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Recommended Pioneer External BD Drives
Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2025 2:45 pm
by zoom+slomo
Because support ended long ago for my lovely Pioneer LX500 BD player I bought a second one to share DVD/BD movie playing, thereby extending their lives. But to further do so I also want to start using an external BD drive to send the audio and video via my pc video card's HDMI to my TV and have DVD/BD movie playback functionality via JRiver or VLC. I only have one UHD disc and don't expect to be buying more, so the BD drive doesn't have to be UHD compatible.
I don't know if Pioneer BD drives are any better than other brands but it seems users lament the end of that line.
https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?s ... 1746788660
So, which of these external models might be known to be particularly reliable for DVD and BD movie playback?
https://usa.pioneer/collections/optical ... UPm-4u0yBr
Re: Recommended Pioneer External BD Drives
Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2025 10:45 pm
by MartyMcNuts
zoom+slomo wrote: ↑Fri Oct 31, 2025 2:45 pm
Because support ended long ago for my lovely Pioneer LX500 BD player I bought a second one to share DVD/BD movie playing, thereby extending their lives. But to further do so I also want to start using an external BD drive to send the audio and video via my pc video card's HDMI to my TV and have DVD/BD movie playback functionality via JRiver or VLC. I only have one UHD disc and don't expect to be buying more, so the BD drive doesn't have to be UHD compatible.
I don't know if Pioneer BD drives are any better than other brands but it seems users lament the end of that line.
https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?s ... 1746788660
So, which of these external models might be known to be particularly reliable for DVD and BD movie playback?
https://usa.pioneer/collections/optical ... UPm-4u0yBr
You do realize that Pioneer ceased producing optical drives late last year and closed up the stores in April? You can't actually buy any of those unless you manage to find old stock somewhere (extremely difficult), most likely in a physical store.
Also, PC optical drives are not recommended for direct disc playback at all as doing so will wear out the lasers far quicker than a one time rip. Far better to rip your discs to MKV files to store on a NAS or hard drive and stream them to your player or TV. No more hassles handling discs, waiting for annoying menu's etc, just choose a moview to watch and start watching immediately!!