Best External Blu-Ray Drive for Mac Mini?

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Level 1

13 points

Best External Blu-Ray Drive for Mac Mini?

So, I just bought the new Mac Mini a couple days ago. I'd like to store blu-rays on it so I can stream them to my Apple TV. What is the best external blu-ray drive I can use with my Mac Mini? I've gone to several stores and no one has a clue. I get "they all pretty much work the same" from people. There has to be a reason why some of these are $89 and go up over $200. I tried searching anything and everything on the web, but can only find articles from 2011. Any help would be appreciated! I'm considering ASUS or LaCie, but have been told LG does a pretty good job too (only, I'd like it to be USB 3 or Firewire instead of USB 2). So, I'm incredibly confused. Thanks!

Posted on Mar 6, 2013 10:44 AM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 9

77,206 points

Mar 6, 2013 6:10 PM in response to DreamNofR1

I don't have a Blu-ray drive or use Blu-ray's, but check out > OWC's Blu-Ray Optical Drive Solutions

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Answer 2

DreamNofR1 Author

Level 1

13 points

Mar 7, 2013 5:43 AM in response to den.thed

Thanks for the link. Still kinda wanting some input though. It doesn't necessarily have to be the exact drive, but if someone could point me in the direction of a brand that works best with Apple, I'll take it from there. So far, I've read about people using LaCie, Pioneer, LG, Samsung and ASUS. I just would like it narrowed down to which brand works best I guess.

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Answer 3

Ingo F.

Level 4

1,804 points

Mar 23, 2013 7:32 AM in response to DreamNofR1

I just got a new 27" iMac and had to chose from two Bluray drives. I got the Samsung 506BB first, because it was cheap and small, but I really hate the fact that it is one of those "I press the button and the disc gets spit out with the tray about an inch" drive. They are in Windows-laptops, and I simply dont like them. You need two hands to get the dis cout, because it's stuck to the spindle, and the drive is so light it lifts when you just lift the disc.

Apart from that, functionality was great, everything worked, but it is definitely not a very fast drive.

So I got myself the Lacie d2 Bluray, and that's more like it, if you ask me. It's not USB 3.0 as the Samsung, but then again speed is more than sufficient. OK, it's bulkier, but it is also heavier, and I do not have to carry it around, and it has a tray! Yay 🙂

Speed is a lot faster than the Samsung, and comparable to an internal drive. I love it. It's got all the cables you need (in this case a USB cable), it also features an FW400 cable, and an adapter cable from FW800 to FW400. So, for the iMac, I am stuck with USB, since it does not sport an FW port, but I could convert from Thunderbolt to FW if I wanted to.

Did not test burning yet, but reading works flawlessly with VLC or MakeMKV.

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Answer 4

DreamNofR1 Author

Level 1

13 points

Mar 24, 2013 1:02 PM in response to Ingo F.

Thanks for the input. I ended up getting the LG BE14. I tried an Asus drive and while it did work, the store I got it at was expensive and I found it online for a good $70 cheaper than what I paid for it. Not only that but a near $200 drive felt cheap and flimsy, so I chalked it up and took it back. Got the LG instead since its USB 3 and from what I understand, the "M" disc might become more mainstream in the future, and this drive is capable of reading them. I read reviews online about it and some had luck with getting the drive to work with a Mac and some did not. Well, it DOES work and is extremely fast. Rips and mkv file in about 35 mins from a blu-ray. Handbrake takes longer than expected but that's obviously not the LG's fault. All in all, $150 for this LG was somewhat high but I am very happy with it. The LaCie drive would have been nice but I couldn't believe how expensive they were.

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Answer 5

Aug 4, 2013 12:40 PM in response to DreamNofR1

You have to own a external Blu-ray player,that is the hardware. (In order to read and play blu-ray disc, choosing a great blu-ray drive is the first and import thing, i just compare many and at last, i choose Samsung SE-506BB External Slim Blu-ray Drive, which is very compact and lightweight. and The drive is very quiet -- can't even hear it with blu-ray video playing.) Secondly, because Apple don't ship with Blu-ray you have to own a software. You can try this: Play bl-ray on mac mini

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