need an external BluRay for an iMac

[Paladin]

I've got an 8 yr old desktop iMac. It has a DVD/CD player/burner, but not BluRay. I'm starting to replace some of my favorite TV shows'/movies' DVDs with BluRays.

I plan on upgrading to the next gen iMac once they come out (supposedly this fall), but new iMacs no longer come with DVD/BluRay/CD players built-in.

If you were in my shoes, what external BluRay/DVD player would you get? Will it be compatible with both my old current Mac and the next gen, or should I get one that only works with the next gen (assuming its port/other specs are known)?

[beetle]

i'm pretty sure even 8 year old iMacs have USB 2.0, which is more than enough to handle blu-ray movies. the spec for blu-ray movies is about 7 MB/Sec while USB 2.0 has a theoretical max of 60 MB/Sec. Basically you're good to go.

a quick look on amazon shows plenty of external blu-ray drives with USB 2 interfaces for like $70 or more. just make sure you buy a blu ray drive and not a DVD which is about half the price.

If it were up to me I'd go with one of the bigger manufacturers of blu-ray drives. The pioneer has lots of good ratings and is a well respected brand: https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-Exter...ternal+blu+ray

it will work fine with your current and future mac.

good luck!

[Paladin]

Thx for all the advice.

If it were up to me I'd go with one of the bigger manufacturers of blu-ray drives. The pioneer has lots of good ratings and is a well respected brand: https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-Exter...ternal+blu+ray

it will work fine with your current and future mac.

Any idea why the the silver version is $75 and the black is $89? 20% more seems like a big difference for just a color difference. I'll get the silver if they're both functionally the same.

FWIW my Mac is a desktop so the BluRay does not have to be portable.

[ExtremeX]

+1 on Pioneer

I have been using their optical drives for many years and never had an issue.

I bought one of their 5.25" drives and installed it into an enclosure I had, but the one linked above looks good.

[Paladin]

Any idea why the the silver version is $75 and the black is $89? 20% more seems like a big difference for just a color difference. I'll get the silver if they're both functionally the same.

FWIW my Mac is a desktop so the BluRay does not have to be portable.

Bump

[ExtremeX]

It's because they are sold by different vendors on Amazon?

[Paladin]

It's because they are sold by different vendors on Amazon?

Could be. But I just want to make sure there isn't some difference between them in their description I'm not seeing, like some difference in their software.

[Elysium]

need an external BluRay for an iMac

My LG slim USB Bluray drive has been going strong for five years. Frys occasionally has them for $30 if you can wait.

MacOS will not play blurays directly. It will have to be extracted or a third party BluRay application will need to be purchased.


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[Dan_Eastvale]

We bought pioneer external bluray players at bestbuy for use in the police dept. I work at. Use them for video evidence storage all the time. Has two usb connectors... 3.0 and another for power.. Quad Layer

[Paladin]

Well, I ordered the Pioneer from Amazon and it arrived a week or so ago. I'd been busy, so I just let it sit. Last weekend I wanted to watch some Bluray discs, so started opening it. Before I opened the sealed instructions or sealed player, I read the entire outside of the box. That's when I noticed the following in very small print (bolding added by me):

Note 1: No software included. In a Mac OS environment, use Finder to read and write to Blu-ray, DVD and CD media. Use DVD Player to play back DVD movies. Blu-ray playback requires additional software (not included).

MacOS will not play blurays directly. It will have to be extracted or a third party BluRay application will need to be purchased.

Looks like you called that one, Elysium.

Anyone who knows, please school me on what I need to do. Who makes this software: Apple? other? Is it free? Where do I buy it? (Amazon?)

I just want to enjoy some of my favorite movies/TV shows on Bluray while consuming an adult beverage, so it doesn't have to be top-of-the-line.

[Friesland]

Paladin, thanks for posting this question. Have a portable w/o CD/DVD player, do miss that.

[Paladin]

Well, I ordered the Pioneer from Amazon and it arrived a week or so ago. I'd been busy, so I just let it sit. Last weekend I wanted to watch some Bluray discs, so started opening it. Before I opened the sealed instructions or sealed player, I read the entire outside of the box. That's when I noticed the following in very small print (bolding added by me):

Note 1: No software included. In a Mac OS environment, use Finder to read and write to Blu-ray, DVD and CD media. Use DVD Player to play back DVD movies. Blu-ray playback requires additional software (not included).

<snip>

Anyone who knows, please school me on what I need to do. Who makes this software: Apple? other? Is it free? Where do I buy it? (Amazon?)

I just want to enjoy some of my favorite movies/TV shows on Bluray while consuming an adult beverage, so it doesn't have to be top-of-the-line.

Bump since I was hoping to watch some Blu-rays this holiday weekend....

I still haven't unsealed either the player or the instructions since I want to make sure I can get the necessary software before opening and being unable to return it to Amazon.

[bigbully]

http://www.macblurayplayer.com

I've used the Standard version for awhile, but menu support has been disappointing. The new Pro version looks promising. I'm downloading it now to try it out.

However, I rip all of my discs to ISO with DVDFAB COPY and then I convert them to MP4 files with Handbrake to run on KODI on my mac home theater system. I mostly use the bluray player software to check some parameters when necessary during the conversion workflow.

[Elysium]

I have the same process as Bigbully but use MakeMkv as the extractor and Plex as the streaming host. Slippery slope due to cost of RAID, Drives, time for conversions.

As long as you accept this cost upfront (not including the purchase of the movie) and continuing (upgrades and backup) cost. For me Plex is a beautiful way to display a library DVD/Blu-Ray Library and stream from any device anywhere.

If you don't want to go down the rabbit hole, the ITunes Store is not a bad way to go since it has the same capability, without the initial costs.