Seeking hardware recommendation: External USB Blu-Ray Player

[rogodeter]

I have a laptop that does not have a built-in blu-ray drive. I'm wondering if anybody has experience with external (USB) Blu-Ray players and if there are any issues/recommendations with respect to MakeMKV and external players (I'm on Linux if it matters)

[Woodstock]

Biggest issue with external drives is getting them sufficient power, regardless of the operating system. When they spin fast, they need full-spec USB power (older ones need more than full spec), and any non-powered hub will not provide that. If the drive has its own power adapter, that is "better", in that you don't have the issue with power, just an extra wall wart and cord to deal with.

[rogodeter]

Biggest issue with external drives is getting them sufficient power, regardless of the operating system. When they spin fast, they need full-spec USB power (older ones need more than full spec), and any non-powered hub will not provide that. If the drive has its own power adapter, that is "better", in that you don't have the issue with power, just an extra wall wart and cord to deal with.

Thanks for that tip, I will ensure I get one with an external power adapter. I don't need to use it through a hub, not really an issue.

Have you used any usb external blu ray players with particular success (assuming adequate power)?

[Woodstock]

No personal experience with USB BD so far, just USB DVD.

My old Sony is only brought out for ripping if I have a DVD that refuses to allow the blue laser to scan it... Some disks just only work with red!

[NShameA]

Don't limit yourself by connection. you can use a case on internal drives to match many interfaces. BYTECC is what I use.

[rogodeter]

Thanks for the information all,

I decided that power is not an issue as portability is not much of a concern (I don't mind keeping it plugged in all the time). I went with the Buffalo bdXL, thinking that with cheap media I could replace a couple 5TB backup drives with a stack of 128GB bdXL's -- Guess I didn't do much research to find out that the media is prohibitively expensive and the format doesn't have a lot of support.

So I have the drive now and it burns Blu-Ray's very quickly, DVD-ROMs are slow, but my work has just ordered me a Macbook Pro so I'll wait and see if the driver support is better there than on my current setup (Linux)

[MustangChris04]

I've been using this player for 18 months now without any issues. I have played over 300 blu-rays on this player: http://www.amazon.com/Everpower-Externa ... op?ie=UTF8

Not sure why everybody is making a big issue about the power. My USB 2.0 port on my dell and macbook power this drive without any issues.

[taylorwmj]

Without a doubt this is the best drive you can get IMO:

http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-Su ... lg+blu+ray

There is no rip-lock and it it's incredibly reliable. Also worth noting that a new version of this (not advertised by LG, but it is a slight upgrade) that will supposedly play more friendly with UHD BD when we finally get to the point of getting past encryption.

I know you said you already bought a drive, but I currently am using this on Ubuntu Server w/MakeMKV w/no issues at all.

[rogodeter]

Thanks for the recommendation. I do already have the Buffalo, which is working ok so far, but if it dies I've got this one in my Amazon list for future reference.

Without a doubt this is the best drive you can get IMO:

http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-Su ... lg+blu+ray

There is no rip-lock and it it's incredibly reliable. Also worth noting that a new version of this (not advertised by LG, but it is a slight upgrade) that will supposedly play more friendly with UHD BD when we finally get to the point of getting past encryption.

I know you said you already bought a drive, but I currently am using this on Ubuntu Server w/MakeMKV w/no issues at all.

[JeffR1]

Without a doubt this is the best drive you can get IMO:

http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-Su ... lg+blu+ray

There is no rip-lock and it it's incredibly reliable. Also worth noting that a new version of this (not advertised by LG, but it is a slight upgrade) that will supposedly play more friendly with UHD BD when we finally get to the point of getting past encryption.

I know you said you already bought a drive, but I currently am using this on Ubuntu Server w/MakeMKV w/no issues at all.

Maybe that new one from LG that's not advertised will eventually have the UHD Blu-ray logo on it.