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    Invelos Forums->General: General Home Theater Discussion Page: 1  Previous   Next
external bluray drive
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DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorDevion27
Registered: April 3, 2008
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hey i got a gateway xp netbook and looking at getting an external bluray drive for my netbook does anyone have any recommendations for me to look at on what one to buy so i can do disc Id's for my blurays?

thanks
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DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile RegistrantStar ContributorBad Father
Registered: July 23, 2001
Registered: March 13, 2007
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If all you want it for is to get the Disc IDs for you Blu-rays then I'd go for some inexpensive like the Phillips/Lite-on DS-4E1S here.

It doesn't come with any software to play Blu-rays but it will read the Disc IDs just fine and at $69.99 that's about the cheapest you'll find. It requires 2 USB ports to work, one for power and the other for data. If you want something faster then I'd go with an LG. I own the LG LightScribe 12x super Multi Blue BE12LU30 but it is no longer available. The LG BP06LU10 LightScribe 6X is also an excellent drive but it costs more than double the Phillips/Lite-on drive.
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DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorDevion27
Registered: April 3, 2008
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i would like to play bluray movies on my laptop, so will the phillips bluray drive will that play bluray movies 
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DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorLewis_Prothero
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Registered: May 19, 2007
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It will,
provided you have a software that is capable of playing BluRays. Windows Media Player is not and there are no freeware players out there. Check this thread for a little overview on the available programs.

BTW in your OP you were talking about a Netbook. A BluRay would be wasted here since the screen resolution is far sub-(BluRay)-standard.
It all seems so stupid, it makes me want to give up!
But why should I give up, when it all seems so stupid?


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DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorDevion27
Registered: April 3, 2008
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so what do you recommend me buying to use to get the disc ID off my dvds and blurays and to watch bluray movies for my netbook? if i cant watch bluray movies on my netbook, then all i want is an external bluray drive so that i can get the disc id off of my bluray and dvd movies.
http://www.mulligansmovies.com/
 Last edited: by Devion27
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar Contributortweeter
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Registered: June 12, 2007
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Quoting Devion27:
Quote:
so what do you recommend me buying to use to get the disc ID off my dvds and blurays and to watch bluray movies for my netbook? if i cant watch bluray movies on my netbook, then all i want is an external bluray drive so that i can get the disc id off of my bluray and dvd movies.

He didn't say you could not watch them, merely that you wouldn't get full HD resolution if you did.

You would need a screen resolution of 1920x1080 pixels to get playback without downsampling the picture.
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DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
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Registered: March 18, 2007
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I wasn't going to comment, but I can't stand it any longer ...

The idea of playing a BluRay on a Netbook is almost laughable. Low-end OS, not enough CPU power,  not enough resolution, and usually not enough memory, small cache and slower memory bus - almost by definition.

I have a Gateway NetBook. Stopped using it because it was so underpowered.

Cyberlink has a tool called BD Advisor which will analyse and report on all the components of your system that are required to play a Blu-Ray. I would be amazed if a NetBook could pass even one of them.
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 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorLewis_Prothero
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Quoting mediadogg:
Quote:
The idea of playing a BluRay on a Netbook is almost laughable. Low-end OS, not enough CPU power,  not enough resolution, and usually not enough memory, small cache and slower memory bus - almost by definition.

Thanks for reminding me.
Stopped monitoring the development of this hardware long ago.
But with even some mobile phones being able to play HD-content I thought that maybe Netbooks might have become a little more useful recently.
It all seems so stupid, it makes me want to give up!
But why should I give up, when it all seems so stupid?


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DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile RegistrantStar ContributorBad Father
Registered: July 23, 2001
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Since you're using a netbook, I'd go with the Phillips/lite-on drive. Getting anything more powerful would just be a waste of money. Like the others have stated, a netbook is too underpowered and you won't get full HD when watching Blu-rays on it...if it will play them at all. Go to Cyberlink's web site and download their BD Advisor program and run it on your netbook. I'm pretty certain it will tell you that your netbook is unsuitable to play Blu-ray movies.
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DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
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Registered: March 18, 2007
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Quoting Bad Father:
Quote:
Since you're using a netbook, I'd go with the Phillips/lite-on drive. Getting anything more powerful would just be a waste of money. Like the others have stated, a netbook is too underpowered and you won't get full HD when watching Blu-rays on it...if it will play them at all. Go to Cyberlink's web site and download their BD Advisor program and run it on your netbook. I'm pretty certain it will tell you that your netbook is unsuitable to play Blu-ray movies.

I don't think we should offer hope here. They will not play at all. Period. Any machine that will play a Blu-Ray is NOT a NetBook, by definition. At least not by today's standards. Who knows what next year will bring?

Edit: See, I'm already obsolete:

          Acer Aspire One 571 Netbook with Mini Blu-ray Drive

Before you get too excited, here is what they say about the drive:

"The Mini Blu-ray drive  uses tiny discs which have a diameter of just 32mm (compared to 120mm in standard Blu-ray discs), and they will have a maximum capacity of up to 2GB.

The Acer Aspire One 571 will features a 10.1 inch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 720, an Intel Atom N280 processor, plus a Quartics Q1721 Multimedia Coprocessor for encoding and decoding H.264 HD content.

There is no word on pricing or availability as yet."

So, it's coming ... notice that the grpahics are in fact HD (720p) and there is a special co-processor to handle decoding. These features are not available in what is called a "Netbook" today.

Here is a link to AVSFORUM post where a seemingly knowledgeable member (PRMan) gave a nice non-techical summary of resolutions.
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 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorDevion27
Registered: April 3, 2008
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Can i just say that all i want a bluray drive to be able to get the disc id for my blurays, im just saying if i will be able to play blurays on the netbook thats awesome, and if i cant thats fine to, i just asked if i can play bluray movies to as the added extra feature, it would be nice just i didnt think it was a guarantee.
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DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorAce_of_Sevens
Registered: December 10, 2007
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I;m betting almost any modern netbook can play Blu-rays. While the screen resolution is lower than Blu-ray, it's higher than DVD, so you will get a benefit.
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
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As Devion27 points out, his orginal question was only whether he could read the discID. I don't know the answer to that, but I would not want to give him hope that a Blu-Ray will actually play, as some are sepculating, and have him be disappointed after the purchase.

If somebody has experience, please speak up, but otherwise I don't think it is fair to the OP to speculate.

Edit: Ok, I tested with my Gateway Netbook, Intel Atom N270, 1.6 GHZ, 2GB RAM with a Lite-ON DVD/HD/BD drive in a USB cabinet that I have been using to read/write BD for at least 2 years. Latest trial version of AnyDVD HD installed. OS is Windows Home Edition 2002, SP 3.

- Could play DVD and get discID using DVDP, all OK
- Could NOT get discID for Blu-Ray
- Could NOT explore the BD disc with windows explorer (this was a surprise)

I do not have a copy of PowerDVD on my Netbook, so I was not expecting to even try playing it, but I was surprised that I could not read the disc as a data disc. AnyDVD HD claims to have a built-in UDF 2.5 file system, so I was expecting to be able to read the disc. I think the jury is still out - I am not confident that my system was properly configured, but I gave it a solid try. Sorry.

Update: I found the UDF 2.5 driver for XP, but it would not install on my netbook (XP Home).
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 Last edited: by mediadogg
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorDevion27
Registered: April 3, 2008
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i found all of your feedback really helpful thanks for everyone's help 
http://www.mulligansmovies.com/
DVD Profiler Desktop and Mobile Registrantmediadogg
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Quoting Devion27:
Quote:
i found all of your feedback really helpful thanks for everyone's help 

No problem. If by chance you try it, and especially if it works, please come back and share all the details so that we can add to our experience base. We will want to know all the hardware and software components.
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DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorDevion27
Registered: April 3, 2008
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i will call gateway costumer service tomarrow and ask them what they recommend me doing and all and i will give you a full detail on what i choose to do and all.
http://www.mulligansmovies.com/
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