How do MAC users output in HD formats?

I was just wondering the other day, how do MACs output HD video if you were editing an HD project?

I understand that Apple opted not to put blu ray in their latest MACs. And normal DVDs cannot handle high definition movies without downconversion.

Does this mean that the projects for finalization have to be downconverted to a form of standard definition or recorded on a MiniDV tape in order to maintain the HD result?

 

Common misconception that normal DVDs can't handle HD video. DVDs are just a storage medium, no different than a Hard Drive or Flash Drive. A DVD can hold 4.x GB of data - be it SD video or HD video. A dual layer DVD can handle 9.x GB of data, HD video included.

Note: too lazy to look up storage size of DVDs.

 

But how well would HD play on a DVD? Is the read speed fast enough for it?

For most of my projects, anytime I am burning onto a DVD, it has to downconvert for optimum performance.

 

Just Wikipedia'd the read speeds. Bluray 1x is 36Mb/s. DVD 1x is 10.5Mb/s, so you would need a 4x read.

 

You can buy external BD burners for Macs. BTW, it's Mac not MAC.

http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11054

 

burning content to a disk is becoming a lost form of distribution in itself, unless you are working on major projects.

if you need to output to blu-ray, it would be wise to have a good reason to.

it is much much simpler to just output a .mov and do with it what you will.

the percentage of people using blu-ray players is still quite small, and working with straight forward files is much simpler in this day and age.

 

Interesting. Perhaps you can direct me to any production houses that are making full revenue from doing such a task and not outputting to dvd's for their clients. I would actually be interested in learning their process if you knew.

 

Basically, you wouldn't be making a dvd movie on it, one that could be played in a dvd player.

You would make a data dvd, and put the hi def video file on the dvd. Then play it on other computers, or ones that are hooked up to hdtvs.

 

i don't know any production house that does that? most output is done by the people actually producing the work, not the creative team behind it, feature films, advertising. From what I have seen, most work is delivered through FTP or other methods of uploading and sending around the world.

there are definitely instances where work is delivered in DVD format, but you have to understand, normal Mpeg2 DVD format is an extremely compressed format. If DVD is used at all, it is more likely to be used as a simple data transfer method rather than an output format.

you have to think about it, a DVD or Blu-Ray is just a package for a certain type of file. what is great about blu-ray is that it is using a video format that is actually used in production, and is an updated compression method.