Blu-ray to 30" Cinema Display?
Is there anyway to hook a standard blu-ray player to a 30" Cinema Display? Also, are there blu-ray drives that will work with the New Mac Pro's?
No to the first question. Not sure about the second question.
6 replies
only display that does HDCP (needed for playback) is 24" LED.
blu-ray sata drives will works, but you can only BURN data, can't watch movies. Toast 9 or 10 are the only burn apps.
blu-ray sata drives will works, but you can only BURN data, can't watch movies. Toast 9 or 10 are the only burn apps.
The short answer: No.
Part of the Blu-Ray revolution is the requirement that the video signal be encrypted all the way from the Blu-Ray disk into the monitor. It's only in the monitor that the signal finally gets decrypted. The encryption scheme used is HDCP. This so that people can't 'record' (i.e. copy) the video signal off the cable coming out of the computer or Blu-Ray player.
This is a requirement of the Blu-Ray specification itself. There is no Blu-Ray without encrypted signals.
(HD-DVDs on the other hand had encryption optional so at least some movies could have played. But the HD-DVD standard was not what the majority of consumers wanted...)
To decrypt HDCP signals the monitor needs a hardware decryption chip. Not something any firmware upgrade can add later or any extra box outside the monitor can provide (as this runs against the Blu-Ray requirements).
In effect all currently sold 30" ACDs are dead ends when it comes to Blu-Ray movies. If ever Apple should support Blu-Ray, none of the 30" monitors sold to date will play any Blu-Ray content in 1080p HD resolution. (They might play it in low SD quality as the Blu-Ray specification allows for that.)
This is why it is rather limiting to buy a 30" ACD today. It's not future proof. And cannot be upgraded ever.
(I just wish Apple would release an HDCP compliant 30" monitor soon.
Some hope Apple might release one in June at WWDC 2009. I'd rather see one sooner.
That would be great. But I digress...)
Since Toast 9 and 10 are pretty much the only software packages that work with Blu-Ray drives on the Mac at the moment (in OSX), you might want to check their Support Forums at <http://forums.support.roxio.com> to see which drives work.
The La Cie external Blu-Ray drive is surely one.
But again, on the Mac side all this is just for Blu-Ray data disks. Not Blu-Ray movies.
Currently to actually watch Blu-Ray movies with a Mac Pro you have to boot into Windows and use Windows Blu-Ray disk player software plus an HDCP compliant monitor (which the 30" ACD is not).
Part of the Blu-Ray revolution is the requirement that the video signal be encrypted all the way from the Blu-Ray disk into the monitor. It's only in the monitor that the signal finally gets decrypted. The encryption scheme used is HDCP. This so that people can't 'record' (i.e. copy) the video signal off the cable coming out of the computer or Blu-Ray player.
This is a requirement of the Blu-Ray specification itself. There is no Blu-Ray without encrypted signals.
(HD-DVDs on the other hand had encryption optional so at least some movies could have played. But the HD-DVD standard was not what the majority of consumers wanted...)
To decrypt HDCP signals the monitor needs a hardware decryption chip. Not something any firmware upgrade can add later or any extra box outside the monitor can provide (as this runs against the Blu-Ray requirements).
In effect all currently sold 30" ACDs are dead ends when it comes to Blu-Ray movies. If ever Apple should support Blu-Ray, none of the 30" monitors sold to date will play any Blu-Ray content in 1080p HD resolution. (They might play it in low SD quality as the Blu-Ray specification allows for that.)
This is why it is rather limiting to buy a 30" ACD today. It's not future proof. And cannot be upgraded ever.
(I just wish Apple would release an HDCP compliant 30" monitor soon.
Some hope Apple might release one in June at WWDC 2009. I'd rather see one sooner.
That would be great. But I digress...)
Since Toast 9 and 10 are pretty much the only software packages that work with Blu-Ray drives on the Mac at the moment (in OSX), you might want to check their Support Forums at <http://forums.support.roxio.com> to see which drives work.
The La Cie external Blu-Ray drive is surely one.
But again, on the Mac side all this is just for Blu-Ray data disks. Not Blu-Ray movies.
Currently to actually watch Blu-Ray movies with a Mac Pro you have to boot into Windows and use Windows Blu-Ray disk player software plus an HDCP compliant monitor (which the 30" ACD is not).
If you use Windows via Boot Camp, you can watch Blu-ray discs on any display (with or without HDCP) using AnyDVD HD
<http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvdhd.html>
<http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvdhd.html>
I hear it works quite well.
But be mindful that this is not your typical software product you're dealing with here.
It is not available on CD or in any shops, is distributed only online from a company that operates out of the 'beautiful island Antigua'.
Not saying it's not going to work for you. Just be aware that the use of this software may not be legal in your country (it is outlawed in Germany) and may stop being supported at any point in time with no further updates.
Enjoy it while it lasts. Just don't build your future Blu-Ray collection on the assumption that this will work for years to come...
Some more info on this: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AnyDVD>
But be mindful that this is not your typical software product you're dealing with here.
It is not available on CD or in any shops, is distributed only online from a company that operates out of the 'beautiful island Antigua'.
Not saying it's not going to work for you. Just be aware that the use of this software may not be legal in your country (it is outlawed in Germany) and may stop being supported at any point in time with no further updates.
Enjoy it while it lasts. Just don't build your future Blu-Ray collection on the assumption that this will work for years to come...
Some more info on this: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AnyDVD>
Andreas,
Very thoughtful, well researched and written. Thanks for posting that.
Very thoughtful, well researched and written. Thanks for posting that.
Blu-ray to 30" Cinema Display?