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Topic: recommend an external BluRay drive? (Read 3715 times) previous topic - next topic
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recommend an external BluRay drive?

(not sure what forum this goes in....there is no BluRay hardware forum )

Requested of me by a friend's wife...this is what he wants for Xmas ;>

It will be for playing music BluRay discs (which usually have some video content too, but it's bonus/menu stuff) such as the recent Yes and Jethro Tull sets Steven Wilson has done, or the new Pink Floyd.

It will be connected to a Windows 7 netbook, which he uses for music playback, whose output is HDMI to an AVR.  The loudspeaker system is 2.1 channel  (so , he'll be playing the 2.0 content of these discs).

Basically this means that the priority is ease of (audio) playback, not recording, nor ripping;  price should be not much beyond ~$100, and a decent software Bluray player thrown in for 'free' would be nice too (though I suppose I could set him up with VLC if I must)

recommend an external BluRay drive?

Reply #1 –
I can't answer your main question...

Quote
Bluray player thrown in for 'free' would be nice too (though I suppose I could set him up with VLC if I must)
In case you don't know this already, VLC has to be "hacked" to play commercial (copy protected) Blu-Ray discs.  And, last time I checked it didn't support Blu-Ray menus.

recommend an external BluRay drive?

Reply #2 –
I just bought a "Salcar" (no-name) external USB BD drive half a year ago, which works pretty well. It needs 2 USB (2.0) connections, one for power and one for data. Of course you'd need some kind of software to decrypt the BD discs.
It's only audiophile if it's inconvenient.

recommend an external BluRay drive?

Reply #3 –
Thanks all.  More concerned with the hardware right now.  I think since he's not interested in writing discs, this will do..

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00632RJJY

recommend an external BluRay drive?

Reply #4 –
You may want to cross-post this in a computer hardware forum.

This may not be as easy as you think. The netbook may have crappy hardware which can neither decode the stream in real time nor be able to pass through the stream over HDMI.

Your best bet is actually a BD player software which everybody else here is arguing against. At least the BD player software will make use of all the hardware-accelerated video and audio decoding the netbook offers. (But, again, that may not be enough.) It will also not require CPU resources to break the DRM when loading a disc. Besides, circumvention of DRM is illegal in most jurisdictions (for example, in the US, it is prohibited by the DMCA).

As for the drive, for reading BD, I have had a good experience with an internal LG BD burner which I've put in an external enclosure. (I don't really burn BD anymore but I believe there may be hiccups over USB 2.0.)
 

recommend an external BluRay drive?

Reply #5 –
From personal experience, there is defnitely one kind I CANNOT recommend: the non-branded, 'el cheapo' unities:

I bought one from Novatech UK back in 2010 (when they still cost almost an arm and a leg) and it simply couldn't keep up with the ripping process, making a helluva noise and getting exremely hot. It simply gave up the ghost and stopped working for good after a few weeks.

Edit: I know you mentioned ripping as not being on his agenda but I guess the fact that one in particular couldn't put up with it, gives us an idea of how flimsy these cheap optical drives can be.

I can't honestly remember if I ever got a refund though. Not sure if I bothered or felt in the right to ask for it back then.
• Listen to the music, not the media it's on
• The older, the 'lossier'

recommend an external BluRay drive?

Reply #6 –
For the record: checking my e-mail messages from that time, I remembered  there was also another unity bought within weeks from the first off eBay: it also failed the ripping test miserably.

It's worth mentioning both were of the 'slim' kind.  So I cannot vouch for the standard 'fatter' ones.
• Listen to the music, not the media it's on
• The older, the 'lossier'

recommend an external BluRay drive?

Reply #7 –
I have one of these. It's quiet and has handled every disc that I have put in it.

recommend an external BluRay drive?

Reply #9 –
I haven't tried any personally, but there's an article on the Wirecutter where they recommend a couple drives.

Regarding software... I once managed to play a blu-ray on my computer. I was using licensed software (PowerDVD i think, it came with my Lenovo). I was able to watch the movie, and i was very proud of having accomplished such a feat. Of course (even after getting past the licence and DRM issues), the UI was horrible and the menus showed no text, not to mention loading a disc is sloooooow. But i did it.

I highly recommend ripping if you can.

recommend an external BluRay drive?

Reply #10 –
Quote
Regarding software... I once managed to play a blu-ray on my computer. I was using licensed software (PowerDVD i think, it came with my Lenovo). I was able to watch the movie, and i was very proud of having accomplished such a feat. Of course (even after getting past the licence and DRM issues), the UI was horrible and the menus showed no text, not to mention loading a disc is sloooooow. But i did it.
I only have a couple of Blu-Rays, but WinDVD works fine for me.

The Toshiba DVD player software that came with my laptop also works fine.  (I wouldn't have ordered WinDVD if I'd known the laptop was coming with player software.)

I assume the current version of PowerDVD would work too...

My laptop is HDPC compliant with an HDMI port, so no issues on the hardware-side.


Just for "fun & education" I tried to hack VLC.  The "standard hacks" didn't work for me.  One of those black market utilities did work as trial-software, but the trial period has expired and it has reverted to the free "lite" version it doesn't work with my Blu-Rays...    I'm not sure what the lite version is good for.  (This is a competitor to the utility Andy alluded to.)    I could play the movie, but at that time VLC didn't support Blu-Ray menus....  I have no idea if the menus are working now, since I can't play Blu-Rays at all with VLC.  The black market utility cost's $40 USD, and WinDVD is $60 so it's hardly worth trying to "beat the system".

recommend an external BluRay drive?

Reply #11 –
Quote from: audiophool on
You may want to cross-post this in a computer hardware forum.

This may not be as easy as you think. The netbook may have crappy hardware which can neither decode the stream in real time nor be able to pass through the stream over HDMI.

Your best bet is actually a BD player software which everybody else here is arguing against. At least the BD player software will make use of all the hardware-accelerated video and audio decoding the netbook offers. (But, again, that may not be enough.) It will also not require CPU resources to break the DRM when loading a disc. Besides, circumvention of DRM is illegal in most jurisdictions (for example, in the US, it is prohibited by the DMCA).

As for the drive, for reading BD, I have had a good experience with an internal LG BD burner which I've put in an external enclosure. (I don't really burn BD anymore but I believe there may be hiccups over USB 2.0.)

Non commercial software is perfectly capable to take advantage of DXVA. Since freebie commercial software is functionally little more than a trial, the $$ IMO is better spent in "breaking the law" in order to be able to play the discs with whichever player you want. Ironically, this law-breaking software gets updated way faster and more consistently than the $100 players, and you don't have to pay for a new version every year because older versions don't get updated for DRM and compatibility with the latest OS (Win 8 killed all my working versions of PDVD, TotalMedia Theatre and WinDVD).

recommend an external BluRay drive?

Reply #12 –
Quote from: andy o on
Non commercial software is perfectly capable to take advantage of DXVA.

While what you say is true, DXVA doesn't matter if the hardware doesn't support it.  Many netbooks only have GMA950 or GMA3150 graphics which don't support any form of h.264 or VC1 acceleration and only have partial MPEG2 support.  Combined with weak Atom CPUs that are to slow to decode in software makes BluRay playback problematic at best.

If you have a netbook with an Nvidia ION, GMA500, GMA600, GMA3600, GMA3650 or AMD graphics then they do support full hardware decoding.  However they were less common than the GMA950/GMA3150 models.