Bluray Won't Play - Why?

Why can't I play a Bluray ISO on my new Macbook Pro 15? I have even tried porting a stand alone BluRay reader to the USB port an using the actual Bluray disc, but it still doesn't play.

I can't believe a company like Apple doesn't support Bluray playback!

Am I missing something here?

Bill

 

IS you Mac bluray capable? In windows, you have specific drivers to mate external devices though I am not sure how it works in Mac as support is limited. You might look into the manufacturer's site for blu-ray mac downloads.

 

I don't believe apple supports the Blu-ray disc, as they would prefer to have you buy it from iTunes.

 

Apple has referred to Blu-ray as “a bag of hurt” and hasn’t made any obvious plans to endorse the standard any further.

Then again, it sits on the Board of Directors of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

Time will tell if Apple follows their nay-say preaching to the shareholders, or whether the little clues they exhibit will eventually lead to some adoption of Blu-ray.

 

I doubt they will ever adopt Blu-ray. if apple had there way disc's would be a thing of the past. (and I agree with them). It's time to move on. OS X will not be on disks in a month or so... most if not all there software is now being sold in there apps store and physical copys have been removed from store selves.

 

Blue-Ray movies? no... Mac OS X doesn't support decoding/playing of blu-ray movies. You can use blu-ray drives, and use data discs and such, but the movie playback is not there, mainly due to licensing reasons and such from the owners of blu-ray... I am surprised though that no 3rd parties has made a paid for licensed blu-ray player, but it might not be that simple with the level of digital rights management that goes into blu-ray... it is really crappy on the tech side of things, even though I know people just want to watch a movie.

 

no your not, not to come off as a complete ... well you know, Install windows and total theatre or any other BD player software and your set. OSX does not support BD video. and yes as a member of the Blu-Ray standards comitee im suprised they have not adopted it even a little bit

 

Buy a windows machine. Problem(s) solved

 

Yes, sell that MBP and trade it in for inferior software and hardware that looks like it was designed by a blind GameStop employee! That is the answer to every Mac problem out there. Aw, you want Flash videos to playback smoother? Buy a Windows PC. All those OS X viruses got you down? Buy a Windows PC. Having trouble syncing your beautiful brown Zune? Buy a Windows PC. Want to switch to the platform that Jebus himself runs? Buy a Windows PC.

All joking aside, there is actually a company that released a Mac compatible external and internal Blu-ray drive but they didn't release any playback software. That and I don't think OS X works with the digital copy protection implemented by Blu-ray movies (HDCP and quite a few others). Having the correct software for playback is only 1/3rd the equation, the other 1/3rd comes from the OS working with the digital keys of the movies.

I think Apple's lack of motivation for adopting Blu-ray is that they are migrating to a disc-less world. The iTunes Store has been the number one music store in the U.S. for quite a bit of time (2008?), everyone thought it would bomb when it came to selling movies but that has been profitable, Apple is pushing the App store for their iDevice thus negating any need for distributing via disc with them, and they are starting to do the same thing with OS X apps. I wouldn't be surprised if all portable Macs have their optical drives taken out over the next few years and the MBP line transitions into the MBA.

Blu-ray likely represents the last major optical disc format that we are ever going to have.

 

Good luck downloading a 35GB movie or even 10GB highly compressed. Most of us haven't got the patience as internet speeds just arn't fast enough on average yet. A blu-ray drive is useful for primarily ripping the discs onto an external. Then if one so pleases compress them later. Result = mount + stream movies discless.

 

So there are no programs that allow you to convert and view the Bluray video?

 

no OSX does NOT support Blu ray decoding and encryption you have to use windows for that.

 

Personally, I wouldn't call trading one minor limitation for numerous real problems as "Problem(s) solved", but that's just me.

 

Both Mac OS X and Win 7 / XP have their pros and cons but I wouldn't call windows a problem, except perhaps for the Branch Apple Dravidians.

 

What numerous real problems do you speak of? Please don't mention aesthetic ones. Things matter most under the surface however pretty and plain.

Interesting how defensive some apple users become after 1 weakness is found with OS X. It is one problem not a reason to put down all windows machines as "numerous problems" lol. I think the fact that people use them demonstrates that the problems aren't really there for most.

 

Bandwidth is becoming less and less of a major point these days. Even 20Mbps download speeds can be had for $40 a month. I am paying $60 for basic cable in one room (it was cheaper that way) and 40Mbps download speeds. I have obtained large files in the past with ease. That being said, there are still many people stuck in that 5Mbps Hell as that is all their ISP offers (yet they end up paying the same as me, I am looking at you Time Warner).

Even then I would say that we are moving to disc-less movie consumption as there is online streaming, online rentals, and PPV. People can now fire up their HD receiver, point it to the PPV section, rent a movie for $6 in HD, and not have to leave their house. All of these options (download, streaming, renting, PPV) are extremely convenient and can be done with a few clicks of the remote/mouse.

Don't get me wrong, I am not an avid supporter of consuming movies in this format. I have an extensive Blu-ray collection (I even still have my HD-DVDs from the whole format battle) and I am not going to give them up. I still buy movies on Blu-ray and most people are still buying movies on DVD. That being said, we are seeing the beginning of a transition to disc-less movie consumption. We saw the beginning of disc-less music consumption back in the day, people predicted it would fail (and gave a list of some very good reasons), yet here we are today with not many people buying CDs anymore and instead opting for the iTunes Store.

The last bit of your statement comes with a personal preference though as only a vast minority of people actually rip their movies. That is beyond the technical skills of most consumers.

 

Problem is that Apple doesn't give you, the customer, a choice to use Blu-Ray. If digital distribution is so much more convenient, people will find out that for themselves. Having a choice is always good, but Apple has never been about giving customers choices. Pretty tiring to hear people argue about this.

 

Good point Mackan!

 

so they should pay.. and pass on (since the purchasers actually pay) licensing fees to every single purchaser of Mac OS X, the ability to play blu-ray... just for a few people that want it? Not to mention the costs *if* the drive is even in there, they still have to pay the fees even if the machine doesn't have a drive that can play it. Blu-ray is really is a bag of hurt ya know.

 

Yes. Choice is important. The customer is always right. People already pay vast amounts for the latest apple product. I am sure they wouldn't mind paying a little extra for blu-ray capability and the choice as Mackan states to take advantage of it or not.

Every user has capabilities on their machines which they might never take advantage of but that isn't a reason to not include those options. For example on my laptop I have never used the express card slot, the hdmi or e-sata slots. So manufacturers should remove them?

 

if they cost next to nothing... and the majority of people want them.. or even a large part, then yes leave them. There has been very little outcry about blu-ray... especially when its something Apple is trying to compete with for their own profits. I think you are underestimating the costs. It should be perfectly possible if a 3rd party wanted to make a usable blu-ray player to play in Mac OS X to do it and sell it, though there could be issues since HDCP is all centered around HDMI and junk... but even Windows doesn't support blu-ray out of the box without 3rd party pay-for software to handle this (usually bundled "free" if you buy a blu-ray drive in it). As far as I've heard, MS decided to not put blu-ray in by default because they claimed the license fees would up the price of Windows too much.

 

Not in this country, among others. Remember that there do exist other major markets in the world other than the US, as shocking as this may seem.

And 5Mbps "hell"? That would be a veritable paradise, given my download speed of 1.3Mbps.

 

This thread is baffling.

You can hook an external blu-ray player up to any Mac and play the movie through VLC.

I'd assume the OP can do the same with his ISO. This thread is like a Windows thread where an OP asks why his new blu-ray player, which came with no software, won't play his blu-ray movies. Even in Windows, you have to buy some software that can decode and play back the software if the blu-ray player itself came with none. Or, you can install VLC.

OP, install VLC. Haters, stop making this about choice. The OP just needs software that can play his ISO back. the m2ts file, to be specific. VLC will do that just fine.

Why won't Bluray play? Because you're not feeding it the right software.

 

Although VLC should have no trouble playing back ripped Blu-ray content (assuming it is correctly ripped), I believe that it can't actually playback Blu-ray movies as OS X does not have the proper methods for decrypting the data built into it and I don't think that VLC has them either. Playing back the ripped files, which do not contain any DRM, is not a problem but the actual Blu-ray discs may still pose an issue under OS X.

Don't take my post out of context. Nowhere did I assume that the U.S. was the only country in the world. Yes, I realize that the forums have members from all around the world but I can only speak for my country. I wasn't going to research all the various ISPs across the globe just to obtain an overall average of download speeds, that would be insane. So, contrary to what you think, I was not assuming that the U.S. is the world.

 

Those who want it should pay. SSDs are expensive as well, so we should all stick with 5400 and 7200 rpm drives, right?

 

You prove my point. To pit the support in the OS is forcing everyone to pay, just like forcing a certain type of storage device on everyone, just cuz it's wanted for a few

 

ok so on a game show... i'm offering you tow storage devices... 250GB spinng disk a 7200RPM or a 256GB SSD, what do you take?

remember apple products are expensive and as such I'd expect good and fast parts. frankly for most people blu-ray isn't that special... a good unconverted DVD is enough for most people. where as a SSD everyone who buy that model can enjoy it.

 

You aren't understanding.. its not a choice.

They cannot put OS support for it in just some special version of Mac OS X and sell you a special version, thats just insane. If they put the support needed built in, then its built in, and the cost goes into it... for Mac OS X in general and EVERYONE who buys it, even if you don't have a blu-ray drive! The owners of all the blu-ray stuff are total rip off artists on costs.

I like how Apple keeps Mac OS X, and a server version and thats it... we don't need separate normal versions, home versions, premium, super ultra, deluxe versions, blu-ray version, astronaut versions or anything else.

If you really want blu-ray support, I believe its possible 3rd party. So yes, Apple or someone else could (possibly) make a full stand a lone software player someone can buy that would run a movie (which I wouldn't be surprised if sold for $90+). Apple doesn't because they don't so I understand being partially upset by that, but its against their profit models. If your really upset though, I'd go yell at people like Roxio or other companies that usually make this software, or that ones that make Windows versions, and ask why they don't sell any for Macs... they probably do it because of the costs involved in making it, and the fact no Mac owner would be able to use it unless they bought an extra external blu-ray drive.

Would it be nice if you could just pop in a blu-ray movie and watch it under Mac OS X some way... sure, but legal and money issues behind the scenes with blu-ray are just a PITA that I don't blame Apple (and 3rd parties) one bit for avoiding it all.

 

You do have a choice. It just takes an extra step...

You have the choice of loading up boot camp and playing any blu ray movies you want (from the disc) in Windows.

You also have the choice of ripping the movie to your HDD first and playing it in OSX....

But the US seriously needs to get on the ball with high speed internet. Even in populated metropolises, you can find areas where Verizon's 150/50 service simply isn't available even for the outrageous price they charge for it--that's mind-boggling backwards in this day and age.

Being stuck at 50 Mbps is incredibly frustrating considering how precious time is and how the US tries to pass itself off as being high-tech and all that.

 

Even the advertised speed is not always what it is like I found with Clear.

 

Actually, 50Mbps isn't all that bad especially considering many areas in and surrounding Cincinnati are still stuck at 5Mbps (which costs $45 a month through Time Warner). There are also many areas in New Mexico where 1Mbps is all that can be had. I am currently on a 40Mbps connection (through a small cable/internet company in Northern Kentucky) and that is more than fast enough for 1080p HD streaming, playing games online, and obtaining content rather quickly. It takes my MBP all of 25 seconds to download an album off of the iTunes Store (I think it takes longer to process the files), 20 minutes for a 4GB file, etc. I don't really see a need for a home consumer to go beyond 40-50Mbps. I understand having 50Mbps+ for small businesses but that is different.

The main issue is actually getting bandwidth where it is needed and not charging an arm and a leg for something above 5Mbps (which most cable/internet companies tend to do in the U.S.)

 

I keep hearing that market forces correct everything so how come we don't have fast internet in the US? I know I can swear that Uncle Sam is an evil boogeyman.

 

What market forces? Uncle Sam imposes so much cross-subsidization on networked industries that there isn't even a semblance of real competition.

The excessive price you're paying for your mediocre internet/roads/mail/electricity includes the cost of the govt forcing your carrier to provide those same services to some guy in the middle of the woods who doesn't want to pay for the cost of the infrastructure

Just look at the national broadband plan promulgated a few years ago. It's much more concerned about getting a bare minimum threshold of internet to every household (including those that can't afford it) than to increase the speed and quality of connections.

 

But seriously paying like $50 for 5 mbps connection? Don't companies get subsidies for providing access to rural areas / laying down fiber optic lines?

 

For phone (and certain others) yes. I'm not sure if the FCC ever passed the proposed reg to subsidize fiber optic. I assume it's only a matter of time, if it hasn't already.

But the point is, these aren't industries that fall neatly into the classical economic model for a variety of reasons even in the absence of government intervention, and the govt is trying to both force companies to provide these services to areas where it's not profitable to do so otherwise AND to limit them from gaining too much market power at the same time. I.e. the FCC is trying to set up an artificial controlled market that mimics a real one, and of course it's doing it poorly.

New developing countries with a dense urban infrastructure have a number of advantages that US lacks of course--geography, not having to weed out an older obsolete infrastructure, etc. But as far as the competitive environment goes--there's really no excuse for the US.

Oh well. End of my rant.

 

There is the problem in developing faster internet for the already developed countries ; already existing outdated infrastructure. This infrastructure in the cities is usually more difficult to update than in the countryside!

To bring the tech infrastructure up to date in the UK for example is very costly and difficult. I think any move to a discless data society is still much too early as most of us in the "developed" world just can't download things quickly enough. The fastest download speed I have ever seen at my house is 0.5 meg a sec! Imagine how long it would take to download a high def movie or an OS at even that "maximum" speed....

 

Is that 0.5Mbps or 0.5MB/s? 0.5MB/s wouldn't be too bad, it would take over 130 minutes (~2 hours) to download a full blown OS (assuming it is around 4GB in size). It would take about an hour to obtain an HD movie and then you are talking about 6-7 minutes for an album. So 0.5MB/s isn't all that bad for downloading content. It would also be enough for HD streaming (at least through Hulu and Netflix) which often require 3Mbps for their HD content (0.375MB/s).

Of course, if that is in Mbps, you are completely SOL and that is sad since my phone (through 3G wireless) gets about 1Mbps on a bad day.

That being said, the push to a disc-less world is happening whether people have the bandwidth or not. The success of the iTunes Store for selling music (which results in much smaller file sizes), the push to release OS X lion only through the App Store, the success of the App Store on iOS devices (with many people not even syncing their iPads, iPhones, or iPods to their computers anymore), Netflix's explosion in popularity, Microsoft's and Sony's venture into selling games online and having people download them to their console's hard drives, and the backing of PPV from cable/satellite companies are all movements that keep pushing a disc-less world.

I understand that some people currently don't have the speeds to support that and they still hold onto the idea of being able to physically hold their media but the movie, music, TV, and gaming companies are all stepping forward into a disc-less world. Now the ISPs are playing catchup to the content providers and it is going to take them a lot longer to get to a steady point where everyone out there (across the world, not just the U.S.) has access to affordable high speed (~10Mbps+) internet.

 

BTW. There IS a Blu-Ray video software solution for Macs now. Of course, it didn't work on the one Blu-Ray movie I tried it on, but some have had better luck so I hear?

The First and Best Mac Bluray Player, movie/DVD/video player software

 

The point is that with Windows or Linux, they do offer you a choice to buy the programs to playback Blu-rays. Apple doesn't even allow programs to be bought for Blu-ray. This has nothing to do with costs. Do you really think Windows have a built-in feature that automatically decodes Blu-Ray disks, only requiring a playback software to play the content? Of course the programs you bought, be it Cyberlink PowerDVD or Corel WinDVD, contain the actual decoding feature. M$ has nothing to do with it.

Also, I don't see how legal and licensing fee is an issue for Apple. They pay a fix rate for the Blu-ray drive they sold, and that's it. They don't create Blu-ray content, so no royalties there. Unless of course they believe they won't be making enough money milking the users $150~$200 for a Blu-ray drive, which they pay very little royalty on.

The bottom line is, Apple had a choice to support Blu-Ray. They didn't, fearing that allowing Blu-Ray support on Mac would potentially take away their online revenue. That's the only reason why Apple did not support Blu-Ray.

 

Since MS doesn't support it for Windows, why does everyone expect Apple to support it for OSX? That is my point. Apple is NOT preventing blu-ray from working, they just are not supporting it, same as Microsoft.

license fees to make a software player... license fees are on he hardware, and the software that can play it, as well as selling media using it.

Is that the same reason Microsoft doesn't support blu-ray?

if you look at the post above, a 3rd party (just like in the Windows world) has finally made a blu-ray software player that will run on Macs.
The First and Best Mac Bluray Player, movie/DVD/video player software
This was my whole point... why is everyone putting it on Apple to support blu-ray, yet they have no issues that its only 3rd parties on Windows that support it. They don't sell internal blu-ray drives.. but that makes sense since until now there has been no software for playing blu-ray movies.

 

Except here's the difference. Microsoft doesn't limit who can develop what kind of programs for Windows. You can even develop a raping simulation game on Windows, and Microsoft wouldn't give a crap about it.

Apple on the other hand is a vertical integration company. In order for any company to develop a program for Apple, Steve Jobs must give the OK. He obviously didn't give the OK for Blu-Ray programs to be developed, because he felt his customers don't need to watch high definition movie. If he did, would we be having this conversation?

Apple wouldn't be making the software player, so no license fee.
Apple does make the hardware, so license fee there.
The software that can play it = software player, doh'.
Apple doesn't create BD content, so no license fee.

Also, which ties into my point: Apple doesn't want Blu-Ray to eat into their iTune download profit, so they didn't support it.

/yawn

No. Your point was that it was illogical for Apple to bundle a Blu-ray program and force it down their customers throat. So that's why they didn't offer it. I'm telling you that they didn't offer it because it would eat into Apple's own profit from iTune.

People expect Apple to support BD because Apple needs to "approve" it. People don't expect M$ to support BD because it wasn't M$'s job to approve the software.

I'm glad to see that 3rd party developers have finally taken up the job to produce a BD player for Mac. Now if Apple finally allows BD players to be an option when you purchase the Mac.

 

How is that any different... Apple doesn't limit it either... you could do the same hideous thing on OSX easily.

what are you talking about...? Macs are not iOS... anyone can make any software and sell it for Macs, there is no need run anything by Apple... thats only if you want to sell it in their store.

Apple isn't going to sell a machine with a blu-ray drive with no way to play blu-ray movies.. that would cause more of a problem than not having a drive at all...

That is a reason, not the reason.

Why do you think there is only 1 reason?

Apple doesn't have to approve anything unless Apple is going to sell it themselves or in the Mac App Store... sheesh, where do people get this stuff. I make software for Mac OS X too, and Apple doesn't approve anything, theres no need... anyone can make any software they want.

you think Apple approved that? maybe if it starts selling in the Mac App Store, but I doubt Apple knew anything about it until the company started selling the software... Apple may work with them to add the software and a drive as an option, but thats not really the Apple way unless they can actually license off the core of the software to make their own Apple branded version.