Looking to buy laptop w/ compatible optical drive that can play 4K UHD blu rays (playback only)

[Vilens40]

Hey Guys,

I am struggling to put a laptop together that can play 4k UHD blu rays. I understand that I'll need an external optical drive and PowerDVD ultra.

The issue here is that i'm seeing wildly varying reviews on optical drives and whether or not they can play these discs. My assumption is that some of these people don't have the hardware in their laptops. That said i'm having difficulty confirming what would work and reconciling the right drive and laptop hardware specs to meet PowerDVD's minimum specs (https://www.cyberlink.com/products/powe ... en_US.html).


I've been to Reddit, AVS forums, Tom's Hardware, and no one can seem to give me some straight advice on a disc drive and laptop that can play 4k UHD blu rays. I do not need any ripping or writing capabilities. Does anyone have any suggestions for a computer that can do this and an optical drive to go with it? I was told this might be a good place to bring it up. I see compatible drives listed everywhere here but finding the laptop to go with them is tough.

I have no plans to rip or write, only playback.

I'm located in the US and the region would be North American legal discs.

I'd be extremely appreciative for any guidance.

[Woodstock]

For what you describe, you are locked in to the requirements specified on the Cyberdrive box, including processor, video, and drive specs.

[Vilens40]

For what you describe, you are locked in to the requirements specified on the Cyberdrive box, including processor, video, and drive specs.

I'm open to anything, the information has just been so inconsistent and hazy. I want to play UHD's on a laptop. That's all. It's been pretty frustrating up until this point.

[Billycar11]

Hey Guys,

I am struggling to put a laptop together that can play 4k UHD blu rays. I understand that I'll need an external optical drive and PowerDVD ultra.

I have no plans to rip or write, only playback.

i got your email i will just respond here.

the reason no one can give you an answer is because powerdvd and the UHD advisor are extremely unreliable and sometimes do not work when they should.

here is an example i bought a laptop with an intel 8th gen cpu and no discrete gpu only igpu the stock image from the manufacturer failed UHD advisor and would not play the disks even though the intel sgx app https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/intel ... verviewtab said it was activated and working. i reinstalled the os clean latest 1809 at the time making sure to get all necessary drivers sgx intel management engine and junk. and it worked passing the UHD advisor and playing the movies in powerdvd direct from disk. now with 1903 the laptop no longer passes the UHD advisor but can still play movies but if i ever need to do first time setup again in powerdvd it is completely broken on 1903 now i think seeing as my gf has the same laptop and cant get it to work at all now.

but any laptop with a intel 7th gen or newer cpu and no discrete gpu should work i would also recommend you find one with an real HDR screen and HDMI 2.0 port incase you ever want to output the movie so you can get hdr and all that stuff.

and when you get fed up with it not working just use Makemkv's libs (search my posts to find how to) to do direct disk playback on the laptop or just buy DVDfab player 5 Ultra
and obviously buy an UHD Drive flashed and tested by me as insurance if powerdvd does not work so you can use those other direct play programs.
the BU40Ns i sell work with makemkv and dvdfab some other sellers here dont work with both and i get alot of emails about it.

[BlueMac77]

Hey Guys,

I am struggling to put a laptop together that can play 4k UHD blu rays. I understand that I'll need an external optical drive and PowerDVD ultra.

I'd be extremely appreciative for any guidance.

Like what Woodstock and BillyCar11 stated, there are hardware strict requirements to playback 4K UHD movies. You can check out this article on setting up a PC home theater for 4K

https://www.anandtech.com/show/12171/a- ... y-and-more

For the optical drive, the Pioneer BDR-211 plays 4k, very specific motherboard, cpu and video card requirements. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... tcount=108. I also read in the blu-ray forum that whenever they would play 4k, they need to go to the BIOS to switch to the on-board Intel video card.

I’m not a tech expert, to playback a large file size of 4K may need a higher ram and processor since the computer communicates from the external optical drive back and forth. The laptop will consume more resources to read/play direct from the disc compared to playing from the internal hard drive. There's the factor on the spinning of the disc inside the optical drive. You’ll probably need to hook up your laptop to a large monitor to fully appreciate the 4k UHD picture quality. I personally prefer ripping and saving the movie to the hard drive so when I want to rewatch the movie, I don’t have to worry on the risk of scratching the disc and over stressing the optical drive.

[Billycar11]

Like what Woodstock and BillyCar11 stated, there are hardware strict requirements to playback 4K UHD movies. You can check out this article on setting up a PC home theater for 4K

https://www.anandtech.com/show/12171/a- ... y-and-more

For the optical drive, the Pioneer BDR-211 plays 4k, very specific motherboard, cpu and video card requirements. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... tcount=108. I also read in the blu-ray forum that whenever they would play 4k, they need to go to the BIOS to switch to the on-board Intel video card.

I’m not a tech expert, to playback a large file size of 4K may need a higher ram and processor since the computer communicates from the external optical drive back and forth. The laptop will consume more resources to read/play direct from the disc compared to playing from the internal hard drive. There's the factor on the spinning of the disc inside the optical drive. You’ll probably need to hook up your laptop to a large monitor to fully appreciate the 4k UHD picture quality. I personally prefer ripping and saving the movie to the hard drive so when I want to rewatch the movie, I don’t have to worry on the risk of scratching the disc and over stressing the optical drive.

nothing wrong with your advise and good article links.
but i highly recommend against the Pioneer drives for now as he would have no backup plan if he cant get official UHD playback to work with it with the LG BU40N he can have official playback, unofficial playback and ripping

[BlueMac77]

nothing wrong with your advise and good article links.
but i highly recommend against the Pioneer drives for now as he would have no backup plan if he cant get official UHD playback to work with it with the LG BU40N he can have official playback, unofficial playback and ripping

Hi BillyCar11. Good suggestion on the LG BU40N, better choice than the Pioneer. Though the article was using the Pioneer BD Drive, the OP can get the best of both worlds with the LG Drive, playback and ripping using MakeMKV. Thanks

[Vilens40]

Like what Woodstock and BillyCar11 stated, there are hardware strict requirements to playback 4K UHD movies. You can check out this article on setting up a PC home theater for 4K

https://www.anandtech.com/show/12171/a- ... y-and-more

For the optical drive, the Pioneer BDR-211 plays 4k, very specific motherboard, cpu and video card requirements. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... tcount=108. I also read in the blu-ray forum that whenever they would play 4k, they need to go to the BIOS to switch to the on-board Intel video card.

I’m not a tech expert, to playback a large file size of 4K may need a higher ram and processor since the computer communicates from the external optical drive back and forth. The laptop will consume more resources to read/play direct from the disc compared to playing from the internal hard drive. There's the factor on the spinning of the disc inside the optical drive. You’ll probably need to hook up your laptop to a large monitor to fully appreciate the 4k UHD picture quality. I personally prefer ripping and saving the movie to the hard drive so when I want to rewatch the movie, I don’t have to worry on the risk of scratching the disc and over stressing the optical drive.

Thank you for your reply Blue. Although it's worth noting that i'm looking for a Laptop here and i'm having trouble matching specs to the optical drive that would work. I need to dig through Billy's post deeper to understand the integrated GPU and intel chip statements he made.

[MartyMcNuts]

Like what Woodstock and BillyCar11 stated, there are hardware strict requirements to playback 4K UHD movies. You can check out this article on setting up a PC home theater for 4K

https://www.anandtech.com/show/12171/a- ... y-and-more

For the optical drive, the Pioneer BDR-211 plays 4k, very specific motherboard, cpu and video card requirements. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... tcount=108. I also read in the blu-ray forum that whenever they would play 4k, they need to go to the BIOS to switch to the on-board Intel video card.

I’m not a tech expert, to playback a large file size of 4K may need a higher ram and processor since the computer communicates from the external optical drive back and forth. The laptop will consume more resources to read/play direct from the disc compared to playing from the internal hard drive. There's the factor on the spinning of the disc inside the optical drive. You’ll probably need to hook up your laptop to a large monitor to fully appreciate the 4k UHD picture quality. I personally prefer ripping and saving the movie to the hard drive so when I want to rewatch the movie, I don’t have to worry on the risk of scratching the disc and over stressing the optical drive.

Thank you for your reply Blue. Although it's worth noting that i'm looking for a Laptop here and i'm having trouble matching specs to the optical drive that would work. I need to dig through Billy's post deeper to understand the integrated GPU and intel chip statements he made.

Required PC specs for UHD Playback:

• Operating System - Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit with at least the 2017 Oct. updates)

• CPU - Intel 7th generation (Kaby Lake) Core i processors and above that support the Intel Software Guard Extensions (Intel SGX) technology.

• Graphics Processor - Intel 7th generation (Kaby Lake) Core i processors integrated with Intel HD Graphics 630, Intel Iris™ Graphics 640 or above.

Ultra HD Blu-ray is supported only if a display is powered by Intel Graphics and supports HDCP 2.2. If your computer includes more than one graphics processor, Ultra HD Blu-ray is supported only on the display that is connected and powered by Intel Graphics.

• Motherboard - A mainboard is required which supports the Intel Software Guard Extensions (Intel SGX) technology.
  The Intel SGX feature needs to be enabled in the BIOS* settings, and allocated with 128 MB or above memory space.

To output Ultra HD Blu-ray movies to an external display, the connection port embedded on the mainboard must support HDCP 2.2.
For laptop PCs, please refer to the specification of your laptop to see if the external display connection (HDMI/DisplayPort) supports HDCP 2.2 output.

• Display - Display device with HDMI 2.0a/DisplayPort 1.3 or above connection interface, and must support HDCP 2.2.

• Memory - 4 GB or above

• Optical Drive - Optical disc drives that are certified for Ultra HD Blu-ray playback.

• Internet Connection - Required for first time to play of an Ultra HD Blu-ray movie, and other online services.

• Other - Windows Media Player 9 or above is required. Intel Management Engine** driver with version 11.6.0.1126 or above is required for Ultra HD Blu-ray playback features.

Cheers

[Vilens40]

Ok this I can work with. I gotta talk to billy about a drive.