New to Mac...Blu Ray help please

1. You will need third-party software such as Toast, yes.

2. This is not possible unless these are disks you created yourself. Commercial video Blu-Ray disks are copy protected and cannot be converted. Check to see if any of your movies/shows came with a digital copy.

3. You'll need third-party software. The player from MacGo is the only one I've seen recommended as being at all workable:

http://www.macblurayplayer.com

As to the external drive, you should be able to just plug it in and see files. If you want to be able to store files to it, though, then the drive must be formatted either as FAT32 or you'll need third-party drivers for NTFS drives.

Regards.

Regarding having an external hard disk which can be used with both Macs and Windows PC.

If it is formatted as FAT32 both can use it for reading and writing but the maximum file size is 4GB.

If it is formatted as NTFS then Windows can read/write to it but as standard the Mac can only read from it. There is no file size limitation. It is possible to buy some software to let the Mac be able to write to it. See http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

If it is formatted as HFS+ then the Mac can read/write to it but as standard Windows cannot use it at all. There is no file size limitation. It is possible to buy some software to let Windows read/write to it. See http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive

If it is formatted as ExFAT then both the Mac and Windows can read/write to it. There is no file size limitation. No extra software is needed.

On a Mac if you connect the external hard disk and then run Disk Utility. You can then select Erase Disk and specifiy exFAT format.

WARNING: This will of course completely erase anything currently on the drive.

After this is complete both the Mac and PC will be able to write to it. If this is just for the purpose of transferring stuff to your Mac and therefore only temporarily storing stuff on the external hard disk, you might want to reformat the drive at the end to a Mac only HFS+ format (with GUID partitioning scheme).

iball123456 wrote:

With regards the copying blu rays to my ipad, is there no way of achieving this then unless they come with a digital copy? I was under the impression MakeMKV and Handbrake, could get round the copy protection?

Breaking copy protection is illegal in the US, where these forums are based, as well as in a number of other countries, and discussion of it is explictly banned in these forums. You'll need to look elsewhere for comments about that. Having a digital copy is the only method we can mention.

Regards.

Yep, it's stupid, but thanks to the pressure from the movie industry it is illegal, even if you otherwise would have the legal right to copy and transcode the movie.

Regards.

1. Lots of options, but at the heart of it, converting from almost anything (video/audio/photo) to a blu-ray disc is easy.

I have burned some of Blu-rays using Blu-ray Creator. it can do DVD burning as well.

http://www.appgeeker.com/blu-ray-creator.html

2. Whether or not it is illegal to copy it for your own personal use is a matter for debate. Apparently, it is illegal to give copies to other people.

3. For the purpose of playing blu-ray discs, you may get a great blu-ray player from Amazon or Bestbuy, and there are many of articles for blu ray player review online, just google search "blu ray player".

pierdobek wrote:

2. Whether or not it is illegal to copy it for your own personal use is a matter for debate.

Not in the US it's not. The US courts have ruled specifically on this and have confirmed that breaking the copy protection, even for personal use, is illegal.

It is illegal in every country in the world that has and enforced copyright laws to make copies and give them away.

Regards.

For some more detailed info see:

Is It Legal to Rip a DVD That I Own?

it is dated 1/2/2013