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A blu-ray player (and software) for 2017 imac 27"?

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passingapple

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
96
9
I ordered a 2017 imac 27" the other day and one of the things I'd like to get for it is a blu-ray player and take advantage of its 5k screen - I also have Apple's USB SuperDrive btw. Apple seems to have absolutely no plan to update that superdrive after all these years and I don't want to entirely rely on streaming.

I'm aware that there are a few USB external blu-ray drive options and so are the required 3rd party software like Aiseesoft, Macgo, etc, from some old discussion on this topic.

But I am interested in more recent set up (past two years or so). Perhaps newer and better stuff, both hardware and software. Can anyone with his/her newer imac (2015-2017) with blu-ray set up that works really well now let me know what your setup is?
 
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Ezcompane

macrumors newbie
Jul 18, 2017
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I"m interested in seeing this as well. I'd also like to know if there are any ways to play the 4K UHD disks (I know it would require a drive, but does anyone know of any that are available that are compatible with Sierra?).
 
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cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,156
I have a Samsung external model SE-506CB. Works very well for my uses.

That said BD are laden with DRM and on a computer this is all done through software making the playback user experience poor at best. High end software players supposedly legally obtains the BD decryption keys but you'll still run into disc that won't play on occasion and the ones that do I would describe as "clunky". Affordable and free software use unlicensed methods of decrypting BD and I would describe the user experience as abysmal.

Honestly I wouldn't even waste your time. Put it this way, its just as easy if not easier to use MakeMKV to rip the BD, VLC to playback the resulting ripped MKV file, and then delete it once you are done (or keep it assuming you can legally do so blah blah forum rules blah blah :) ).

This doesn't just apply to Mac but Windows and Linux PCs alike. AACS uses AES on BD and regardless of machine or OS the cryptological cipher needs to be decrypted for playback making real time playback a headache at times.
 
Taz Mangus

Taz Mangus

macrumors 604
Mar 10, 2011
7,815
3,504
passingapple said:
I ordered a 2017 imac 27" the other day and one of the things I'd like to get for it is a blu-ray player and take advantage of its 5k screen - I also have Apple's USB SuperDrive btw. Apple seems to have absolutely no plan to update that superdrive after all these years and I don't want to entirely rely on streaming.

I'm aware that there are a few USB external blu-ray drive options and so are the required 3rd party software like Aiseesoft, Macgo, etc, from some old discussion on this topic.

But I am interested in more recent set up (past two years or so). Perhaps newer and better stuff, both hardware and software. Can anyone with his/her newer imac (2015-2017) with blu-ray set up that works really well now let me know what your setup is?
Click to expand...

I use an external Panasonic bluray drive, MakeMkv to rip the bluray and Kodi to playback the ripped bluray. Of course this is with 1080p bluray not 4K bluray. For my purposes I use Kodi to playback bluray from my AppleTVs.

EDIT: Maybe this is what you are looking for: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01E...y+external&dpPl=1&dpID=311eyPkBHBL&ref=plSrch. It appears that for $85 you get a bluray drive and software to playback the bluray movie on the Mac directly (no rip needed).
 
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mmomega

mmomega

macrumors 68040
Dec 30, 2009
3,882
2,096
DFW, TX
Good luck playing 4K UHD on a computer from a disc.

On the PC side, hardware requirements are extremely ridiculous.
KabyLake + 200Series Motherboard + HDMI 2.0 + 4K HDCP Monitor + GeForce 10Series GPU + 4K UHD capable drive + specialized 4K UHD playback software.

I have all of this and still can not get a 4K UHD disc to play.
 
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passingapple

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
96
9
Thanks for the suggestions folks. Welp, guess not much has been changed in the past 6 years or so, it seems like. it's still limited/buggy softwares + USB 3 Blu-ray player that are often known to be less than optimal.

Was hoping for something newer/more reliable part to come about as Blu-Ray is here to stay for a long while. Why is no one coming up with a full on blu ray player with mini DisplayPort (Thunderbolt 3/USB-C) or something, at least to use imac as screen and bypassing OS. Guess it's too niche.
 
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mmomega

mmomega

macrumors 68040
Dec 30, 2009
3,882
2,096
DFW, TX
passingapple said:
Thanks for the suggestions folks. Welp, guess not much has been changed in the past 6 years or so, it seems like. it's still limited/buggy softwares + USB 3 Blu-ray player that are often known to be less than optimal.

Was hoping for something newer/more reliable part to come about as Blu-Ray is here to stay for a long while. Why is no one coming up with a full on blu ray player with mini DisplayPort (Thunderbolt 3/USB-C) or something, at least to use imac as screen and bypassing OS. Guess it's too niche.
Click to expand...
I have the LG BE14NU40. Actually 2 of them. 1 at home and 1 at work. They're USB 3 and have been my favorite external drives I've used in years.
OSX can read/write data BR discs just fine natively and even VLC and some codecs you can playback some normal BR movies without having to purchase those other Mac BluRay playback software. I started using BR's on Mac around 2010-2011.

Currently though I am using the Pioneer BDR211UBK in a USB3 external enclosure.
At 16x, that is only 72 MegaBytes per second which doesn't come anywhere near close to saturating USB 3.0.

You can read this article to get a little idea of how the industry is making it difficult for 4K playback in general.
 
M

mlody

macrumors 68000
Nov 11, 2012
1,620
1,236
Windy City
Taz Mangus said:
I use an external Panasonic bluray drive, MakeMkv to rip the bluray and Kodi to playback the ripped bluray. Of course this is with 1080p bluray not 4K bluray. For my purposes I use Kodi to playback bluray from my AppleTVs.

EDIT: Maybe this is what you are looking for: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01E...y+external&dpPl=1&dpID=311eyPkBHBL&ref=plSrch. It appears that for $85 you get a bluray drive and software to playback the bluray movie on the Mac directly (no rip needed).
Click to expand...

I am considering this drive and software and was wondering if any one has any opinions on this?
 
Fishrrman

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,978
13,028
"I am considering this drive and software and was wondering if any one has any opinions on this?"

Take note that the drive in the link does not write to BD, only can play it.
For not much more, you can buy a drive that both reads -and- writes.
I'd get one with M-DISC capabilities, as well.
 
M

mlody

macrumors 68000
Nov 11, 2012
1,620
1,236
Windy City
Fishrrman said:
"I am considering this drive and software and was wondering if any one has any opinions on this?"

Take note that the drive in the link does not write to BD, only can play it.
For not much more, you can buy a drive that both reads -and- writes.
I'd get one with M-DISC capabilities, as well.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I appreciate the reminder. I am not looking to burn any Blu-ray's, just hoping to backup my small collections (about 20 disks), so we could watch those on the go and thru AppleTV. My long term goal is to get rid of my aging blu-ray player and xbox 360 and get rid of the entertainment stand and only keep TV on the wall. Hoping for a nice and clean look.
 
Trebuin

Trebuin

macrumors 65816
Jun 3, 2008
1,494
272
Central Cali
I've been using one of LG's older usb 2.0 external bluray burners and it works fine. For the software, Blu-Ray Player Pro by MacGo. The only issue is the decryption seems to be an online thing. They have also gotten standard menu stuff to work (the only one I have found to date) with their current pro version. I'll have to check to see if the about the internet thing when I get home.
 
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