USB Blu-ray Drive Compatible?

[newbie23]

Hello,

Newbie here. Apologies if this has been asked before but I have a question regarding Blu-ray playback. I plan to purchase a USB Blu-ray external drive for my MacBook Pro. Will the integration option with VLC be available for this external drive or does the Blu-ray drive need to be part of the machine for it to work?

Thank you in advance.

EDIT: Update! The beta key has allowed me to successfully integrate VLC/MakeMKV and my Blu-rays are playing like a dream. I'm not able to see the Blu-ray menu but I'm not fussed about that at all. Thank you for this great piece of software!

[dcoke22]

It can be external.

I think one might have to have a paid-for MakeMKV license to use VLC integration. I don't remember for sure though.

Most here are just ripping discs, not watching from the disc. Storage is cheap.

[Billycar11]

I think one might have to have a paid-for MakeMKV license to use VLC integration. I don't remember for sure though.

Mike says that's not the case I know I was saying that for a while because I had multiple people say it does not work when using the beta but Mike says makemkv integration should work on the trial or beta key.

[newbie23]

It can be external.

I think one might have to have a paid-for MakeMKV license to use VLC integration. I don't remember for sure though.

Most here are just ripping discs, not watching from the disc. Storage is cheap.

Thank you for the reply I read it's free if you use the beta key. I can only give it a try.

I'm actually not using it for watching. Maybe a unique circumstance but I need to screenshot Blu-ray frames (in their original resolution) for my job and have found it surprisingly difficult to do. I'm hoping integrating MakeMKV/VLC comes through for me.

[dcoke22]

I think one might have to have a paid-for MakeMKV license to use VLC integration. I don't remember for sure though.

Mike says that's not the case I know I was saying that for a while because I had multiple people say it does not work when using the beta but Mike says makemkv integration should work on the trial or beta key.

That's good to know!!

[dcoke22]

I'm actually not using it for watching. Maybe a unique circumstance but I need to screenshot Blu-ray frames (in their original resolution) for my job and have found it surprisingly difficult to do. I'm hoping integrating MakeMKV/VLC comes through for me.

I'm curious about why screenshots are hard to do? On my Mac, it seems I can use the built-in OS screenshot tool to take a screen shot of my MPV window playing a blu-ray rip.

[newbie23]

I'm actually not using it for watching. Maybe a unique circumstance but I need to screenshot Blu-ray frames (in their original resolution) for my job and have found it surprisingly difficult to do. I'm hoping integrating MakeMKV/VLC comes through for me.

I'm curious about why screenshots are hard to do? On my Mac, it seems I can use the built-in OS screenshot tool to take a screen shot of my MPV window playing a blu-ray rip.

The OS screeenshot tool is definitely easy but it's more of a copy in this instance. It's capturing the screen so the frame is visible but the true quality of the disc/transfer isn't represented. I need to extract/save individual frames in their original resolution (usually 1920x1080) to show this. The VLC screenshot tool pulls the original frame directly from the disc.

[dcoke22]

I think I understand. The VLC snapshot tool seems to produce output that's related to the source size & aspect ratio regardless of however the user has manipulated the VLC window.

I'm not sure it would produce different output from a blu-ray vs a MakeMKV rip of the blu-ray, but I'm not able to test that at the moment. I suppose it would matter if you needed a snapshot of a menu or some other aspect of the blu-ray experience that output from MakeMKV typically leaves behind.