DVD Studio Pro 5 with Blu-ray Support?
 

The Blu-ray win only now makes me think about DVD Studio Pro 5 maybe having Blu-ray support. Even Apple computers need BD-R and BD-RW drives now.

Do keep in mind that Apple uses Pioneer or Sony drives for certain Macs.

Is it in the foreseeable future that the next release is going to have Blu-ray support? Even if there isn't a drive, you could possibly DLT a copy to mastering.

They should have done this a minimum of 2 years ago. Didn't the "Year of HD" come and go long ago? I've been pretty ticked with Apple's HD delivery support. Hopefully they get on the ball soon.

If you look at their moves in the iTunes business, there is a logical reason for not supporting blu rays. They seem trying to make the industry moving towards online distribution of films rather than using physical media.

I never upgraded to FCP Studio 2 because it lacked this support. I don't have anyone asking for bluray discs, but I shoot HD in case anyone wants it down the road. If Apple comes out with a new MBP later this year with a bluray drive and FCP Studio 3 with bluray authoring...totally going to upgrade (depending on price point of course)

I'm no expert on bluray prices, but from what I've seen the read only drives cost around $200 and the burners will set you back an extra $500, so they wont be cheap.

I understand Apple's position, but what happened to the customer always being right? Plus - I don't think letting the average wedding shooter, event videographer, independent producer make BluRay discs is going to cut into iTunes sales.

I suspect what really happened is ... Apple didn't want to invest too heavily in a technology while the format war was going on and they were caught off guard when it ended so suddenly.

I think part of the problem is the cost of a license to use some of the technology used in the menu authoring is extremely high. Thats why you seeing adobe, vegas and toast (on mac's) offering only very limited BD authoring capabilities. Perhaps Apple are trying to get the license down to an affordable figure before releasing the update.

Including license issues, it appears Apple is trying to push digital-distribution of films rather than support the next generation of films of on physical media (in the form of Blue-Ray HD). The company has a history of being over-controlling and trying to force the direction of adoption/uptake of new technology routes. For better or for worse, I think this is Apple (a Blu-Ray consortium member) waiting off as long as possible before supporting Blu-Ray - which will happen this year.