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bluebird3

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 29, 2013
233
0
So, up to this day, Apple still does not support Blu Ray. I am into minimum way of enjoying the media and was wondering what would be the best way to watch ble ray based dvds especially if you do not have a TV at a moment? There are portable small blu ray player on the market but not sure of their quality / reliability/price. I can always get an external to connect to the mac, but you would still have to mess with buying a software (how often ? / secure ?). just wondering what would be the best least expensive minimum solution to enjoy the dvds?
 

MFL2012

macrumors member
Jul 27, 2012
92
11
So, up to this day, Apple still does not support Blu Ray. I am into minimum way of enjoying the media and was wondering what would be the best way to watch ble ray based dvds especially if you do not have a TV at a moment? There are portable small blu ray player on the market but not sure of their quality / reliability/price. I can always get an external to connect to the mac, but you would still have to mess with buying a software (how often ? / secure ?). just wondering what would be the best least expensive minimum solution to enjoy the dvds?

You could rip your blu Rays using MakeMKV and then use VLC to play. You can get an external BD drive for around $45 on Amazon and the 2 programs are free.
 

Plutonius

macrumors G3
Feb 22, 2003
9,185
8,802
New Hampshire, USA
I just put a Blu Ray drive in my Mac Pro and it works well on 1080P disk. I haven't used a portable drive but they seem pretty cheap and generally have good reviews.

If you want to watch a Blu Ray disk on your Mac (directly watching the disk and not watching a ripped version), you will also need to purchase software (most go for $39.99 and you need an internet connection to run the program and start the disk).

The one thing to be careful about is that you will unable to play 1080i blu ray disk without lots of video artifacts (includes ripping). Most 1080i blu ray that you will find seem to be older BBC blu ray disk.

My recommendation is to only get a blu ray drive for your Mac if you want to rip blu ray disk. Otherwise, use a cheap dedicated blu ray player connected to your TV.
 

wdw_

macrumors regular
Aug 18, 2002
240
13
'Mac Blu-Ray Player' will play straight off the disk. No ripping or remuxing required. Also it has a beta that supports menus. It's the only app I've seen that can do that on a Mac.

http://www.macblurayplayer.com/beta.htm

It's not perfect, but it's relatively awesome. Although if it asks you what kind of file associations you want to assign to it, make sure you have nothing selected. It plays Blu-Rays great, but it super annoying when EVERY video file on your comp wants launch Mac Blu-Ray Player.

Also, you can choose quick mode, skip the menus, and simply enjoy the movie.
 

Suture

macrumors 65816
Feb 22, 2007
1,003
213
I've been ripping all of my DVDs and Blu-Rays so I can just stream them to the Apple TV via my iMac. I purchased a Samsung Blu-Ray drive from Amazon, however you'll need your own Blu-Ray software if you want to play it from the disc itself; there are a few free ones out there.

I think I used a program called Free Mac Blu Ray Player (really, that was the title). It works. It's very no-frills though, however it is free.
 

Irishman

macrumors 68040
Nov 2, 2006
3,441
851
So, up to this day, Apple still does not support Blu Ray. I am into minimum way of enjoying the media and was wondering what would be the best way to watch ble ray based dvds especially if you do not have a TV at a moment? There are portable small blu ray player on the market but not sure of their quality / reliability/price. I can always get an external to connect to the mac, but you would still have to mess with buying a software (how often ? / secure ?). just wondering what would be the best least expensive minimum solution to enjoy the dvds?

Honestly, you're gonna best be advised to break down and buy a new TV. They're dirt cheap now, and you can get brand name sets cheaper than ever before.

You can get this TV for peanuts! http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sharp-3...lack/5420105.p?id=1219128175325&skuId=5420105

Do you have a PS3/4, or XBox One? If so, you've already got a great blu-ray player.
 
Last edited:

bmac89

macrumors 65816
Aug 3, 2014
1,388
468
BluRay drive with AV Connectivity

I am looking at buying an external USB BluRay drive for my mac. However I was hoping to get one which also has AV connectivity to connect directly to TV.

I noticed the 'Samsung SE-506CB' states AV connectivity (via usb connection) however this is misleading as I discovered that it only displays the data folders and you are not able to watch the movie this way.

Is there an external drive which can achieve this?
Also is usb powered adequate for watching movies?

Any suggestions welcome.
Thanks
 
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