Blu-ray drive - internal or external?

[Kaiju]

So I've been interested in getting a Blu-ray drive for my PC. It currently only has a DVD drive, but I want to upgrade so I can watch my Blu-rays on my PC, which is currently connected via HDMI to my plasma.

I've done minimal research but I wanted to ask you fine people who might be able to steer me in the right direction. Which should I look into purchasing? An internal drive that I could install in my PC, or an external drive? Would there be much of a difference? What do you recommend?

Also, once I eventually get the Blu-ray drive, I intend to use it only to watch my movies on my PC. Reason being, I have a couple nice studio monitors hooked up to my PC and so watching movies this way is far more appealing than the alternative. I don't own a nice home theater system, so this is the best I can do at the moment. It works for me though.

Anyway, I've looked into it and it's apparently not as easy as just getting the drive and putting in a disc and playing it, due to certain restrictions. Apparently there are a couple options for playback... modded VLC, Leawo... but for those that watch on their PC's through a Blu-ray drive, what do you use? Would like some recommendations.

Thanks to anyone willing to share their insights on the matter.

[solarrdadd]

I’m away on a business trip but I’d say internal SATA Blu-ray drive and have no problems with it. I have an older Dell optiplex 3020 workstation with an i7 running win 10 pro, 16gb of ram and a 2gb nvidia GeForce graphics card. I have no problems watching Blu-ray movies, tv shows or burning to Blu-ray writable/re-writable discs.

To me, the biggest pain in the ass is what software to use to enable your ability to watch those Blu-ray Discs. There are some free ones that usually do advertising on the boarder or there is the ‘buy it’ software type. Both have pros and cons. If your serious, I say bite the bullet and buy a decent player software and enjoy yourself. I know some will say get a free one and for their needs that might be fine. You will have to make up your mind. No matter what I say or anyone says.

Best of luck and I’ll let you know the brand model of my player/Writer. I do not watch a lot of things on the pc, it’s mostly for burning data and things, but I do once in a while watch a tv show or a rare movie on my pc via the player with a Blu-ray Disc.

[SillyG]

Originally Posted by Kaiju

Anyway, I've looked into it and it's apparently not as easy as just getting the drive and putting in a disc and playing it, due to certain restrictions. Apparently there are a couple options for playback... modded VLC, Leawo... but for those that watch on their PC's through a Blu-ray drive, what do you use? Would like some recommendations.

From memory (it's been a little while) I was using the free version of Leawo to watch Blu-rays on my laptop. You get a nag pop-up upon booting it up, but that's the only real downside I have experienced.

I have an Alienware laptop (bought at retail rather than a custom one) that doesn't have an optical drive, but I use my external Blu-ray burner to use my Blus. The older laptop that I last watched Blus on has an internal Blu-ray driver (not a burner), but I would have overwhelmingly preferred a laptop with a Blu-ray driver considering that I still regularly use discs.

[HDTV1080P]

I always use internal Blu-ray drives for desktop computers and Laptop/Notebook style computers. However for those that have a very small Notebook computer with no optical drive slot, a external Blu-ray drive needs to be used.

[Kaiju]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Just need to look into a Windows 10 compatible internal Blu-ray drive that doesn't suck. If anyone has any recommendations that'd be great.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by Kaiju

Thanks for the feedback guys. Just need to look into a Windows 10 compatible internal Blu-ray drive that doesn't suck. If anyone has any recommendations that'd be great.

This is the best high-end Pioneer 4K Blu-ray computer drive option on the market for the year 2019. It just came out in the 4rth quarter of 2019:

https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/P...ves/BDR-212UBK

2019 Pioneer BDR-212UBK 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray computer drive (TOP OF THE LINE)

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=322359

[HDTV1080P]

New Egg website has the 2019 Pioneer BDR-212UBK for a list price of $139.99.

[solarrdadd]

i have this drive by LG installed as I mentioned to you above, LG WH16NS40 Super Multi Blue Internal SATA 16x Blu-ray Disc Rewriter

i use it to burn Blu-ray media writeable & re-writeable discs as well as dvds. I also use it to occasionally watch tv series and once in a while a movie on the computer with no problems.

i'm running Win 10 Pro, i7 quad core w/8 threads, 16gb of ram and a Nvidia Geforce GT 1030 graphics card. it's in a Dell OptiPlex 3020 with zero problems.

aside from the hardware drive, I think, your biggest decision will be what player to use. if you don't want to pay retail (for software that doesn't include advertising scroll) perhaps someone knows of a free player that doesn't do that and doesn't leave a bunch of junk on your pc, perhaps that you don't even know is there. that's why I purchased retail software for movies and tv on Blu-ray disc. I do burning simply via win 10.

best of luck. keep us posted.

[AmishParadise]

I had a couple LG External Blu-ray Writers for the longest time that supported eSATA and USB 2.0. The drives in both had given out. Well, I still have the enclosures. Swapped out the drives. Purchased a couple internal LG WH14NS40's which are pictured below.



The drives have been fantastic so far. I even installed custom firmware, so that the drives could read UHD Blu-ray's. Running AnyDVD HD in the background within Windows 7 making both drives Region Free. To watch Blu-ray's I use PowerDVD 18. For burning to disc I use ImgBurn.

And here's what the external's looked like before I swapped the drives out. Well, the one pictured on top. When installing the new drives I had to leave the front faceplate off the enclosures. I also had to drill new holes in the metal sleeves you slide the drives into in order to secure them. Fun, fun, fun.

[Kaiju]

Hi all. Thanks for the feedback and suggestions. I've looked into some of these options, but I'm concerned about my PC being able to support some of them. Admittedly, it's not top of the line. Only an i3 processor. I'll share my specs with you guys in case you can tell me if what I have is sufficient enough. If not, maybe other options can be explored.





It's not slow by any means, but definitely not up to par with a lot of PC's today. I got it rather cheap so I can't complain. It plays video smoothly through VLC, YouTube, and other streaming platforms, so hopefully it would be good enough to support a Blu-ray drive, but I don't know. Let me know your thoughts.

[Kaiju]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

i have this drive by LG installed as I mentioned to you above, LG WH16NS40 Super Multi Blue Internal SATA 16x Blu-ray Disc Rewriter

I might be thinking of getting this one. I've read some of the comments on Amazon and some say it might not play movies though? Is that right? How did you get yours to play Blu-rays? Just wanna make sure I get as much info before I make a purchase. Do you also need to purchase software for it to run? Thanks for your feedback.

[AmishParadise]

Originally Posted by Kaiju

I might be thinking of getting this one. I've read some of the comments on Amazon and some say it might not play movies though? Is that right? How did you get yours to play Blu-rays? Just wanna make sure I get as much info before I make a purchase. Do you also need to purchase software for it to run? Thanks for your feedback.

Any Blu-ray drive will be able to play Blu-ray discs including the WH16NS40. (UHD Blu-ray playback is another story entirely.) You just need to acquire a software based Blu-ray player. I use PowerDVD 18 myself. And your computer specs are more than adequate. I play Blu-ray's all the time on my 10 year old Alienware M15x laptop. No issues. (Windows 7 Professional 64-bit | Intel i7 Q820 @ 1.73GHz | 8GB RAM | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M)

[HDTV1080P]

If you do not need 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray support and if you do not need 128GB and 100GB BDXL optical disc support. Then the cheapest Pioneer BDR-209DBK drive on the market that does 50GB-25GB Blu-ray’s, DVD’s and audio CD’s is $74.99 with free shipping from Amazon. I have never had a problem with a Pioneer optical drives, however I have seen some lower cost LG DVD optical drives with recording issues and sometimes breaking. However to be fair I have not tried a LG optical Blu-ray drive to compare it to the Pioneer. The Blu-ray drives from LG are made better when compared to the lower cost DVD drives from LG. And they should be since a top of the line 18 times read only DVD-ROM drive can be purchased for around $20.

[Kaiju]

Originally Posted by AmishParadise

Any Blu-ray drive will be able to play Blu-ray discs including the WH16NS40. (UHD Blu-ray playback is another story entirely.) You just need to acquire a software based Blu-ray player. I use PowerDVD 18 myself. And your computer specs are more than adequate. I play Blu-ray's all the time on my 10 year old Alienware M15x laptop. No issues. (Windows 7 Professional 64-bit | Intel i7 Q820 @ 1.73GHz | 8GB RAM | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M)

Okay, I looked back and it was one guy who was debunked in the comments on Amazon. Sorry about that. I'll look into PowerDVD 18 and Leawo once I get the drive and determine which to get. Thanks!

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

If you do not need 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray support and if you do not need 128GB and 100GB BDXL optical disc support. Then the cheapest Pioneer BDR-209DBK drive on the market that does 50GB-25GB Blu-ray’s, DVD’s and audio CD’s is $74.99 with free shipping from Amazon. I have never had a problem with a Pioneer optical drives, however I have seen some lower cost LG DVD optical drives with recording issues and sometimes breaking. However to be fair I have not tried a LG optical Blu-ray drive to compare it to the Pioneer. The Blu-ray drives from LG are made better when compared to the lower cost DVD drives from LG. And they should be since a top of the line 18 times read only DVD-ROM drive can be purchased for around $20.

Hmm, I'll look into the Pioneer as well. Was always under the impression they make top quality products so maybe that will be better! Thank you guys for your feedback. I'll probably be buying it next payday, so I'll keep you updated once I get it and install it. Thanks again.

[Kaiju]

Hey guys. Finally got my Blu-ray drive and installed it. Works so far! Thanks for all your suggestions and comments. Much appreciated.

I narrowed it down to this one: Pioneer Electronics USA Internal Blu-Ray Writer (BDR-209DBK) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H2GTXKS

Thanks again.

[Masx]

Looking for an external drive to carry around and saw this one: BDR-XS07UHD that seems to be recently released. Can't find much info on it other than the product information. Any one have one of these or have more experience with BD drives in general give their opinion on this product?

Thanks!

[BDBooking]

Originally Posted by Masx

Looking for an external drive to carry around and saw this one: BDR-XS07UHD that seems to be recently released. Can't find much info on it other than the product information. Any one have one of these or have more experience with BD drives in general give their opinion on this product?

Thanks!

For the most part, external media drives (like a CD/DVD/BD ROM/Burner) operate exactly like internal drives. The only difference is topology (internally its SATA connection while on the outside its of a USB style). If the program you use detects the drive, rips and/or burns the data, you'll be in business. You should be fine to use that device.

[Clark Griswold]

Originally Posted by AmishParadise

I had a couple LG External Blu-ray Writers for the longest time that supported eSATA and USB 2.0. The drives in both had given out. Well, I still have the enclosures. Swapped out the drives. Purchased a couple internal LG WH14NS40's which are pictured below.



The drives have been fantastic so far. I even installed custom firmware, so that the drives could read UHD Blu-ray's. Running AnyDVD HD in the background within Windows 7 making both drives Region Free. To watch Blu-ray's I use PowerDVD 18. For burning to disc I use ImgBurn.

And here's what the external's looked like before I swapped the drives out. Well, the one pictured on top. When installing the new drives I had to leave the front faceplate off the enclosures. I also had to drill new holes in the metal
sleeves you slide the drives into in order to secure them. Fun, fun, fun.

Do the internal drives in external enclosures perform the same as they would it they were internally installed? I have an LG internal , like the one you have in your pictures. I was thinking about purchasing one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/Vantec-NST-536S3-BK-NexStar-External-Enclosure/dp/B01MRUN0HQ/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=optical+drive+enclosu re&qid=1587441477&sr=8-3

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Clark Griswold

Do the internal drives in external enclosures perform the same as they would it they were internally installed?

As long as they're connected to decent speed connections there won't be much of a difference, you should still get decent transfer rates, you've just got to account for the external power supply.

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by chip75

As long as they're connected to decent speed connections there won't be much of a difference, you should still get decent transfer rates, you've just got to account for the external power supply.

Originally Posted by AmishParadise

Any Blu-ray drive will be able to play Blu-ray discs including the WH16NS40. (UHD Blu-ray playback is another story entirely.) You just need to acquire a software based Blu-ray player. I use PowerDVD 18 myself. And your computer specs are more than adequate. I play Blu-ray's all the time on my 10 year old Alienware M15x laptop. No issues. (Windows 7 Professional 64-bit | Intel i7 Q820 @ 1.73GHz | 8GB RAM | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M)

Originally Posted by Kaiju

Hey guys. Finally got my Blu-ray drive and installed it. Works so far! Thanks for all your suggestions and comments. Much appreciated.

I narrowed it down to this one: Pioneer Electronics USA Internal Blu-Ray Writer (BDR-209DBK) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H2GTXKS

Thanks again.

I suggest that you guys tell Macgo about using Apple's T2 Security Chip to allow legal playback of Ultra HD Blu-ray discs on Mac computers (I have one of those.) Here is their address: support@macblurayplayer.com. For more information on this see my post on this thread. Tell other members of this forum to tell them as well.