Blu-Ray or SuperDrive?

[richard13]

I was thinking about possibly playing some of my older games when I remembered that neither my iMac nor my MBP have DVD drives. So I immediately though of getting an external SuperDrive but then I thought it might be a good idea to get an external Blu-Ray drive instead.

Of course, this quickly devolved into how much it was going to cost for the drive. Then I was concerned about Apple's lack of Blu-Ray support and that I'd likely have to buy at least playback software if not burner software as well. Anyway, you get the picture.

What do you all think? Is Blu-Ray worth the trouble and expense or is a SuperDrive the better way to go?

Thanks!

 

[BJonson]

Bluray is here to stay. It has all the functionality of a superdrive and it can record bluray discs and read them. Might as well get the bluray. I use mine for backup and its great.

 

[richard13]

Bluray is here to stay. It has all the functionality of a superdrive and it can record bluray discs and read them. Might as well get the bluray. I use mine for backup and its great.

Yea, that's what I was thinking too but when I started thinking about the lack of support I started going back on that. What drive do you have? Would you recommend it? Did you have to buy separate burn/playback software?

 

[BJonson]

Any version of Toast has burn support for them. The mac will read them natively so no issue there and you can't watch movies unless you get software for that but I have not tried. No point. I don't watch movies on my computer. That is what the apple tv is for. You can't go wrong with the bluray. If you get one and don't get bluray toast then it will function just as a superdrive. There are no downsides.

 

[cube]

If you go for the good stuff, make sure it has BD-RE XL.

 

[Brian33]

I, personally, don't think this important, and I could well be wrong, but I believe a non-apple drive will not work with Apple's DVD Player software, even if it has a regular DVD in it. I seem to remember this from when I was researching external DVD drives.

 

[BJonson]

I, personally, don't think this important, and I could well be wrong, but I believe a non-apple drive will not work with Apple's DVD Player software, even if it has a regular DVD in it. I seem to remember this from when I was researching external DVD drives.

That used to be true but no longer.

 

[richard13]

Thanks for all your replies so far!

I'm considering this in white: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-Optical-SE-506CB-RSBD/dp/B00JJGFRIQ/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

Also, does anyone know if Toast 11 has player software? I find it funny that all of these hardware/software products get so hung up on touting burning/disk labeling capabilities but none of them claim to do what is really important, playing.

 

[Richdmoore]

Thanks for all your replies so far!

I'm considering this in white: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-Optical-SE-506CB-RSBD/dp/B00JJGFRIQ/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

Also, does anyone know if Toast 11 has player software? I find it funny that all of these hardware/software products get so hung up on touting burning/disk labeling capabilities but none of them claim to do what is really important, playing.

I have an earlier version of this drive, it has worked very well on the 2 years I have owned it.

Here is my understanding with the bluray player software. Someone can correct me if I am wrong.

To have an official authorized bluray playing app, there needs to be some drm built into not only the playback software, but also in to OS. Microsoft windows has this built in, but osx does not. No official bluray movie playback exists in osx for that reason.

There are unofficial bluray apps however. They basically allow you to unofficially play a Blu-ray Disc thru unauthorized means. I believe some (perhaps all?) require an internet connection to identify how to play back a particular bluray. Because these are unauthorized unofficial methods of playing a bluray, Roxio Toast or other larger companies don't want to get involved in selling playback software.

Because of the hassles associated with the unofficial playback software, some of us convert our owned movie libraries into a format that we can play natively, such as mkv, or m4v using ripping tools and conversions tools. The legality of doing this varies from country to country. Threads already exist on how to do rip bluray and what programs to use to convert them, if you are interested in that solution instead.

 

[richard13]

I have an earlier version of this drive, it has worked very well on the 2 years I have owned it.

Here is my understanding with the bluray player software. Someone can correct me if I am wrong.

To have an official authorized bluray playing app, there needs to be some drm built into not only the playback software, but also in to OS. Microsoft windows has this built in, but osx does not. No official bluray movie playback exists in osx for that reason.

There are unofficial bluray apps however. They basically allow you to unofficially play a Blu-ray Disc thru unauthorized means. I believe some (perhaps all?) require an internet connection to identify how to play back a particular bluray. Because these are unauthorized unofficial methods of playing a bluray, Roxio Toast or other larger companies don't want to get involved in selling playback software.

Because of the hassles associated with the unofficial playback software, some of us convert our owned movie libraries into a format that we can play natively, such as mkv, or m4v using ripping tools and conversions tools. The legality of doing this varies from country to country. Threads already exist on how to do rip bluray and what programs to use to convert them, if you are interested in that solution instead.

Thanks for the info. I believe I have heard something to the effect of licensing Blu-ray being a nightmare and part of why Apple doesn't support it. Not sure if it is completely true but it certainly does sound plausible. It would also explain the lack of player software. I guess with standalone Blu-ray players so commonplace nowadays I figured these problems would be gone by now. Oh well, I'll see how it goes.

I did order that ODD by the way. I should have it in the next week or so.

 

[MisterMe]

Thanks for the info. I believe I have heard something to the effect of licensing Blu-ray being a nightmare and part of why Apple doesn't support it. Not sure if it is completely true but it certainly does sound plausible. It would also explain the lack of player software. I guess with standalone Blu-ray players so commonplace nowadays I figured these problems would be gone by now. Oh well, I'll see how it goes.

I did order that ODD by the way. I should have it in the next week or so.

There is no reason to doubt that licensing and DRM issues with Blu-ray motivated Apple to eschew the technology. Blu-ray was available in Japan for years before it was allowed in the USA. American movie studios freaked at the prospect of the home viewer having non-DRMed movies in HD format in their homes. They forced Blu-ray manufacturers to develop a DRM scheme before allowing the technology into the country. This delayed Blu-ray's entry into America for years.

There are two other issues that I expect do not endear Blu-ray to Apple. A new Blu-ray disc out of the shrinkwrap is not guaranteed to play in your Blu-ray deck. This came home to me when I first bought the Blu-ray of Avatar. It played, but it was awful. Avatar required a firmware upgrade before it would play properly. This may be acceptable in a product that targets 20-year-old computer nerds. It is not acceptable in a product that targets Uncle Bill and Aunt Madge.

 

[Ifti]

Just tagging on to this thread....

I have no need to playback BluRay Movies on my laptops, so no issue there.

If I sell my SuperDrive and get a BluRay drive instead, I can natively use Toast to burn files to BluRay, and I can natively read all data from a BluRay disc - is that correct?

Can I burn and playback standard MOV or MP4 video clips - say I backup all the videos from my iPhone onto a BluRay, and then wish to play them back from the BluRay later on, natively?

If so, does anyone recommend any specific external BluRay burner in particular?