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Jobs: YouTube an alternative to Blu-ray for HD sharing

updated 04:30 pm EDT, Sat April 17, 2010

Apple chief says YouTube good for some HD


Apple CEO Steve Jobs this week told someone who e-mailed him directly that YouTube would be a better option than Blu-ray at present for sharing HD video. When asked about the possibility of Macs carrying Blu-Ray drives, he said only that "YouTube now supports HD video" and by extension would be a good option for high-quality footage. Google in recent months gave YouTube support for full 1080p video as well as true 720p, which in theory would let HD camcorders get video at full resolution, albeit at a lower bitrate than on Blu-ray.

The company is one of the few computer builders not to produce any systems with Blu-ray onboard, but it may be hesitant to adopt the format due to both cost and practicality hurdles. Blu-ray drives and their implementations are still significantly more expensive than DVD equivalents, and the HD format requires much more stringent AACS copy protection that has to pervade the operating system where DVD is relatively simple.


By Electronista Staff

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industry, digital imaging, upgrades/storage, blu-ray, Google, YouTube, Apple

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  1. davedawgnyc

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2005

    +1
    04/17, 05:13pm | report spam | reply

    wait out blu-ray

    i think i see what's happening now! if apple (steve) just waits long enough, blu-ray will make itself obsolete and apple/steve will not have to deal with blu-ray licensing, hardware, apps, imovie & idvd compatibility, etc. i'm using netflix with roku box now and i dare say it makes buying dvds and blu-ray discs totally obsolete. the video streaming is INCREDIBLE. (fwiw, i do not work for netflix.)


  1. macnixer

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Mar 2006

    +12
    04/17, 06:04pm | report spam | (1 reply) | reply

    First time I feel that Steve is an Idiot

    Not kidding. Steve jobs is only looking at a limited crowd. What about the people in rural areas where the bandwidth is low, there are limitations like 5 GB max in a month (search for Mound, MN). The service providers are fleecing the folks using high bandwidth.

    See I want to produce HD and send the DVDs to my friends and family in remote parts of the world where they have limited hardware to playback the videos but Internet may not be as fast. So, Steve wake up, I want to author too and not just play Blu-Ray. For playing Blu-Ray I already have a great Home Theatre system. I have unlimited broadband but Chima Dishu in Mogadishu does not. I sent him a Blu-Ray player but that is useless.

    Steve, you are an idiot or too smart. Idiot if you are supporting Google for nothing. Smart if you are getting those advertising $$$ from Google for promoting YouTube.


  1. bauhaus

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Sep 2003

    +10
    04/17, 07:37pm | report spam | reply

    smokin' crack

    Seriously, that is not an educated response by anyone. Google and Vimeo both don't have anywhere near the quality of BluRay picture (nor iTunes HD videos.) Better yet, Apple knows BluRay picture quality is necessary as they support authouring in FC Studio (FCP/Compressor.) Odd that, eh Steve?


  1. ggirton

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 1999

    -8
    04/17, 10:50pm | report spam | (1 reply) | reply

    his answer was fair

    The question was about how to distribute HD video, and Jobs
    answered with a no-cost way to do it.

    For me, as for many people, Blu-ray is just a way to spend
    three or four hundred on a playback device, that you don't
    really need to spend.

    No Blu Ray in Mogadishu? Too doggone bad. Boo freakin' hoo.


  1. clwilla

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jul 2009

    +12
    04/18, 12:27am | report spam | reply

    This is the equivalent

    Of a small child used to getting his way sticking his fingers in his ears, closing his eyes and screaming "lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala!"

    Blu-Ray is far superior to any form of downloadable form of HD video in every respect. I hate it when people insist that resolution=HD. Resolution is but 1/2 of the story. Nitrate is the other, and arguably FAR more important. The bit rate of blu-Ray is at least 5x greater than downloadable HD video, which itself generally doesn't have the bit rate of standard def DVD. Of course the other massive problem is lack if bandwidth in many areas. I'm still stuck on 1.5 Mbps, and I generally don't even pull that.


  1. CmdrGampu

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2009

    +12
    04/18, 01:12am | report spam | reply

    $300-400?

    You should do some research before opening your mouth, ggirton. Even last Christmas season, Blu-ray players could be had for not much more than $100 and still are. And these are Samsung players, not some second or third-tier manufacturer most people have never heard of.


  1. facebook_Bryan

    Via Facebook

    Joined: Apr 2010

    +14
    04/18, 09:51am | report spam | reply

    Significantly more expensive?

    I can purchase an internal blu ray drive for $59. I can purchase a blu-ray burner for $149. How much do you think Apple can purchase those for? Significantly less.

    When Steve put DVD burners in Macs - and admitted he was completely wrong for not doing so sooner - they cost anywhere from $400-$600. Seems that was a great move.

    Stop fleecing us Steve. A great many of us need high capacity optical drives, and will for years to come. That I have to spend another $150 plus software costs on top of an already premium priced computer leaves a bad taste.


  1. aristotles

    Grizzled Veteran

    Joined: Jul 2004

    +9
    04/18, 11:31am | report spam | (1 reply) | reply

    What a loud of c***. Youtube HD sucks

    Not only is Youtube not an option right now because it uses flash by default but it requires a high speed connection to use it. If you have both a high speed connection and a device like Apple TV, then you can watch HD videos on your couch but what if your relatives have neither of these?

    I'd like to be able to watch my home movies in HD because they were shot in HD on my TV but also be able to send them in the mail to my relatives overseas or even in Canada. Not everyone has broadband Mr. Jobs and not everyone has a set top box connected to the internet attached to their TV.

    I want blu-ray for data archival in case both my main drive and backup drive fail around the same time (power surge or water damage) and I want to be able to create a BD that I can pop into my PS3 or to take it with me. If they could at least add support for burning BD video to DVD+DL, most home movie makers would be happy.


  1. WiseWeasel

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 1999

    +8
    04/18, 12:37pm | report spam | reply

    BS

    Wow, what a terrible response from Jobs. He really is living in a different world than his Mac customers. It's almost like Steve's moved on to other things, and is no longer considering the problems faced by Mac users. How is the simple ability to burn 25-50GB data backup discs not appealing? Why would someone who bought a shiny new HD camcorder NOT want to burn their videos to BluRay to send to the family or friends? How are my parents going to watch 1080p youtube videos on their TV? They don't even have broadband, let alone a digital media adapter hooked up to their TV set capable of decoding 1080p. What they do have is a 52" HDTV and a BluRay player.

    Personally, I bought a BluRay burner for $130 on sale on Black Friday last November. When I had to decide whether to install it in my Mac tower or the ghetto Windows gaming rig I built, the decision was clear, and the burner went into the PC. This is because there is actually 3rd party application support for BluRay, allowing me to do things like backup my purchased BluRay movies. 25GB blanks are now down to $2 a pop, making them competitive in a cost per MB with DVD-R, and so much more practical. Soon, BD-R blanks will be cheaper per MB than DVD-R, and Apple will be even further behind the curve.

    As much as Steve would like it otherwise, optical media isn't dead quite yet. BluRay is already a market success, and denying this is evidence of an advanced case of cranial-rectal inversion.


  1. wrenchy

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2009

    0
    04/18, 06:26pm | report spam | (1 reply) | reply

    I think Stevie-Boy


    has been dipping into the Cupertino Kool-Aid again.

    Blue-Ray prices are approaching affordable ranges. As more people get on board and adapt this format, prices will drop and be as affordable as DVD prices are today.

    Stevie-Boy just doesn't want to pay someone else royalties for their work and innovation. But he expects everyone else to pay royalties to Apple for theirs.


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