Mac Blue Ray Dvd Player App
Since the late '90s, Macs have welcomed DVD movies. Pop a disc in your drive, watch Apple's DVD Player app open, and enjoy the show. Simple. But DVDs' high-definition successors, Blu-rays, never got the same warm reception. Today, the right third-party hardware and software will let you play Blu-ray discs on your Mac. But, uh … maybe you shouldn't?
- Mac Blue Ray Dvd Player App Free
- Mac Blue Ray Dvd Player Software
- Mac Blue Ray Dvd Player App Downloads
Tell us how you really feel, Steve
How to burn Blu-ray discs on a Mac. A Blu-ray Disc has advantages over a standard DVD: the picture and audio quality are better, and if you haven't got a fast internet connection, buying a disc. Dec 19, 2019 To fully support all DVD discs in this world, it is highly recommended to download the beefy free Leawo DVD player app online. Officially, Leawo Free Blu-ray Player software is acting as a professional Blu-ray player that enables all the Blu-ray playbacks while an appropriate Blu-ray drive is.
Steve Jobs famously hated the licensing hurdles and hefty fees Blu-ray imposed. With his characteristic taciturn restraint, he publicly called the format a 'bag of hurt' and likened the groups behind it to the Mafia. Apple never built Blu-ray drives into Macs, and eventually ditched optical drives altogether to focus on selling movies through iTunes.
But some Mac users still need to burn their own Blu-rays or read data off BD discs, so there are plenty of third-party Blu-ray drives available for the Mac. And once those drives became available, a few enterprising companies who did (presumably) pay up for the keys to decrypt Blu-ray discs released Mac apps to play regular Blu-ray movies with those drives.
Unfortunately, searching for mac Blu-ray player
online gets you a lot of highly suspect sites with creatively translated English, each pitching their own totally not-at-all-questionable video player that may or may not actually play Blu-ray discs. But there are a few options respectable enough to make it into the Mac App Store. We'll discuss those in a moment, but first, let's talk about another app that sounds like a good idea, but really isn't.
Blu-rays on VLC
VLC is a justly beloved open-source video player — free, robust, and able to play tons of different formats. With the right tinkering, Blu-ray can be one of them. But playing Blu-rays on VLC is like free-climbing a skyscraper without safety equipment: Sure, it's technically possible, but it's also incredibly difficult, full of drawbacks, and almost certainly a bad idea.
For starters, the site I originally used to find the right files that would supposedly enable Blu-ray playback on VLC is, as of this writing, no longer capable of establishing secure connections. (Which is why I'm not linking to it here.)
When it was up and running, its sparse instructions didn't seem to work, and I had to go digging for another site's advice to get VLC playing even sort of nice with Blu-ray. Then I had to separately install Java to have any hope of getting Blu-ray interactive menus working.
Even after all that, VLC wouldn't play most discs I tried with it, ominously warning me of revoked certificates and other things that sound like they involve well-paid lawyers. And when it did play discs, it refused to let me skip past the annoying preview video tracks before the movie; sometimes, trying to do so just dumped me back at the beginning of them.
VLC works great for lots of things. Blu-ray playback isn't one of them. Just don't do it. Especially when you've got another free and far more legitimate option waiting for you in the Mac App Store.
Leawo Blu-ray Player
The two currently available Mac Blu-ray apps come from Chinese companies. Shenzhen-based Leawo's is by far the cheaper – as in, it's free – and while it's perfectly adequate, you definitely get what you pay for.
I tested Leawo's player with a selection of discs from every major studio (plus Criterion, for you cinephiles out there), ranging from titles I bought back in 2009 to discs released in 2018. They all played just fine, with a crisp picture and clear sound. Leawo's menus let me easily switch audio and subtitle tracks, and jump between different video files on the disc with a Playlist option. And unlike hardware Blu-ray players, it's not region-locked, so you can watch discs from all over the world.
But bones don't get much barer than Leawo's offering. It doesn't support Blu-ray menus at all; if you want to view special features, you'll need to guess at their location from the Playlist menu. If you're dying to watch, say, The Sound of Music's pop-over interactive commentary with sing-along mode, Leawo's app will not be one of your favorite things.
The app takes a solid minute (I timed it) just to load a disc, a process that requires multiple un-intuitive menu clicks, and whoever ported it into Mac didn't bother to change the drab Windows-like interface.
If you just want to watch Blu-rays on your Mac, Leawo will definitely do that. It's perfectly serviceable. It doesn't seem to install spyware or bother you with ads. But there's a better (and considerably more expensive) choice if you want a more robust experience.
Macgo Blu-ray Player Pro
Hong Kong-based Macgo's Blu-ray Player Pro usually sells for a whopping $79.95, though you can watch for frequent sales that will knock the price down to a still-lofty $39.95. On the App Store, with a 'family' license to run on multiple Macs, it'll cost you $64.99. (There's a marginally cheaper non-Pro version, but like Leawo's app, it doesn't fully support menus, so why bother?)
For that price, you'll get an experience nearly identical to popping a disc into any regular Blu-ray player. Macgo's app played my test discs flawlessly, with full support for menus and a virtual remote that even mirrored the what-are-they-even-there-for red, blue, green, and yellow buttons on the average Blu-ray remote. Its interface isn't Mac-like, but it's clean, intuitive, and unobtrusively minimal.
Discs loaded quickly — 15 seconds, tops – and played the same pre-roll ads and trailers they would in a hardware player, though thankfully, I could skip them just as easily as I would elsewhere. The app offers hardware acceleration for smoother playback, though aside from loading speed, I didn't notice a difference in quality between it and Leawo's app. Macgo's app even supports BD-Live online features, though you'll have to go into the Preferences to turn that feature on; it's switched off by default. I couldn't tell or test whether Macgo's app was region-free, but I'd be surprised if it weren't.
The only shortfall I found in Macgo's app, besides its price, was its lack of support for 3D or 4K UHD Blu-rays. I'm sure that's a dealbreaker for some folks, but most users probably won't lament it.
Maybe just don't
In hindsight, Steve Jobs may have been right to keep Blu-ray drives out of Macs. On a laptop screen, you may not be able to fully enjoy the HD splendor of a great Blu-ray picture. (And hauling around an external drive plus discs would make the experience a lot less portable.) Desktop Macs with big screens already have Netflix, iTunes, and lots of other less noisy and expensive ways to watch HD movies.
For the same $120 - $180 you'd shell out for Macgo's app and a good external drive, you could buy a decent Blu-ray player to hook up to your big-screen TV. (Reputable names like Sony and LG offer region-free players you can score for $100 or less with a little comparison-shopping.)
If you don't own a TV or a Blu-ray player, do own a Mac, already own an external Blu-ray drive for some other purpose – like ripping the Blu-ray discs you own for your personal digital collection – and really, really want to watch Blu-rays specifically off the discs, you'll likely be pleased with Macgo's app, and reasonably satisfied with Leawo's.
But with so many other, less troublesome ways to watch movies on your Mac, maybe you're better off leaving this particular bag of hurt alone.
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DVD players are becoming more and more popular as home entertainment devices. There are so many usages from a DVD player as you can either connect it to a TV monitor or a computer. No matter what platform you are going to watch DVDs on, it is always required to equip a standalone DVD player to support the hard optical discs. And many people will ask how to connect DVD player to laptop using HDMI or USB. If you are planning to purchase one DVD player for your laptop or computer, there is a guide to connect DVD player to laptops.
Part 1: Connect DVD Player to Laptop with HDMI Cable
With the flourishing market of DVD player devices, it seems quite necessary to pick up a DVD player. While the majority of laptops are without an inbuilt DVD player hardware, it is suggested to consider some specs before purchasing the DVD player. Of course, the next step after having a DVD player is to install it on the laptop. However, most people with a new external DVD player are requesting how to connect DVD player to laptop using HDMI cables.
Thus, the first part will be concentrating on how to connect DVD player to laptop with HDMI cable step by step.
Step 1. Make sure both the DVD player and your laptop support the HDMI cable.
Mac Blue Ray Dvd Player App Free
Although modern DVD player products are basically developed with the HDMI feature, there are some outdated DVD drive models that lack this functionality. You can check the model online or the manual guide.
Step 2. A fine HDMI cable should be ready.
Also, the HDMI varies in a wide range. Each DVD drive could be hosting different types from others according to multiple aspects like resolutions, speed, Ethernet access, etc. If you lost the HDMI cable line that comes with a DVD player, it is fixable from online shopping or local stores.
Step 3. Plug one end of the HDMI line in the DVD player while the other end goes to the laptop socket.
The matching HDMI slot can be seen on either the left or right side of the laptop, whereas the common HDMI jacks are at the back of DVD players. Plug the power cable in an outlet and seal the corresponding ends to connect DVD player to laptops.
Step 4. Power on the DVD player and install the DVD drive on the laptop.
In general, there would be a DVD drive disc to trigger the DVD machine from the laptop. Place the drive disc into the DVD device and wait for a program prompt showing up to ask the initiation of installing the DVD player. Continue and complete with the process and get the disc out. In case there is no DVD disc for the software support, you can download the DVD drive package from particular websites.
Part 2: Connect DVD Player to Laptop with USB
Besides how to connect DVD player to laptop with HDMI cables, a group of people inquires that can I connect DVD player to laptop using USB? The answer is affirmative and everyone can connect laptop to DVD player USB by following the correct handbook. In the meantime, we also prepare thorough directions to connect DVD player to laptop USB for you.
Mac Blue Ray Dvd Player Software
Step 1. Check the USB accessibility of DVD players.
The USB owns the most utilizations on almost every electric platform. That is not saying all the DVD players can handle USB connections. So it is better to examine the DVD player body or find the information in the formal sites. The laptops are supposed to fit USB ports most of the time.
Step 2. Get the correct USB line.
Similar to HDMI cable, USB also differs from genres. When an additional USB data line is needed, don’t mix the USB types.
Step 3. Hook up the USB cable to connect DVD player to laptop USB.
You can follow the booklet stating the DVD player condition and thrust the USB tail into the equipment and laptop respectively. If the DVD appliance hosts a separate power jack, stick the power wire to the outlet.
Step 4. Switch on the external DVD player.
The last step to connect laptop to DVD player USB is to turn it on and set up the software drive onto the laptop. You can verify the performance by playing some DVD movies right away.
Part 3: Another Way to Watch DVD Movie on Laptop
In spite of possessing an external DVD player device and knowing how to connect the DVD player to the laptop using HDMI, the DVD data should also be read and played by proper DVD player programs. In most cases, the old DVD player devices don’t provide a corresponding DVD player application. Although some DVD drives offer their native DVD software to play DVD content, a large number of them are not able to access DVD discs of any kind. That is related to some DVD restrictions from different aspects like region codes and CSS protections. To fully support all DVD discs in this world, it is highly recommended to download the beefy free Leawo DVD player app online.
Officially, Leawo Free Blu-ray Player software is acting as a professional Blu-ray player that enables all the Blu-ray playbacks while an appropriate Blu-ray drive is available. At the same time, this freeware has the ability to contain all the DVD associated media files covering DVD folders, DVD ISO images, DVD-Video, DVD-VR, DVD+VR, DVD disc, IFO file. More than that, the leading technology is designed to serve multimedia formats over 180 types, including popular ones like AVI, MPEG, WMV, FLV, MKV, MP4, RMVB, and rare files of PVA, NUV, NSV, FLC, DVR-MS, and WTV. Being the best quality-lossless video player on all laptops, the capability of streaming 4K and high definition movies really makes it stand out of the average array. Furthermore, the audio output is carrying on in the form of stereo and other sound decoding processes such as Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, and DTS-HD.
In terms of the DVD playback accessibility of all regions, this region-free DVD program can play any DVD disc regardless of limitations and manual settings. The tool is highly automatic meanwhile supplying free control to all users who love to create individual playback requirements. There is a bunch of flexibility that can be found in the background image, skins, themes, languages, DVD video aspect ratios, and so on. Along with dozens of bonus features, DVD watchers are able to easily take screenshots, supervise the laptop battery, and control from DVD remotes. On top of it, an internal DVD format converter can be activated after upgrading to the premium version. In this way, all original DVD movies can be preserved into MKV files. You will be able to benefit more than your expectations from the strong free application.
For understanding this flawless DVD player project deeply, the friendly interface will be presented as the next instruction can deliver the finest results after you connect DVD player to laptop.
Step 1. Download and install the alternative DVD solution on the laptop from the internet.
Two independent editions are supportive of Mac OS and Windows laptops.
Step 2. Run the versatile Leawo DVD player and import DVD content.
In the welcoming interface, you can add DVD files from the 'Open File' button. If you insert DVD movies into the connected DVD drive, there will be an extra disc icon popping up with the DVD name next to the green box.
Step 3. Adjust DVD movie subtitles.
Sometimes, the subtitles may need to change or enable and Leawo Blu-ray Player has all options in the subtitle setting panel. Right-click on the playback field and select the 'Subtitles” item to enable or disable subtitles, type a value to the subtitle offset and alter to another subtitle file.
Step 4. Configure DVD video parameters.
Here, choose the 'Video' choice from the right-click menu to open up the video settings window. It is a DVD player with a zoom feature so that you will not miss any detail. There are also settings like brightness, contrast, video upscaling, and more.
Step 5. Modify soundtracks and volumes.
You can also move the mouse to the top left corner of the screen then a drop bar will be together with four shortcut icons. Click on the speaker icon to call out this board where you are allowed to make changes of audio volume, amplification, offset, stream, output, the output device, etc.
Part 4: Conclusion
Mac Blue Ray Dvd Player App Downloads
After going through the processes of how to connect DVD player to laptop with HDMI cables and connect the laptop to DVD player USB ports, it is clear to find that both methods are not difficult to follow. As long as you are careful about each socket on different machines, they can be easily connected. However, if your laptop is not armed with the powerful DVD player software, the DVD movies will be stuck as well. Thus, Leawo Blu-ray player will be the firm option for this case. It performs seamlessly with any external DVD player devices as well as laptops of Windows and Mac. All the users are given the guaranteed theater-like watching experience at home or on the go! Overall, it is free with all available handy features, why don’t you give it a try?