Play Blu-Ray on Mac Mini?

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Play Blu-Ray on Mac Mini?

Has anyone tried playing Blu-Ray DVDs on a Mini?

I have a 2GHz C2D Mini with 1GB RAM and a 1TB FW external drive which feeds HDMI to my LCD TV and surround sound to my audio system.

A Blu-Ray player is around $400 but for only $200 more we can get an external FW Blu-Ray drive and be able to burn Blu-Ray DVDs as well! Or for $900 a replacement slot-loading Blu-Ray SuperDrive!

Has anyone played hi-def movies through a Mac Mini? How well does it work?

Mac Pro 8-core, 4GB RAM, MacBook Pro, Mini Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Jul 20, 2008 1:17 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 23, 2008 1:03 PM in response to drdocument

You can get a Blu-Ray drive for reading/writing data disks, but there's no Mac OS movie player application for Blu-Ray disks.

-Doug

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Answer 2

Jul 30, 2008 11:51 AM in response to drdocument

I play back hi-def stuff all the time either downloaded files or hi-def tv through an external receiver.
The mini handles it just fine.

There is no blu-ray playback software as mentioned in the other response. This is due to drm restrictions and the need to have a HDCP compliant monitor as required by the movie producers.

If you really feel you need Blu-ray-buy a PS3. Instead of just a $400 blu-ray player you get a game machine as well.

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Answer 3

drdocument Author

Level 4

3,019 points

Aug 4, 2008 6:33 AM in response to Johnathan Burger

Thanks.

I want to minimize the number of components in my entertainment system and use the Mini for as much as possible. I have 100+ MP4 movies on a 1TB external drive and the Mini is connected with DVI-to-HDMI adapter to 52" Sony LCD, with audio to surround-sound setup. So I believe I do have HDCP-compliant monitor.

But how do you get hi-def movies into the Mini? At present I enjoy HD content through DirecTV, but iTunes provides HD content only to AppleTV.

Ideas?

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Answer 4

Aug 12, 2008 11:04 PM in response to drdocument

Right now, there is no HD movie option for Apple computers besides the Apple TV.

-Doug

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Answer 5

Sep 7, 2008 12:19 PM in response to drdocument

Plug your 1 TB drive with your movies into your mac mini. It should show up with an icon on your desktop. Download and install VLC media player from videolan.org.
This program should play all your movies.

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