Playing Blu-Ray on the iMac

[AppleMooseMan]

Hey guys, anyone who is buying a new 'external blu-ray drive' for the iMac will probably want to check this out for blu-ray playback on your iMac:

http://www.macblurayplayer.com/ 33% off until the 9th of December!

[barefeats]

Today I received the LaCie USB 3.0 Bus Powered Blu-ray Burner/Player:
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10602

I connected it to my Retina MacBook Pro (15") USB 3.0 port.

Using Blu-ray Player software I purchased from macblurayplayer.com, I was able to play a Blu-ray movie.

And with Pavtube Blu-Ray Ripper for Mac I purchased, I was able to rip a Blu-ray movie to iPad 3/4 Retina compatible format (full 1080p).

Tomorrow I'll install the same two pieces of software in the 2012 iMac and confirm that it also works there.

[apple-win]

Originally Posted by AppleMooseMan

Hey guys, anyone who is buying a new 'external blu-ray drive' for the iMac will probably want to check this out for blu-ray playback on your iMac:

http://www.macblurayplayer.com/ 33% off until the 9th of December!

Any quiet external bluray drive you can recommend? As quiet as iMac, if possible.

[barefeats]

http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10602

As I said above. Works great under OS X plugged into my USB 3.0 port.

[Photoshopper]

Is it odd that the LaCie site mentions only Windows, and nothing about Mac compatibility/requirements?

[barefeats]

Originally Posted by Photoshopper

Is it odd that the LaCie site mentions only Windows, and nothing about Mac compatibility/requirements?

It is odd but when I contacted their PR to ask to review it, I told them what I would be testing it on. They sent it right out.

Maybe since Apple doesn't officially support Blu-ray, they don't want to advertise it.

[JustMartin]

Originally Posted by AppleMooseMan

Hey guys, anyone who is buying a new 'external blu-ray drive' for the iMac will probably want to check this out for blu-ray playback on your iMac:

http://www.macblurayplayer.com/ 33% off until the 9th of December!

Well, it just hung with my combination of mid 2007 and samsung drive. Will give it a go when I get my new iMac. 'Til then I'm dubious.

[g4cube]

Originally Posted by barefeats

Maybe since Apple doesn't officially support Blu-ray, they don't want to advertise it.

When I asked LaCie, I was told it works for burning and reading data discs, but OS X does not support movie playback.

Apparently LaCie won't claim support unless OS X supports Blu-ray completely. No need to disappoint the typical customer.

[TouchMint.com]

Sorry if this is a dumb question but if you get an external bluray player/burner and run windows in bootcamp there should be no problems with native playback/burning correct?

[Airnova]

Originally Posted by g4cube

When I asked LaCie, I was told it works for burning and reading data discs, but OS X does not support movie playback.

Apparently LaCie won't claim support unless OS X supports Blu-ray completely. No need to disappoint the typical customer.

Hi, just ordered a BTO 27" iMac. My question is: Will a LaCie external bluray burn and read data without downloading a third party application. I don't care to or have any interest watching movie playback on my 27" iMac.

I have home 1080p video on my Panasonic camcorder that I would like to transfer to the new Mac and then hoping I can burn to a Blu-ray Disc without too much hassle. My goal is to save it on Blu-ray Discs, my camcorder is full as well as several sd cards!

Thanks for any tips.

[mmomega]

Originally Posted by JustMartin

Well, it just hung with my combination of mid 2007 and samsung drive. Will give it a go when I get my new iMac. 'Til then I'm dubious.

It has worked fine on both my '09 and '11 iMac with a Samsung internal BluRay in an external enclosure.

[CIA]

Originally Posted by Airnova

Hi, just ordered a BTO 27" iMac. My question is: Will a LaCie external bluray burn and read data without downloading a third party application. I don't care to or have any interest watching movie playback on my 27" iMac.

I have home 1080p video on my Panasonic camcorder that I would like to transfer to the new Mac and then hoping I can burn to a Blu-ray Disc without too much hassle. My goal is to save it on Blu-ray Discs, my camcorder is full as well as several sd cards!

Thanks for any tips.

I have a Sony BluRay burner in my MacPro and for data it works just fine in OSX. I burn using Toast for both Data and movies, but I think you can just straight out of the finder burn Data discs as well. I don't have movie playback on the machine. Strictly as a BluRay data read/write it works great.

No drivers, just plugged it in and it works.

[mmomega]

Originally Posted by Airnova

Hi, just ordered a BTO 27" iMac. My question is: Will a LaCie external bluray burn and read data without downloading a third party application. I don't care to or have any interest watching movie playback on my 27" iMac.

I have home 1080p video on my Panasonic camcorder that I would like to transfer to the new Mac and then hoping I can burn to a Blu-ray Disc without too much hassle. My goal is to save it on Blu-ray Discs, my camcorder is full as well as several sd cards!

Thanks for any tips.

You only need the software to allow decoding and movie playback in OS X, reading and writing works just fine out of the box. At least from SL and up, that I have tried.

[KylePowers]

Originally Posted by barefeats

Today I received the LaCie USB 3.0 Bus Powered Blu-ray Burner/Player:
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10602

I connected it to my Retina MacBook Pro (15") USB 3.0 port.

Using Blu-ray Player software I purchased from macblurayplayer.com, I was able to play a Blu-ray movie.

And with Pavtube Blu-Ray Ripper for Mac I purchased, I was able to rip a Blu-ray movie to iPad 3/4 Retina compatible format (full 1080p).

Tomorrow I'll install the same two pieces of software in the 2012 iMac and confirm that it also works there.

I picked up this portable blu-ray player on Amazon for $45 (not a burner).

I then use MakeMKV (free!) to backup my Blu-Rays. Then use HandBrake (also free!) to convert them to Apple TV format (which also works on any Apple device). I also use iDentify ($10, but there are free alternatives) to add all the snazzy info like actors, plot, descriptions, cover image, etc - which then automatically adds it to iTunes.

It's a sweet, cheap setup if you're looking to build your library for your Apple TV

P.S. Blu-Ray backups are huuuuge!

[shortie8512]

Originally Posted by barefeats

http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10602

As I said above. Works great under OS X plugged into my USB 3.0 port.

How many ports does it use?

[Lancer]

Has anyone tried this one I found on eBay?

Or do I need to spend a a lot more to get a good BluRay for my new iMac?

[CandyDane]

If I have an Apple TV and I connect a Blu Ray player to my iMac, can I insert a disk in the player and watch the movie on my TV via my Apple TV?

If so, seems like a better option than a separate unit connected directly to my TV.

[blueroom]

Originally Posted by CandyDane

If I have an Apple TV and I connect a Blu Ray player to my iMac, can I insert a disk in the player and watch the movie on my TV via my Apple TV?

If so, seems like a better option than a separate unit connected directly to my TV.

Generally you'll have to run it through Handbrake to convert it to an Apple TV friendly format.

On the other hand stop buying Blu-Ray and rent/buy HD directly from iTunes. (Bonus points if you buy your iTunes cards at 20% off)

[WilliamDu]

Originally Posted by CandyDane

If I have an Apple TV and I connect a Blu Ray player to my iMac, can I insert a disk in the player and watch the movie on my TV via my Apple TV?

If so, seems like a better option than a separate unit connected directly to my TV.

There are lots of excellent WiFi BluRay players available for lower cost than the Apple TV that provide Apple TV type streaming in addition to playing your BluRay discs co-located with your TV. There are of course other reasons for needing an ODD for the computer's own functions, but we find it convenient to locate the combined WiFi streaming/BluRay player at our several TVs. For a single TV located near your computer, yours is the better answer.

[KaraH]

I picked up one from OWC (thread with the exact model somewhere on here) and the blu-ray software you pointed out. No problems with it so far in playing blu-rays (including seeing the caption tracks). Most annoying thing is you do not get the typical menus so all the extra features do not have titles associated with them (but they are there).

I did run into one conflict on my mac when working with a dvd internally and trying to use the external at the same time. Then again, most software does not assume you will have two DVD drives so will want to throw up a dialog asking which to use and the dialog got blocked by a third program.

I have not tried burning a blu-ray yet but see no reason why it would not work too.