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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Consumer Hardware & Components > Can Mac play blu-ray through USB 2.0?

Can Mac play blu-ray through USB 2.0?
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markw10
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Jun 13, 2012, 04:51 PM
 
I had an external DVD/CD drive and it just went bad so I'm going to replace it. I am looking at one option such as Apple's external USB drive. It's $79 but I've seen it as low as $50 on eBay and Amazon. I am thinking of getting that one but then I came across this other drive by OWC:

OWC MRSSBD6X Slim USB2 Portable Blu-Ray 6X +... in stock at OWC


What I like is it also both reads and writes CD's and DVD's. It's super small and sleek which is important to me since I plan to use this drive a lot when traveling. Another plus is it doesn't have a separate power cable and gets all power through the computer. What I like also it is reads blu-ray. I don't need a blu-ray writers since I have one in my Mac Pro.

I have a few questions:

-It says in some situations it may require a power cable. Would it need this for playing blu-ray?

-It is only USB 2.0 and now USB 3.0 is coming to Macs and there is also firewire and especially thunderbolt. Would USB 2.0 be able to easily handle playing blu-ray?

-I realize that both Windows and Mac out of the box don't play blu-ray. Is there software available for the Mac that would easily be able to play a blu-ray? I don't know if copy protection is an issue but if it's not able to play protected BD's could it play unprotected BD's?

-Are there other options other than this drive I should look at?

I like Apple's drive but really like the option of Blu-Ray. With retina macs coming out now this would be nice. I am glad to see the latest MBP added USB 3.0. I want retina though and won't get the upper end MBP but I'm hoping after a year or two more product refreshes that retina makes it's way to the rest of the MBP line and i'll try to hold off purchasing until then.
     
angelmb
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Jun 13, 2012, 05:19 PM
 
Yes, you can play Blu-ray on a Mac with an external USB 2.0 drive. I just don't know if any Blu-ray player can do the job. Macgo states that any internal or external Blu-ray player should be OK, though.

My drive is a LG BE12LU30, which is an eSATA/USB 2 external drive; I use the USB 2 ports on my Mac Pro. This LG drive comes with a power adaptor; it might be that these drivers require more power than USB2 bus is able to provide but I don't know for certain.

The software I use is Blu-ray Player from the aforementioned Macgo. It takes care of copy protection issues. In short, it downloads some specific keys for each movie once you've inserted the Blu-ray discs and you're set.

Please note that, while it works, this software is still somewhat limited, you can't navigate through Blu-ray disc's menus as they're not displayed so forget about watching the movie extras.

So far out of all the Blu-ray movies I have tried, only North By Northwest got some issues.
     
Eug
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Jun 13, 2012, 06:18 PM
 
Any Blu-ray drive will work. The slowest Blu-ray drive is still fine for Blu-ray. You need the higher speeds for high-speed data disc reading, not Blu-ray playback.

If you get an external USB powered drive, I'd recommend still getting a power adapter though. The problem is a lot of them are flaky if you give them only borderline power, and USB powered often means borderline power, even with two USB plugs. (They ask for this since two USB should provide more power than one.) One way around this is just to use an iPod AC USB adapter for the second plug. That will provide sufficient power in addition to the other USB plug.
     
SierraDragon
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Jun 13, 2012, 07:49 PM
 
Like Eug said, spend the extra 10 bucks for the optional a/c adapter for that OWC drive if you get the drive.
     
mduell
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Jun 14, 2012, 07:46 PM
 
Newegg has a good one for slightly less, and a lot less after MIR.
     
   
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