Blu-Ray 17" MacBook Pro

[Mr Dobey]

Internal Blu-Ray Drive to use: Panasonic UJ-135A

Easily installed in place of iMac 27" SATA 12.7mm SuperDrive as seen on iFixit

MacBook Pro Unibody 17" also uses a standard 12.7mm Optical Drive BUT is PATA (IDE) instead of SATA.

I replaced my MacBook Pro 15" PATA super drive with a SATA HDD using the OptiBay enclosure. This device converts the SATA HDD to a PATA connection for the laptop.

My question: Is there also a similar connector available to convert this SATA Panasonic Blu-Ray drive to PATA?

(An external enclosure is irrelevant because I already have one and it works fine)

Thanks You guys

 

[kryptonianjorel]

No. Regardless of connector, the DVD drives are a uniform length and width. If there were an adapter, your drive wouldn't fit.

On a side note, does OSX even have the HDCP software required to allow playback/are the screens even HDCP compliant?

 

[King Mook Mook]

I bear good tidings!
I have a MacBook Pro 17" and it is in fact a SATA DVD drive!
However I cannot tell if you have a 15" or a 17". If you have a 17" the Blu Ray drive should (and I say should be it might not; You will have to ask one of the mac geniuses on here whether it would work) work.

Hope this helps,
King Mook Mook

Edit: Whoa! Sorry I think I misread your post! I am pretty sure that the type of device you mentioned does not exist, however if you were to find one then it might work. Sorry!

 

[Niiro13]

MacBook Pro Unibody 17" also uses a standard 12.7mm Optical Drive BUT is PATA (IDE) instead of SATA.

Actually, last I checked it was a SATA connection, so more luck to you . More sadness is that the 17" unibody cannot take a 12.7mm as it uses a thinner 9.5mm.

On a side note, does OSX even have the HDCP software required to allow playback/are the screens even HDCP compliant?

Yup! At least the unibody MacBooks and beyond. It even works in Boot Camp. But there's no way to play Blu-Ray discs in OS X yet, so the drive is only useful in Boot Camp or if you're using the Blu-Ray disc as a data disc.

Still, I wish I could install an internal Blu-Ray drive without voiding my warranty . Better than carrying around this external Blu-Ray player.

 

[Faye]

On a side note, does OSX even have the HDCP software required to allow playback/are the screens even HDCP compliant?

HDCP is only required for externally connected displays. It's also a function of the Graphics card and NVidia cards are just fine in that respect. So, it will play Blu Ray in Windows. If you want to play Blu Ray in OS X then unfortunately you need to rip the disc using something like MakeMKV first... Of course then HDCP becomes completely irrelevant.

 

[King Mook Mook]

Still, I wish I could install an internal Blu-Ray drive without voiding my warranty.

You can! I presume you have Apple Care and I also presume you live in the US, and if so that means that by law (so this probably applies to other warranties as well) you are allowed to make modifications to your computer, as long as you do not break anything inside while installing things. So, Apple have the burden of proof (Google it) which means that they have to prove that your modification was the thing that damaged the other parts of the computer.

I think. You should probably check that before you sic your lawyers on Apple!

King Mook Mook

 

[Mr Dobey]

ah

I bear good tidings!
I have a MacBook Pro 17" and it is in fact a SATA DVD drive!

Really? That's great news, did you actually open your laptop and check? Do you have the latest model Unibody?

I'm already playing Blu-Rays on Snow Leopard with MakeMKV and Plex so playback is not an issue here.

I don't think asking a Genius would go anywhere because to my knowledge they are not trained in anyway about opening up macs besides maybe a RAM upgrade.

If the Unibody 17" is in fact 9.5mm SATA I presume this is the same drive as in the 13" and 15" also. HHmmm I guess now the problem is that these 9.5mm Blu-Ray drives are a lot more rare than the 12.7mm ones. Here are two that I found.

Panasonic UJ-232A

Most likely same one repackaged for IBM Lenovo Laptop

 

[King Mook Mook]

Mr Dobey,
I can say with 100% certainty that the 17" Unibody MacBook Pro uses a SATA drive. While I did not open up my MacBook Pro and check I went into System Profiler and check and sure enough, as Steve Jobs would say, "BOOM!" It confirmed the fact that it is a SATA drive. You can check my attached photo for verification.
However I do believe the drive is a 9.5mm SATA so you would have to get one of the ones you linked.
King Mook Mook

 

[kryptonianjorel]

Actually, I've read past posts that people were able to fit 12mm HDDs in the 17" models. I believe this was pre-unibody however, so things change.

Anyway, if you cannot play Blu-Ray movies in OSX, then there is a software issue. HDCP isn't just for externals, but any display that connects digitally to a computer or the like. Unless someone comes here and tells me they have a working Blu-Ray drive running on a 17" unibody MBP under Vista, I won't say for sure that these monitors are HDCP compliant or not. Not to mention that apple isn't supporting HDCP playback anyway.

HDCP is just a huge "bag of hurt".

 

[King Mook Mook]

Hdcp

Also, HDCP shouldn't matter if you are using MakeMKV (which I use and in my opinion works very well). To confirm it works I played one of the MKVs I made in MakeMKV on my MacBook Pro screen with Plex and it works superbly! The colours really pop out of the screen!
King Mook Mook

 

[hard-case]

Really? That's great news, did you actually open your laptop and check? Do you have the latest model Unibody?

I'm already playing Blu-Rays on Snow Leopard with MakeMKV and Plex so playback is not an issue here.

I don't think asking a Genius would go anywhere because to my knowledge they are not trained in anyway about opening up macs besides maybe a RAM upgrade.

If the Unibody 17" is in fact 9.5mm SATA I presume this is the same drive as in the 13" and 15" also. HHmmm I guess now the problem is that these 9.5mm Blu-Ray drives are a lot more rare than the 12.7mm ones. Here are two that I found.

Panasonic UJ-232A

Most likely same one repackaged for IBM Lenovo Laptop

Only problem is that the unibody models use a slot loading DVD drive, whereas the Panasonic (and the Lenovo if it is a rebadge) are tray loaders, which would require cutting the casing of the unibody to fit. Somehow I don't think even AppleCare would cover that.

I'm not currently away of any 9.5mm slot loading Bluray drives, unfortunately.

 

[Niiro13]

Really? That's great news, did you actually open your laptop and check? Do you have the latest model Unibody?

If the Unibody 17" is in fact 9.5mm SATA I presume this is the same drive as in the 13" and 15" also. HHmmm I guess now the problem is that these 9.5mm Blu-Ray drives are a lot more rare than the 12.7mm ones. Here are two that I found.

In the iFixit teardowns, they show that the optical drive is SATA. Also, on my late 2008 MacBook Pro, the optical drive is listed under SATA whilst nothing is listed under ATA.

Actually, I've read past posts that people were able to fit 12mm HDDs in the 17" models. I believe this was pre-unibody however, so things change.

Anyway, if you cannot play Blu-Ray movies in OSX, then there is a software issue. HDCP isn't just for externals, but any display that connects digitally to a computer or the like. Unless someone comes here and tells me they have a working Blu-Ray drive running on a 17" unibody MBP under Vista, I won't say for sure that these monitors are HDCP compliant or not. Not to mention that apple isn't supporting HDCP playback anyway.

HDCP is just a huge "bag of hurt".

Yeah, pre-unibody unfortunately.

There is definitely a software issue. I've got a 15" MacBook Pro unibody that plays Blu-Ray fine in XP, Vista, and 7 on the normal LCD as well as on the 24" LED Cinema Display. All Apple really has to do is license it and release a software update for it to work (as opposed to releasing actual hardware).

 

[Mr Dobey]

thanks

Thank You King Mook Mook for the proof!

Only problem is that the unibody models use a slot loading DVD drive, whereas the Panasonic (and the Lenovo if it is a rebadge) are tray loaders, which would require cutting the casing of the unibody to fit. Somehow I don't think even AppleCare would cover that.

I'm not currently away of any 9.5mm slot loading Bluray drives, unfortunately.

Good eye! I didn't notice the drive was tray loading because the photo was so dark. This made my hopes just that much lower