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Will the LG BE14NU40 Blu-ray burner work with a Mac?
- Thread starter barnyard
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USB2 Blu ray burner
This one works well with a new (skinny) iMac even though it is only USB2:
http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/...BD6XSLU2&Category_Code=STORBD&Product_Count=2
I have burnt numerous 25Gb disks as an archive - they just appear in Finder where I can drag folders and click the burn icon. It claims to work with 50GB disks as well.
It plays Blue Ray movies well with the trial software included (I have not watched a whole movie yet - just several minutes - the picture quality is exceptional)
I bought it as a temporary measure but am now not sure sure that I need a USB3 device. In any case it is working through a USB2 hub and so is not using up precious USB3 ports on the back of the iMac.
This one works well with a new (skinny) iMac even though it is only USB2:
http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/...BD6XSLU2&Category_Code=STORBD&Product_Count=2
I have burnt numerous 25Gb disks as an archive - they just appear in Finder where I can drag folders and click the burn icon. It claims to work with 50GB disks as well.
It plays Blue Ray movies well with the trial software included (I have not watched a whole movie yet - just several minutes - the picture quality is exceptional)
I bought it as a temporary measure but am now not sure sure that I need a USB3 device. In any case it is working through a USB2 hub and so is not using up precious USB3 ports on the back of the iMac.
Well so far I've counted 3 people with problems.
1 noted that they replaced the drive = all is well
1 noted that they replaced the USB cable = all is well
1 noted possible software problem, either OS X or the app
There are folks on here with just as many problems with macsales/OWC drives and Samsung drives and external superdrives.
I'd still like to hear from those that have the drive if they are noticing any other hiccups, those that may be associated with the drive itself, the enclosure, cabling or software/app issues.
have had this drive and the pioneer bdr xd04 for about a week now for comparision - rurnning on a maxed late 2012 27 imac
-havent tried burning anything yet, but as far as reading blurays
the LG is much more finnicky - several read errors using makemkv on a brand new fres out of shrink wrap captain america bluray, that the pioneer didnt have = however, it did take the pioneer about 40 more min to read than a usual working bluray rip with either (otherwise ripped, avengers, IM, IM2, star trek without a hitch on both in about 30-40min)
-cd read/rip speeds are about the same
-the eject process can be pain with the LG (tray load)- the keyboard eject button doesnt work on the keyboard - must use software eject button, dragging the disc to trash doesnt always work; the pioneer is a manual eject button that works at anytime
-never had the imac doesnt see the drive issue with either
-the pioneer is musch smaller (portable), much noisier and needs 2 usb ports, but can use 1 with ac adpater (not included)
-both drives read ave 3-5x (LG advertises up to 14x (yeah right); pioneer up to 6x); overall both take the same amount of time to rip bluray
not sure which one i prefer - love the compactnes of the pioneer (just a little bigger that a cd case), but hate the fact it need 2 usb ports and sounds like its gonna exploded whenever its running; hate the size of the lg but at least it just seems more durbale -boith cost ~130, not sure which is going back yet
as far a usb 2 vs 3 - not sure it make a diff, but all the advertising from LG and lacie say there is a diff
anyone have any inpout anbout the lacie slim bluray drive - fairly clos in size to the pioneer but has usb 3
-havent tried burning anything yet, but as far as reading blurays
the LG is much more finnicky - several read errors using makemkv on a brand new fres out of shrink wrap captain america bluray, that the pioneer didnt have = however, it did take the pioneer about 40 more min to read than a usual working bluray rip with either (otherwise ripped, avengers, IM, IM2, star trek without a hitch on both in about 30-40min)
-cd read/rip speeds are about the same
-the eject process can be pain with the LG (tray load)- the keyboard eject button doesnt work on the keyboard - must use software eject button, dragging the disc to trash doesnt always work; the pioneer is a manual eject button that works at anytime
-never had the imac doesnt see the drive issue with either
-the pioneer is musch smaller (portable), much noisier and needs 2 usb ports, but can use 1 with ac adpater (not included)
-both drives read ave 3-5x (LG advertises up to 14x (yeah right); pioneer up to 6x); overall both take the same amount of time to rip bluray
not sure which one i prefer - love the compactnes of the pioneer (just a little bigger that a cd case), but hate the fact it need 2 usb ports and sounds like its gonna exploded whenever its running; hate the size of the lg but at least it just seems more durbale -boith cost ~130, not sure which is going back yet
as far a usb 2 vs 3 - not sure it make a diff, but all the advertising from LG and lacie say there is a diff
anyone have any inpout anbout the lacie slim bluray drive - fairly clos in size to the pioneer but has usb 3
just found out that if the 1st device plugged in is usb 2, than any other device plugged in after that will run at usb 2 speed (confirmed this with system report)
had the pioneer plugged in 1st and wound up with the lg working at 2.0 speed
so i tried unpluggin both the putting the lg on alon and guess it showed up as a usb-sata bridge under usb 3.0
tried ripping star trek again for comparison - WOW WHAT A CHANGE
LG working at usb 3.0 read speeds up to 8.2x and rip time down to 24min vs
LG working at usb 2.0 read speeds up to 5.2x and rip time at 34min
so i guess there is a diff between usb 2 and 3 with bluray drives despite the suppsed oversaturation argument
had the pioneer plugged in 1st and wound up with the lg working at 2.0 speed
so i tried unpluggin both the putting the lg on alon and guess it showed up as a usb-sata bridge under usb 3.0
tried ripping star trek again for comparison - WOW WHAT A CHANGE
LG working at usb 3.0 read speeds up to 8.2x and rip time down to 24min vs
LG working at usb 2.0 read speeds up to 5.2x and rip time at 34min
so i guess there is a diff between usb 2 and 3 with bluray drives despite the suppsed oversaturation argument
The LG is a Full Sized External Drive and needs the AC Adapter. The Pioneer that was mentioned is a portable with a 6x Maximum Read.
cjp23 mentioned that he was using the Pioneer BDR-XD04 and the LG External. Funny thing, I just returned the LG and bought the Pioneer.
LG = $150 @ Best Buy (when I bought it, but it has dropped to $125 last week and $130 this week).
Pioneer = Clearance at Best Buy right now for $65 (if your store has it in stock SKU 4566016). I had a $10 off $50 coupon that expired today, and used that, so $55. What a steal. The store was supposed to have two, but they could not find the second one, otherwise I would have grabbed it too.
I can live with the slower speed (6x Pioneer vs 8x LG BD-DL Read). The Pioneer was quite a bit cheaper, and portable. Yeah it needs 2 USB and is only USB 2.0, but the cost and size were a turn off for me (I use this with my MacBook and iMac).
So far ripping Batman Begins and it peaked at 26.3M/s [6.1x] (starts at 2x on the inner track, and speeds up as it moves to the outside of the disc) on the Pioneer. The drive should have up to 6x on BD-DL, whereas the LG I was getting 6x and it is up to 8x on BD-DL. The Pioneer finished in 21 minutes.
Honestly I would pass on the LG if you are just ripping and not burning. Most movies are BD-DL and LG has a Max 8x Read on those discs, and 12x Read on the SL 25GB discs. CES is next week, hopefully there will be some new drives released, but I am happy with my Pioneer portable for $55.
While the LaCie USB 3.0 Drive looks great, it really is not. According to their specs they list:
BD-R (single layer) 6x
BD-R (dual layer) 4x
So the USB 2.0 Pioneer is faster at 6x? What a rip off LaCie.
Samsung just released the SE-506BB in the last month, replacing the SE-506AB. This is still USB 2.0 but it now reads BD-R QL and has faster BD-R TL.
LG = $150 @ Best Buy (when I bought it, but it has dropped to $125 last week and $130 this week).
Pioneer = Clearance at Best Buy right now for $65 (if your store has it in stock SKU 4566016). I had a $10 off $50 coupon that expired today, and used that, so $55. What a steal. The store was supposed to have two, but they could not find the second one, otherwise I would have grabbed it too.
I can live with the slower speed (6x Pioneer vs 8x LG BD-DL Read). The Pioneer was quite a bit cheaper, and portable. Yeah it needs 2 USB and is only USB 2.0, but the cost and size were a turn off for me (I use this with my MacBook and iMac).
So far ripping Batman Begins and it peaked at 26.3M/s [6.1x] (starts at 2x on the inner track, and speeds up as it moves to the outside of the disc) on the Pioneer. The drive should have up to 6x on BD-DL, whereas the LG I was getting 6x and it is up to 8x on BD-DL. The Pioneer finished in 21 minutes.
Honestly I would pass on the LG if you are just ripping and not burning. Most movies are BD-DL and LG has a Max 8x Read on those discs, and 12x Read on the SL 25GB discs. CES is next week, hopefully there will be some new drives released, but I am happy with my Pioneer portable for $55.
While the LaCie USB 3.0 Drive looks great, it really is not. According to their specs they list:
BD-R (single layer) 6x
BD-R (dual layer) 4x
So the USB 2.0 Pioneer is faster at 6x? What a rip off LaCie.
Samsung just released the SE-506BB in the last month, replacing the SE-506AB. This is still USB 2.0 but it now reads BD-R QL and has faster BD-R TL.
Just used the Pioneer BDR-XD04 (6x Max) today to rip The Book of Eli.
The Disc is a Dual Layer with 30.32GB used. Movie without 2 languages ripped to 20.3GB in 19m 12s.
No issues, worked flawlessly. Glad I returned the LG which could only do 8x in Dual Layer.
The Disc is a Dual Layer with 30.32GB used. Movie without 2 languages ripped to 20.3GB in 19m 12s.
No issues, worked flawlessly. Glad I returned the LG which could only do 8x in Dual Layer.
Works for Me
I did a ton of research and decided to get the LG BE14NU40. I cannot get it to read Blue Ray movies but just burned a 25GB Home Movie using my new iMac 27inch and had no issues. Using Toast 11.
That said, any advice or knowledge is appreciated. I do not know if it is my tv (all are 45-55 inch Samsung) but the darker colors ruin the picture. Even high def movies have some pixel issues when the colors get darker.
Question is this. The home videos I am editing and burning to blue ray were all done in the 80's and 90's using a VHS camera. They look good on smaller tv's but when on the larger ones (which will be the case most of the time now) darker colors and scenes are very hard to see. Does anyone have any tricks, etc. that I can use to help make them look better? Also, is it impossible to shrink it to 16:9 or am I stuck with 4:3 since that is how it was originally recorded? When adding from the VCR to my computer I applied the 16:9 aspect ratio but it still converted in 4:3.
Also, the DVD Menu's on Toast 11 suck. I would like to add music to the DVD Menu, be able to label the scenes that are on the menu, possible motion menus, etc. Am I out of luck when using Toast? I heard iDVD had a much better deal but does not support blue ray well
I did a ton of research and decided to get the LG BE14NU40. I cannot get it to read Blue Ray movies but just burned a 25GB Home Movie using my new iMac 27inch and had no issues. Using Toast 11.
That said, any advice or knowledge is appreciated. I do not know if it is my tv (all are 45-55 inch Samsung) but the darker colors ruin the picture. Even high def movies have some pixel issues when the colors get darker.
Question is this. The home videos I am editing and burning to blue ray were all done in the 80's and 90's using a VHS camera. They look good on smaller tv's but when on the larger ones (which will be the case most of the time now) darker colors and scenes are very hard to see. Does anyone have any tricks, etc. that I can use to help make them look better? Also, is it impossible to shrink it to 16:9 or am I stuck with 4:3 since that is how it was originally recorded? When adding from the VCR to my computer I applied the 16:9 aspect ratio but it still converted in 4:3.
Also, the DVD Menu's on Toast 11 suck. I would like to add music to the DVD Menu, be able to label the scenes that are on the menu, possible motion menus, etc. Am I out of luck when using Toast? I heard iDVD had a much better deal but does not support blue ray well
I have used MPG Streamclip to fix the 16:9 problem:
http://users.tpg.com.au/aoaug/mac_video.html#appletv
Clicking the "adjustments" button during Export allows you to increase brightness. I haven't tried this but I have successfully used the volume adjustment.
BE14NU40 Working with Mountain Lion + MacGo Blu-ray player
Plays Blu-rays just fine on my iMac 2007 with MacGo's Blu-ray Player software. Seems to Co-exist fine with other programs
Plays Blu-rays just fine on my iMac 2007 with MacGo's Blu-ray Player software. Seems to Co-exist fine with other programs
I have been having nothing but problems with this drive since I plugged it in to my 27" 2012 iMac. The main problem I've been having is that the blu-ray drive doesn't get read by mac. At first I was putting in DVDs and nothing. Tried restarting, replugging in, checking for drivers, called apple, called LG yada yada. The funny thing is that it ran fine on my 2011 iMac running Lion and runs fine on my 2008 MBP running SL.
I saw a forum online mentioning unchecking the energy saving "put hard disks to sleep" seemed to help. I did that, and I actually thought my problems were solved! I was able to boot to my windows install disc and install windows on my bootcamp partition.
Then, when I went to burn a blank DVD it flaked out on me again.
I'll try the Belkin cable just to see if by chance it makes a difference as some have said, though I have a hard time imagining it will.
I really would like to use this drive as it seems to be one of the better drives on the market, and not terribly uneasy on the eyes. The OWC options don't appear to support BDXL either. Not sure if Roxio does, but this LG burner does.
Anyone find any fixes for this dropping/not recognizing issue. It's really frustrating! If need be I'll return it to Best Buy, but I would like to not have to if possible.
----------
Is everything still running smoothly?
... I personally despise the notion of paying apple another $80 for a functional older gen optical drive (i.e., the "Super"drive) that should cost 1/4 the price.
I saw a forum online mentioning unchecking the energy saving "put hard disks to sleep" seemed to help. I did that, and I actually thought my problems were solved! I was able to boot to my windows install disc and install windows on my bootcamp partition.
Then, when I went to burn a blank DVD it flaked out on me again.
I'll try the Belkin cable just to see if by chance it makes a difference as some have said, though I have a hard time imagining it will.
I really would like to use this drive as it seems to be one of the better drives on the market, and not terribly uneasy on the eyes. The OWC options don't appear to support BDXL either. Not sure if Roxio does, but this LG burner does.
Anyone find any fixes for this dropping/not recognizing issue. It's really frustrating! If need be I'll return it to Best Buy, but I would like to not have to if possible.
----------
Is everything still running smoothly?
... I personally despise the notion of paying apple another $80 for a functional older gen optical drive (i.e., the "Super"drive) that should cost 1/4 the price.
I bought this drive last week for my 2011 27" iMac (running 10.8.2).
It's been working well for me so far. I ripped several blu-ray movies and they all finished without problems. My iMac is a 2011 - so only USB 2. It's not exactly a speed demon with the slower USB, but it's working reliably.
I haven't burnt any discs yet.
It's been working well for me so far. I ripped several blu-ray movies and they all finished without problems. My iMac is a 2011 - so only USB 2. It's not exactly a speed demon with the slower USB, but it's working reliably.
I haven't burnt any discs yet.
Need help getting started
Hi all,
I bought the LG BE14 blu ray burner and hooked it up to my late 2012 27 inch iMac, however when I plug the drive in and turn it on, the computer does not recognize it. That is, I can't find it in Finder, or any other program. What am I doing wrong? Others on this forum seem to get it to work quite easily, I can't even get past step 1. I'm pretty good with computers but new to Mac, so I'm completely lost here. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Bryan
Hi all,
I bought the LG BE14 blu ray burner and hooked it up to my late 2012 27 inch iMac, however when I plug the drive in and turn it on, the computer does not recognize it. That is, I can't find it in Finder, or any other program. What am I doing wrong? Others on this forum seem to get it to work quite easily, I can't even get past step 1. I'm pretty good with computers but new to Mac, so I'm completely lost here. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Bryan
You won't see the drive unless you have a disc inserted, but I guess that is what you are doing right? Just making sure.
You can try a new cable, $8 on Amazon Prime http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003IRLYG6/
I believe that the junker cable that came with the drive is the problem.
I can confirm that both the Asus BRD and the Liteon work fine as I have both, but I have heard about issues with the LG drives...Maybe check for a firmware update?
So I will let you know if this fix works for me later today as my cable is arriving by mail. I know initially I probably restarted, reconnected, unplugged and plugged in 5 different ways for probably 5 minutes the first time before the computer suddenly recognized it. This was short lived. I spoke with LG and they have no intention of releasing a firmware update according to the less than helpful rep. He said, "oh, it doesn't work for that version. Apple needs to fix that." (Not typically the way of things when you're the peripheral maker.).
I then called apple back and actually after some persistence had a lot of help. Spoke with a supervisor, she sent a log capture off to engineering and apple's engineering dept recommended trying a new cable. If this doesn't work I can say officially that unless a new firmware comes out from LG, people should probably avoid this drive.
Yea. Sorry, wasn't sure anyone was still reading this thread!
So replacement cable did NOT work.
Apple engineers got back with me and they actually thought the replacing cable or replacing system was a good idea. It looked like repeated I/O errors, like the connection was going in and out. They suggested changing cable or changing machine.
So... I bought another one after returning the previous one at my local Best Buy.
Brought it home and ... it did NOT work. This time at first it stayed connected, was able to install bootcamp drivers, but after restarting the device and restarting mac (just to test its connection viability) it stopped working.
Yeaaaa!
I have a portable 2.0 Samsung one on the way.
The other thing I was thinking is that it could be my electrical outlet??? I think it's a little far-fetched, but I don't have anything else plugged into the outlet. But everything I have plugged in, e.g., a macbook. Runs fine without disconnecting. So I find that a little hard to believe.
The other thing I'll note is that write speeds on current media usually don't go that much faster than 6X. So really, USB 3.0 is a little unnecessary even though I wanted it "just because".
Yes I did, but I've also tried it with nothing else plugged in to the USB as well. Tried PRAM reset, tried turning off sleep on hard disks. Nothing worked.