Why does my Blu-Ray player have a USB port?

mrsir2009 · Oct 18, 2011

The old $90 DVD player broke, so my dad went out and got a blu-ray player. We still have a CRT TV, so we can't benifit from it, but its one less thing to buy when the CRT dies

Anyway, there's a single USB port on the front of the Blu-Ray player, and I'm just wondering what its for?

BTW its quite a high end player, it has media centre features built in and special internet services etc... If that helps

SactoGuy18 · Oct 18, 2011

Unless the Blu-ray player has built-in 802.11g/n Wi-Fi support including antenna, that USB port is where you plug in the Wi-Fi adapter. In fact, that's where I plug in the 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter for my Sony BDP-S370 player so I could get firmware updates and access streaming video services like Netflix and Amazon's streaming video service.

mrsir2009 · Oct 18, 2011

What, so you plug a Wifi adaptor into the USB port on the front to get internet services?

Thanks

RawBert · Oct 18, 2011

My Blu Ray player has one USB port on the front and one on the back. I use the front one to plug in a flash drive and play mpg and jpg files.

Sankersizzle · Oct 18, 2011

Why didn't you just get a PS3? Then you could have FOUR USB ports!!

But seriously, why'd you buy a stand alone player instead of a PS3?

wywern209 · Oct 18, 2011

Sankersizzle said:
Why didn't you just get a PS3? Then you could have FOUR USB ports!!

But seriously, why'd you buy a stand alone player instead of a PS3?

for true 1080p 3d capability thru hdmi 1.4? no ps3 so far has 1.4 for the support of 1080p hd. and the usb port on your bluray player is for listening music , watching vids thru the player by storing the vids and music on the usb drive.

Peace · Oct 18, 2011

Every electronic device must have some kind of access port according to FCC regulations.

It's a law. That's probably why your Blu-Ray player has a USB port.

mrsir2009 · Oct 18, 2011

Sankersizzle said:
Why didn't you just get a PS3? Then you could have FOUR USB ports!!

But seriously, why'd you buy a stand alone player instead of a PS3?

1. I didn't buy it.

2. It costed $160 instead of $500...

Sankersizzle · Oct 18, 2011

wywern209 said:
for true 1080p 3d capability thru hdmi 1.4? no ps3 so far has 1.4 for the support of 1080p hd. and the usb port on your bluray player is for listening music , watching vids thru the player by storing the vids and music on the usb drive.

GOD DAMMIT I just bought another PS3 to play blu rays at home, and was hoping you'd be all like "Yo, listen to Sankersizzle that guy is rad" rather than telling me why the blu ray player was better...

mrsir2009 · Oct 18, 2011

wywern209 said:
for true 1080p 3d capability thru hdmi 1.4? no ps3 so far has 1.4 for the support of 1080p hd. and the usb port on your bluray player is for listening music , watching vids thru the player by storing the vids and music on the usb drive.

Cool... So instead of putting in a disk to watch a movie I can plug in a flash drive with the movie on it?

iParis · Oct 18, 2011

Not sure about yours', but when I plug a USB storage device into my bluray player I can play almost any type of video and music file. This is the reason I sold my 1st gen Apple TV.

mrsir2009 · Oct 18, 2011

Peace said:
Every electronic device must have some kind of access port according to FCC regulations.

It's a law. That's probably why your Blu-Ray player has a USB port.

Seriously, its the law? Why?

...Or are you being sarcastic?

iParis · Oct 18, 2011

mrsir2009 said:
Cool... So instead of putting in a disk to watch a movie I can plug in a flash drive with the movie on it?

Yep. Or even an external hard drive, which is what I do. And I'm not positive you can do it, I guess it depends on the bluray player you have.

Chundles · Oct 18, 2011

I plug my external HDD into my Blu-Ray player - makes it into a media centre.

Peace · Oct 18, 2011

mrsir2009 said:
Seriously, its the law? Why?

...Or are you being sarcastic?

Not at all. Read the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

mrsir2009 · Oct 18, 2011

Well, my BluRay player has a media centre button on the main menu... But when I click on it it says "Sorry, you aren't connected to the internet". But if I plugged my external hard disk in, which contains movies and TV shows, I could click on the media centre button and I'd be able to browse the drive and watch stuff off it, correct?

Sorry, I'm new to this stuff... Been using cassete tapes for most of my life

----------

Peace said:
Not at all. Read the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

But, wait.... My old DVD player didn't have a USB port?

Peace · Oct 18, 2011

mrsir2009 said:
Well, my BluRay player has a media centre button on the main menu... But when I click on it it says "Sorry, you aren't connected to the internet". But if I plugged my external hard disk in, which contains movies and TV shows, I could click on the media centre button and I'd be able to browse the drive and watch stuff off it, correct?

Sorry, I'm new to this stuff... Been using cassete tapes for most of my life

----------

But, wait.... My old DVD player didn't have a USB port?

If it was made after 1996 it has some kind of external access to it.Doesn't have to be a USB port.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that's the only reason it has a port.
All I'm saying is the DMCA required some kind of external access.

mrsir2009 · Oct 18, 2011

Peace said:
If it was made after 1996 it has some kind of external access to it.Doesn't have to be a USB port.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that's the only reason it has a port.
All I'm saying is the DMCA required some kind of external access.

Why is it required to have external access?

Peace · Oct 18, 2011

mrsir2009 said:
Why is it required to have external access?

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c105:./temp/~c105BOrKcA

It's in there somewhere. I'm not gonna go reading the whole thing so believe me or not.

I don't care really.

Sankersizzle · Oct 19, 2011

mrsir2009 said:
1. I didn't buy it.

2. It costed $160 instead of $500...

Oh, yikes. Down here you can get a PS3 from the store for $220 :s.

fat jez · Oct 19, 2011

I dunno about anybody else, but on my player, if I want to access any of the Bluray 2.0 features, e.g. websites, I need to plug in a USB key for storage, as the player does not have any long term storage of its own.

mrsir2009 · Oct 19, 2011

Sankersizzle said:
Oh, yikes. Down here you can get a PS3 from the store for $220 :s.

Thats New Zealand for ya -_-

0098386 · Oct 19, 2011

wywern209 said:
for true 1080p 3d capability thru hdmi 1.4? no ps3 so far has 1.4 for the support of 1080p hd. and the usb port on your bluray player is for listening music , watching vids thru the player by storing the vids and music on the usb drive.

PS3's can play 1080 3D Bluray over 1.3. There was a system update last year that enabled it.
I can't find any source clarifying if its progressive or interlaced, though.

yg17 · Oct 19, 2011

Did you try reading the manual?

Some players use it for storage for BD-Live content. Others use it for WiFi, others use it to play media files, and some might not use it at all. The manual should clear that up.

SactoGuy18 · Oct 19, 2011

yg17 said:
Some players use it for storage for BD-Live content. Others use it for WiFi, others use it to play media files, and some might not use it at all. The manual should clear that up.

Actually, players that meet the BD-Live spec MUST have 1 GB of on-player storage--you can't "fudge" it by storing the BD-Live data on an external flash drive connected via the USB port.

Why does my Blu-Ray player have a USB port?

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