Blu-Ray player for a Macbook

coffeehound

Would appreciate any pointers on what to look out for when buying a disc player for a Macbook with USB-C/Thunderbolt.

Is it better to get one that connects wirelessly?  I suppose that would be more convenient.  Any gotchas with those endless video standards?  Any major differences in picture and sound quality between brands?  Thanks

Neil_Jones

You'll be hard pushed to find a wireless Blu-Ray player - how do you think they get powered?  Yet to see a fresh-aired powered drive

Just buy whatever's cheapest, the only thing to go wrong with the unit is the laser packing up - but that's years down the line and as they won't get used as often now as they used to, it'll practically last forever.

oldernonethewiser

I have a cheap Samsung portable blue-ray reader/writer.  Not USB C as it was bought years ago and it works fine.

Get whatever one suits your budget and needs.

DullGreyGuy

coffeehound said:

Would appreciate any pointers on what to look out for when buying a disc player for a Macbook with USB-C/Thunderbolt.

Is it better to get one that connects wirelessly?  I suppose that would be more convenient.  Any gotchas with those endless video standards?  Any major differences in picture and sound quality between brands?  Thanks

What are you trying to achieve? 

You mention picture and sound quality but that isn't relevant for playing movies on a computer where the decoding is done by the PC but is relevant for a TV etc where the player does the decoding. 

coffeehound

Thanks, I was picturing something like a 'base-station' with a remote control that could connect wirelessly to the laptop -- is that a thing?  If not then will go with a wired one but it would be easier to watch while sitting on the sofa without.  But it's good to hear that cost/brand doesn't affect picture quality

DullGreyGuy

Presumably you are going to be watching on your Mac's screen which is likely to be 14"/15" so won't be far from you so dont see what value a wireless device would be?  When Macs first lost optical drives you were able to share the drive on one with another Mac but never heard of a wireless DVD drive 

I am assuming you are wanting to use only standard BluRay and not UHD/4K BluRay?  Think you'd struggle to be able to play those natively from their disk 

coffeehound

Just that it would be easier to have on one's lap without an umbilical device attached, but it looks like that's what's needed -- or cough up for a streaming service.

I was going to just buy secondhand discs so probably the original BR format, whatever resolution that is (1080?).  The screen is the 16" but not sure what resolution that supports either, heh.  Appreciate the infoz

cerebus

If you're only planning to buy the blu rays to watch once and combined with buying the drive, would it not work out cheaper to get a monthly sub to one of the streaming services or are these blu rays you want to watch not available online?

DullGreyGuy

cerebus said:

If you're only planning to buy the blu rays to watch once and combined with buying the drive, would it not work out cheaper to get a monthly sub to one of the streaming services or are these blu rays you want to watch not available online?

Depends how picky you are and how much you like rewatching stuff. You can pickup boxes of disks for next to nothing if you happy with lucky dip

coffeehound

You can probably resell them without loss, too.  Also I don't have reliable wifi.  Worried about the amount of censoring and editing that seems to be going on with old films too -- at least you can check the exact version with physical media

cerebus

coffeehound said:

You can probably resell them without loss, too.  Also I don't have reliable wifi.  Worried about the amount of censoring and editing that seems to be going on with old films too -- at least you can check the exact version with physical media

That is true , the tv companies are starting to act like communist China,  it is a very slippery slope and probably only going to get worse