At the end, I smiled and marveled at how great Blu-ray is.
Then I ejected the ... DVD.
One of Steve Jobs' great insights is the balance of specs vs. usability. Yeah, the Apple product line may not beat out the competition on specs (though it happens more than the naysayers like to admit), but by maintaining a high bar for user experience, the need for top "checkbox" specs is reduced. Yeah, Blu-ray is better and desirable ... but upscaled DVD and 'net streaming is plenty good enough for most users, and the few users for whom it isn't aren't worth the "bag of hurt" to make it happen now.
Broadband is improving. Codecs are improving. Most viewers can't discern 720p from 1080p (as my wife likes to often opine on the subject "I can't see the difference so who cares?"). We'll get pervasive 1080p on Apple platforms soon enough; until then, I'll put up with the good-enough upscaled DVD, 720p streaming, and the occasional Blu-ray from Redbox.
At the end, I smiled and marveled at how great Blu-ray is.
Then I ejected the ... DVD.
One of Steve Jobs' great insights is the balance of specs vs. usability. Yeah, the Apple product line may not beat out the competition on specs (though it happens more than the naysayers like to admit), but by maintaining a high bar for user experience, the need for top "checkbox" specs is reduced. Yeah, Blu-ray is better and desirable ... but upscaled DVD and 'net streaming is plenty good enough for most users, and the few users for whom it isn't aren't worth the "bag of hurt" to make it happen now.
Broadband is improving. Codecs are improving. Most viewers can't discern 720p from 1080p (as my wife likes to often opine on the subject "I can't see the difference so who cares?"). We'll get pervasive 1080p on Apple platforms soon enough; until then, I'll put up with the good-enough upscaled DVD, 720p streaming, and the occasional Blu-ray from Redbox.