more frequently.

In short order, we’ll actually see what Apple announces at its media event. In the meantime, what features would you like to see added to iTunes 9?

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The Boy Genius Report is claiming to have received a tip that Blu-ray support will be coming to iTunes 9, which may be arriving as soon as next month. Also reportedly in iTunes 9 is the long sought-after ability to arrange iPhone/iPod touch icon positions from within iTunes, instead of having to do it on the device itself. In addition, there will be some kind of integration with Twitter/Facebook and Last.FM — presumably this would allow sending the currently playing song to the social-networking sites, removing the need to run a separate application to do this.

Combine this claim with another rumor this week, this time from Apple Insider, which claims that new features will be coming to the iMac that will cater to the semi-professional audio/video crowd. Lets not forget that since iTunes 8.2, the Gracenote copyright also references Blu-ray. Are the stars aligning to where we will finally get Blu-ray?

The lack of built-in Blu-ray support has been a much-debated topic by Mac users. Steve Jobs himself claimed in October last year that “Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt. It’s great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we’re waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace.” Is it possible that nearly a year later things have finally settled down? In February this year Sony, Phillips and Panasonic announced a simplified licensing process for Blu-ray that also included cheaper fees. With more and more content being released for Blu-ray, is the time finally ripe for adoption?

There is still seemingly one hurdle in the path of Apple embracing Blu-ray: the strict Digital Rights Management requirements. In a crazy DRM world, it seems that the copyright powers are trying to compromise by allowing one authorized copy starting next year — however, downloading to iPods and portable devices is strictly excluded.

The bigger question for me is still: “Why do I want or need Blu-ray anyway?” It is much easier for me to download high-definition video content than clutter my house with more physical discs. How many people really need Blu-ray?

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The stars must be in alignment, because I only just finished watching “2 Fast, 2 Furious” this past weekend (yes, boredom can make you do terrible things) and now it’s been revealed that the follow-up, “Fast & Furious,” will boast some innovative new features when it hits Blu-ray July 28. Universal has just announced that the Special Edition Blu-ray release of the Vin Diesel/Paul Walker car film will ship with an iPhone app that interacts with the disc media.

It’s an intriguing use of both an iPhone application and BDLive capabilities, which, on compatible Blu-ray players, allow the disc media to connect with a viewer’s Wi-Fi network in order to download content, connect directly with other users, and so on. So far, I’ve yet to use the BDLive features on any of the Blu-ray movies I own, since they seem largely to be silly bells and whistles included just for the sake of increasing the value proposition of the disc-based media.

While I’m not actually much of a “Fast & Furious” franchise fan, despite (or because of) my weekend viewing, I do want to get my hands on a copy of this new special edition to see just how the iPhone integration is executed. So far, all that’s clear from Universal’s release on the subject is that the iPhone app will be able to control a special feature that allows viewers to view and interact with different cars from the movie in a virtual garage. The app will be released free via the App Store for Special Edition owners to download.

I’m hoping they don’t stop there, since it would probably be a simple next step to include playback controls in the very same app. Even without that, though, this could represent a turning point for special features and movie tie-in apps alike, both of which right now seem like weak promotional tools that are generally a waste of time for viewers and developers alike.

Poking about at a virtual car may not seem like a revolutionary new way of interacting with media, but it is a surprisingly well thought-out special feature, given the context: “Fast & Furious” fans are often car enthusiasts, and will care about what’s under the hood of the vehicles that make an appearance in the film. And controlling virtual models of automobiles on screen via a touchscreen device isn’t gimmicky, it’s just the most intuitive way for that sort of thing to work.

This time around, I might not actually go out and buy the movie, because, seriously, it’s “Fast & Furious”. But release a “Star Wars” (original trilogy) Blu-ray Special Edition with the exact same features for starships, speeders, and ground assault vehicles, and money will be no object.

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