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Baz178

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
33
0
Hi just orderd a 21.5-inch: 2.7GHz imac which will be deliverd just after my birthday, and i wanted to no which Blu-ray would be best i have £100 pound to spend on one. Thanks dan
 

Macman45

macrumors G5
Jul 29, 2011
13,197
135
Somewhere Back In The Long Ago
This may be just a little over budget, but I 've gone for it based on the awards it's gained...I also bought the D-Link USB 3 hub as well. The burner is self powered, and gets great reviews. I should have it by Thursday so will report back on its performance under USB2. Can't as yet test it on my new 27" as it's not shiping until January.
 

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Baz178

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
33
0
will i be able to just plug that in and install it or do i have to change things to osx new to these things ?
 

Macman45

macrumors G5
Jul 29, 2011
13,197
135
Somewhere Back In The Long Ago
will i be able to just plug that in and install it or do i have to change things to osx new to these things ?

No, should work right out of the box...As I said I f you hang on a couple of days I will review it..The included software is Windows only, but it's not required. All you need is a fresh copy of Handbrake ( free) and VLC ( also free:

http://handbrake.fr


VLC:
http://www2.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html

Armed with these two you are good to go!
 

Baz178

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
33
0
No, should work right out of the box...As I said I f you hang on a couple of days I will review it..The included software is Windows only, but it's not required. All you need is a fresh copy of Handbrake ( free) and VLC ( also free:

http://handbrake.fr


VLC:
http://www2.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html

Armed with these two you are good to go!


So all i need to do is install the blu-ray, and install the software quoted above and i am good to go ? Plus can you use the drive to play music, put cd games in ie football manger 2013 ? also do i have to buy that port thing or can i plug staraight into the imac usb ?
 
Last edited:

Macman45

macrumors G5
Jul 29, 2011
13,197
135
Somewhere Back In The Long Ago
So all i need to do is install the blu-ray, and install the software quoted above and i am good to go ? Plus can you use the drive to play music, put cd games in ie football manger 2013 ? also do i have to buy that port thing or can i plug staraight into the imac usb ?

Yes, it acts as a normal drive, play CD's DVD's and install software. There are cheaper drives around, and we are all a little in the dark, but I have high hopes for the Asus.
 

Baz178

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
33
0

ashleypenny

macrumors member
Dec 8, 2012
58
2
Bear in mind thats a writer, so its expensive for what you want it to do. If you search ebay for 'external bluray drive' there will be lots for very cheap. no need to be spending £100/$100 for a reader.

----------

No i am in the uk i just cant find one in the uk for sale

use the ebay link i posted above or just search ebay for external bluray drive. loads for £20
 

Baz178

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
33
0
Bear in mind thats a writer, so its expensive for what you want it to do. If you search ebay for 'external bluray drive' there will be lots for very cheap. no need to be spending £100/$100 for a reader.

----------



use the ebay link i posted above or just search ebay for external bluray drive. loads for £20


Do apple sell one on there website a blu-ray one ? if not which one would you go for on ebay i want one that look decent and does not look cheap
 

Baz178

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
33
0
it will be fine. if you are on topcashback you can get 3.5% back with expansys.


if you was to go for one ashleypenny which blu-ray one would you go for wants to be a good looking one not one that looks cheap uk aswell please ?:D
 

northernmunky

macrumors 6502a
Jan 19, 2007
825
288
London, Taipei
I'm surprised no one has mentioned yet that you'll have to purchase a software player to actually play buy-rays once you have the drive - you've got a few alternatives for this:

I'll recommend this one as a software blu-ray player: http://www.macblurayplayer.com/
It's a great software solution, constantly being updated.. doesn't support blu-ray menu's yet but no doubt it's on it's way, but you can watch the movie itself from the disc. You can't do this with VLC alone currently.

If you just want a reader and not a burner then there are plenty of external models under £50 now, I'm sure this one will do the job:
http://www.saverstore.com/product/20052626/Plextor-External-Slim-Blu-ray-Player--Top-Loading--Optical-Drive

Personally, as long as you've bought the disc, I prefer to rip the file from the disc and onto my hard drive so I can view it from my desktop or play it back on a media player connected to my TV (that's because I don't own a blu-ray player for my TV set, but I do have a Western Digital media box which will play back the ripped file.

You can use Makemkv to do this, it will simply re-wrap the video into an MKV container (no transcoding) so there is zero loss of quality (works the same with DVD's)
For blu-ray you're looking at a 20-30Gb file, for DVD usually around 4-8Gb.

Hope this helps.
 

Baz178

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
33
0
I'm surprised no one has mentioned yet that you'll have to purchase a software player to actually play buy-rays once you have the drive - you've got a few alternatives for this:

I'll recommend this one as a software blu-ray player: http://www.macblurayplayer.com/
It's a great software solution, constantly being updated.. doesn't support blu-ray menu's yet but no doubt it's on it's way, but you can watch the movie itself from the disc. You can't do this with VLC alone currently.

If you just want a reader and not a burner then there are plenty of external models under £50 now, I'm sure this one will do the job:
http://www.saverstore.com/product/20052626/Plextor-External-Slim-Blu-ray-Player--Top-Loading--Optical-Drive

Personally, as long as you've bought the disc, I prefer to rip the file from the disc and onto my hard drive so I can view it from my desktop or play it back on a media player connected to my TV (that's because I don't own a blu-ray player for my TV set, but I do have a Western Digital media box which will play back the ripped file.

You can use Makemkv to do this, it will simply re-wrap the video into an MKV container (no transcoding) so there is zero loss of quality (works the same with DVD's)
For blu-ray you're looking at a 20-30Gb file, for DVD usually around 4-8Gb.

Hope this helps.



Thanks northernmunky

1.Just a quick question is http://www.macblurayplayer.com FREE?

2.Will the Plextor External Slim Blu-ray Player Top Loading Optical Drive definatly work on my new 21.5-inch: 2.7GHz when i get it ?

Thanks Dan
 

northernmunky

macrumors 6502a
Jan 19, 2007
825
288
London, Taipei
Thanks northernmunky

1.Just a quick question is http://www.macblurayplayer.com FREE?

2.Will the Plextor External Slim Blu-ray Player Top Loading Optical Drive definatly work on my new 21.5-inch: 2.7GHz when i get it ?

Thanks Dan

It's not free unfortunately, but they seem to be doing a promotion at the moment, so it works out at £24.71, which ain't bad.

As for the player, yes. I bought a writer myself about 3 years ago now and it worked fine on my Macbook Pro. That model should be no different.
 

Baz178

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
33
0
It's not free unfortunately, but they seem to be doing a promotion at the moment, so it works out at £24.71, which ain't bad.

As for the player, yes. I bought a writer myself about 3 years ago now and it worked fine on my Macbook Pro. That model should be no different.


1. ok thanks

2. did you have to install any software when you bought it like a disk or did it install when you plugged it in ?
 

northernmunky

macrumors 6502a
Jan 19, 2007
825
288
London, Taipei
1. ok thanks

2. did you have to install any software when you bought it like a disk or did it install when you plugged it in ?

No software install required, its all plug and play so it will act like any other CD/DVD player reading a folder structure on a disc. In order to play a blu-ray movie title however you'll just need a software solution that can read the movie data (VLC can't do this on it's own due to the way they are encrypted) thus you have to purchase software which is licensed to do so. I don't know of any free way of doing it at the moment other than ripping the disk to your HDD.
 

Baz178

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
33
0
No software install required, its all plug and play so it will act like any other CD/DVD player reading a folder structure on a disc. In order to play a blu-ray movie title however you'll just need a software solution that can read the movie data (VLC can't do this on it's own due to the way they are encrypted) thus you have to purchase software which is licensed to do so. I don't know of any free way of doing it at the moment other than ripping the disk to your HDD.

Right i will order it now is http://www.saverstore.com/product/2...im-Blu-ray-Player--Top-Loading--Optical-Drive safe to order from ? and can you order from the uk ? and when i am up and running i will buy the software which will let me play blu-rays.
 

northernmunky

macrumors 6502a
Jan 19, 2007
825
288
London, Taipei
Right i will order it now is http://www.saverstore.com/product/2...im-Blu-ray-Player--Top-Loading--Optical-Drive safe to order from ? and can you order from the uk ? and when i am up and running i will buy the software which will let me play blu-rays.



Yep, I've bought from saverstore many times, but I prefer ebuyer myself & you get free delivery there (so you're saving a whole £2 in total)
http://www.ebuyer.com/233026-plextor-px-b120u-usb-2-0-blu-ray-optical-drive-retail-px-b120u

Once you plug in, insert the disk... all you'll see is a folder structure on the disc, but if you download the demo of the mac bluray player you can trial out disk playback.

As I said, bluray menu's aren't supported but you can just click on the track that is over an hour long and that's the movie!
 

boy-better-know

macrumors 65816
Jun 30, 2010
1,350
137
England
Anyone running bootcamp, this may seem a stupid question, but does windows running on bootcamp recognise an external blu ray drive ok?

I ask because I plan on adding windows to my 2012 iMac next month but I am also buying a Samsung external blu ray drive and will be using it for game discs. I understand that I need to download extra software for mac, but is this the case for windows running on my mac?
Thanks!
 

northernmunky

macrumors 6502a
Jan 19, 2007
825
288
London, Taipei
Anyone running bootcamp, this may seem a stupid question, but does windows running on bootcamp recognise an external blu ray drive ok?

I ask because I plan on adding windows to my 2012 iMac next month but I am also buying a Samsung external blu ray drive and will be using it for game discs. I understand that I need to download extra software for mac, but is this the case for windows running on my mac?
Thanks!

No special software is required for either OS, only the software for playing bluray video.
 
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