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Why does my Blu-Ray player have a USB port?

mrsir2009

mrsir2009

macrumors 604
Original poster
Sep 17, 2009
7,505
156
Melbourne, Australia
The old $90 DVD player broke, so my dad went out and got a blu-ray player. We still have a CRT TV, so we can't benifit from it, but its one less thing to buy when the CRT dies :D Anyway, there's a single USB port on the front of the Blu-Ray player, and I'm just wondering what its for?

BTW its quite a high end player, it has media centre features built in and special internet services etc... If that helps:eek:
 
Unless the Blu-ray player has built-in 802.11g/n Wi-Fi support including antenna, that USB port is where you plug in the Wi-Fi adapter. In fact, that's where I plug in the 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter for my Sony BDP-S370 player so I could get firmware updates and access streaming video services like Netflix and Amazon's streaming video service.
 
Why didn't you just get a PS3? Then you could have FOUR USB ports!!

But seriously, why'd you buy a stand alone player instead of a PS3?
 
Sankersizzle said:
Why didn't you just get a PS3? Then you could have FOUR USB ports!!

But seriously, why'd you buy a stand alone player instead of a PS3?
Click to expand...

for true 1080p 3d capability thru hdmi 1.4? no ps3 so far has 1.4 for the support of 1080p hd. and the usb port on your bluray player is for listening music , watching vids thru the player by storing the vids and music on the usb drive.
 
Every electronic device must have some kind of access port according to FCC regulations.

It's a law. That's probably why your Blu-Ray player has a USB port.
 
wywern209 said:
for true 1080p 3d capability thru hdmi 1.4? no ps3 so far has 1.4 for the support of 1080p hd. and the usb port on your bluray player is for listening music , watching vids thru the player by storing the vids and music on the usb drive.
Click to expand...

GOD DAMMIT I just bought another PS3 to play blu rays at home, and was hoping you'd be all like "Yo, listen to Sankersizzle that guy is rad" rather than telling me why the blu ray player was better...
 
wywern209 said:
for true 1080p 3d capability thru hdmi 1.4? no ps3 so far has 1.4 for the support of 1080p hd. and the usb port on your bluray player is for listening music , watching vids thru the player by storing the vids and music on the usb drive.
Click to expand...

Cool... So instead of putting in a disk to watch a movie I can plug in a flash drive with the movie on it? :)
 
Not sure about yours', but when I plug a USB storage device into my bluray player I can play almost any type of video and music file. This is the reason I sold my 1st gen Apple TV.
 
mrsir2009 said:
Cool... So instead of putting in a disk to watch a movie I can plug in a flash drive with the movie on it? :)
Click to expand...

Yep. Or even an external hard drive, which is what I do. And I'm not positive you can do it, I guess it depends on the bluray player you have.
 
Well, my BluRay player has a media centre button on the main menu... But when I click on it it says "Sorry, you aren't connected to the internet". But if I plugged my external hard disk in, which contains movies and TV shows, I could click on the media centre button and I'd be able to browse the drive and watch stuff off it, correct?

Sorry, I'm new to this stuff... Been using cassete tapes for most of my life :eek:

----------
Peace said:
Not at all. Read the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.
Click to expand...

But, wait.... My old DVD player didn't have a USB port? :eek:
 
mrsir2009 said:
Well, my BluRay player has a media centre button on the main menu... But when I click on it it says "Sorry, you aren't connected to the internet". But if I plugged my external hard disk in, which contains movies and TV shows, I could click on the media centre button and I'd be able to browse the drive and watch stuff off it, correct?

Sorry, I'm new to this stuff... Been using cassete tapes for most of my life :eek:

----------



But, wait.... My old DVD player didn't have a USB port? :eek:
Click to expand...

If it was made after 1996 it has some kind of external access to it.Doesn't have to be a USB port.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that's the only reason it has a port.
All I'm saying is the DMCA required some kind of external access.
 
Peace said:
If it was made after 1996 it has some kind of external access to it.Doesn't have to be a USB port.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that's the only reason it has a port.
All I'm saying is the DMCA required some kind of external access.
Click to expand...

Why is it required to have external access?
 
I dunno about anybody else, but on my player, if I want to access any of the Bluray 2.0 features, e.g. websites, I need to plug in a USB key for storage, as the player does not have any long term storage of its own.
 
wywern209 said:
for true 1080p 3d capability thru hdmi 1.4? no ps3 so far has 1.4 for the support of 1080p hd. and the usb port on your bluray player is for listening music , watching vids thru the player by storing the vids and music on the usb drive.
Click to expand...

PS3's can play 1080 3D Bluray over 1.3. There was a system update last year that enabled it.
I can't find any source clarifying if its progressive or interlaced, though.
 
Last edited:
Did you try reading the manual? :rolleyes:

Some players use it for storage for BD-Live content. Others use it for WiFi, others use it to play media files, and some might not use it at all. The manual should clear that up.
 
yg17 said:
Some players use it for storage for BD-Live content. Others use it for WiFi, others use it to play media files, and some might not use it at all. The manual should clear that up.
Click to expand...

Actually, players that meet the BD-Live spec MUST have 1 GB of on-player storage--you can't "fudge" it by storing the BD-Live data on an external flash drive connected via the USB port.
 
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