20 Best External 4K Uhd Blu-Ray Drive (2023 Updated)

I needed this to get photos, home video, and audio recordings off of old CDs and DVDs that are degrading (faster than I’d thought). I just plugged it to my Mac (late 2018, intel processor) via usb-C and it worked! I didn’t have to install anything.

Anyway, my favorite things about this disc drive is how slim it is and that it doesn’t need a separate power supply or cable. It works with a single USB-C cable. Two more things: 1. It comes with software but it’s only compatible with PC.

2. I tried looking for legitimate software for 4k Blu-ray playback and couldn’t find anything that didn’t look at least a little sketchy. If watching Blu-ray movies is what you want to do with this drive (without ripping discs), know you won’t be able to do that-or if you figure it out, it’ll likely be a hassle.

Finally, I didn’t know I’d feel nostalgic after hearing the spinning of a disc in a disc drive but I did.

The Pioneer BDR-XS07UHD Blu-Ray Burner and 4K Blu-Ray DVD player is premium device. It looks sleek, it is quite compact (even compared to my other USB Blu-Ray burners), it has a modern USB-C interface, and it is a slot-loading model.

Noise during 4K UHD Blu-Ray movie play is on par with my other USB burners. I didn’t give it a 5-star review for 3 reasons: (1) The version of Cyberlink PowerDVD that is included with the drive (a serial number is provided for downloading) isn’t capable of playing 4K UHD Discs.

Given the premium price of the drive at ~ $175, Pioneer could provide a watered-down version (or even a trial version) or PowerDVD capable of playing 4K UHD discs. Isn’t one of the reasons to purchase this drive is so that we can enjoy 4K UHD DVDs on our computers/laptops? That being said, I already own a licensed version of the Cyberlink PowerDVD software capable of playing 4K UHD discs, so it wasn’t ultimately an issue for me.

(2) The drive doesn’t have an activity LED or light. I cannot recall the last time I had any type of CD/DVD drive for a computer that lacked an activity light. Again, for the premium price this should be an included feature of the drive.

-assuming that this is possible with a slot-loading drive. (3) This drive is expensive! $175 is a serious investment, albeit for a premium drive. Lite-On makes a 4K UHD player and Blu-Burner (which I also own) that has a USB 3.

0 (not USB-C) interface, but it isn’t a slot loading model. It costs over $50 less and is also of excellent build quality.

Good burner, immediately recognized by Windows 10 and burns at full speed with no issues. The provided software, Cyberlink Media Suite, is bloatware garbage with no fewer than eight components that wants to sit on your desktop and remind you of its existence at all times.

This burner is fine if you don’t mind wading through that nonsense or choosing your own alternative software, but not a great user experience out of the box.

I wanted a high quality external drive. My old one was a “LITEON”, and very good, however it stopped opening on demand and needed replacing. There is a huge price jump between basic, very slim units that take their power from the USB port and those, like this model, which have an outboard power supply and a more substantial build.

This model also reads blu-ray discs, though I didn’t need that. Its not the very latest. If you want Windows 11 compatibility then you pay considerably more. This is a comprehensive model that is Windows 10 compatible and very fast.

It has greater read accuracy than my previous device which is a major plus. If used with software such as dbpoweramp, then you have to read a few CDs before it is automatically set up – be patient, that’s definitely worth it to establish the “offset”.

Despite the high price, I’m happy with my purchase, because I’m achieving what I wanted without any trouble. I’m also glad that it provides the software and functionality for quite sophisticated backups.

NB. SCAN had the best price, despite the annoying addition of post & packing.

Do not use power2 go software included and do not use, buy, or install any version of it including 13. Does no work in windows 10 OS to recognize or see usb external burners or blu-ray burners. Just had a e-mail chats with the company and they played it down like nothing was wrong, was working ok until some update windows did and the power2go started malfunctioning.

Troubleshooted the not recognizing my usb Asus blu-ray burner any more to their software problem. Used this software for years, but, not now. Told them I was dropping their software due to it not working any more in windows 10 Pro 64 OS and started using Ashampoo burning Studio 23 which works just fine and recognizes the Asus external Blu-ray usb drive.

Cyberlink is not keeping up to date on their software updates and malfunctions in windows 10 environment and has dropped off the top 15 lists for burner software and their reviews are not good any more.

Other that that, this drive is a great external blu-ray burner and bought as an update to the BW-12D1X-U, thou it is large and bulky and works best with desktop computers not having a blu-ray burner.

Just received this. The description says “ASUS BW-16D1X-U supports Mac OS X and Windows without any installation that will be operated directly when plugging the USB in the notebook or PC. ” and then states “Simply plug this blu-ray writer drive and you’ll begin to enjoy watching movies, writing requisite forms of multimedia content to the discs, and much more.

” Nothing in the description says you need an external power source and it reads as if you just plug into computer and it will work. This is what I was expecting and am disappointed it does not work this way.

I looks like a nice sturdy unit and should be ok as long as you have easy access to an external power source.

Before I jump in, I’ve worked in IT and the video/audio industry for years now. This includes everything from building custom PC builds, servers, to setting up home theaters, auditoriums and stages. With that being said here’s my experience and I hope it helps others: This external drive can play DVDs and regular Blu-ray discs.

I tested several without any issues. If you’re buying it for that then you “shouldn’t have issues. ” Apparently it can also play 4K Blu-ray discs as advertised according to some other customers. *** However in my particular case I was only able to play DVDs and regular Blu-ray discs.

I was not able to run the installation software CD that came with the external drive. It’s an old OEM CyberLink software. It kept giving errors and crashing. I ended up purchasing the newest CyberLink PowerDVD 20 Ultra software which allows and supports 4K Blu-ray media on players such as this for both Windows and MacOS.

After installing the new version of CyberLink PowerDVD 20 Ultra and checking the player drive for updated drivers I was still not able to play 4K Blu-ray discs. FYI I also have all the latest Windows 10 Pro operating system updates along with the system drivers.

There are several requirements that you will need to run 4K Blu-ray playback and that I understand. However with a fairly new and mid-range laptop, and here are the specifications: Operating System: Windows 10 Pro Processor: Intel i7 9750H Memory: 32GB Hard Drive: 1TB SSD Video Card: Intel HD 630/ Nvidia 2060 RTX I still wasn’t able to achieve 4K Blu-ray playback.

I mention the specifications because they’re important to the next issue. Even with updated drivers for the integrated and dedicated video cards and motherboard I was not able to play the 4K Blu-ray discs.

The CyberLink software will give an error saying that the computer’s cards are not capable or updated even though they are according to Intel and Nvidia’s specifications and latest patches. NOTE: I opted with CyberLink’s new software because it’s one of the few certified ones that can actually play back 4K media content.

There are forums with other users with more powerful builds and as prepared as I was and they still weren’t able to play 4K Blu-rays either. There’s also the issue of HDCP connections and HDMI which I won’t get into but that will also affect other users.

Bottom line in my experience and others across the forums, it’s a great DVD and Blu-ray player but I wouldn’t advertise or count on it to play 4K Blu-ray discs. The build is on par with the LG brand and it arrived in good condition.

Sadly it’s the only 4K Blu-ray player that Best Buy sells and one of the few in the market.

Just recently had a chance to use this little goodie. I’m (slowly) building a new machine which has no optical drive slot, so I bought this unit. It runs beautifully, helping me to transfer files from one machine to the other.

Also, I tested a couple of DVD movies on my old machine with it. Those DVDs refuse to play in my old machine, and I’d thought they were possibly corrupted. They ran perfectly as well. So this new player has passed to critical tests for me.

Very happy with this. Now I only need to be VERY careful with its tray. It has no noticeable support when it’s out, it seems a bit flimsy, and pressing a DVD down into position seems sort of ‘reckless’.

I trust, tho, the great reviews I’ve read at various sites with no mention of the trays breaking. Anyway, thanks LG, I hope to be using this item for a long time.

For those of us who still need an external dvd drive / writer, I recommend this New Upgrade from their previous DVD Writer and basic Blu-Ray reader/writer. However, the 4k UHD feature is void if you don’t purchase the proper update software.

The Cyberlink software that is included is ONLY a trial version. Back in the day when you purchased a unit like this, the FULL VERSION software was included. My How things have changed. LOL. Oh, btw, don’t expect tech support from LG.

Thank the Stars for Best Buy Total Tech Support. LOL.

I have been a loyal OWC customer for many years. I have had a number of Elite Pro products. Since I have an iMac, I have always needed an external optical drive. The Elite Pro bodies and casing match my iMac and other accessories.

They have always performed well over the years. However, the last two devices ha LG MDisk BlueRay/DVD/CD drives installed. Both have failed after approx 12-1 months. This time I took the drive out the OWC case.

hoping for a loose cable. No luck. I did all the recommended trouble shooting items on the checklist. No luck. I expect an optical drive, that is used mainly for DVD read only items, ie, course war DVD for classes I take.

to last for years, vice months. I guess I will find an alternate brand moving forward. Its a shame that this happened.

I bought one of these for my MacBook Pro a couple of years ago, and it refused to mount discs. I exchanged it for another with the same problem so I got my money back. When I got my M1 Mac mini, I thought Id give it another chance so I ordered another one.

When I first received the drive, it mounted just fine and worked very well. But then, probably when I upgraded Monterey to a new version, it stopped mounting discs again. The computer recognizes the hardware is there, since it will eject the unmounted disc with the OWC Unmounter utility, but the discs never appear on the desktop, in the Music app, in Toast Titanium, or Disk Utility.

The drive works no better with my M1 MacBook Pro. Ive tried different cables, different USB-A > USB-C adapters, reboots, all the usual possible solutions – no dice.

I still like to buy music on CD, but my new case has no optical drive bay so I had to find another solution and landed on this. Small, self contained drives are available for a similar price, but since I already had a drive that just needed a home, this made sense for me.

When installing the drive, the inner tray scraping against the outer housing made a nasty screeching sound. But unless the drive fails I should only ever hear that once so it’s not worth taking a whole star off for that.

I use Linux Mint 20. 2, and although the product is not advertised as Linux compatible it worked out of the box with no additional setup. The drive shows up in file explorer just like it did when it was installed in the case with a SATA cable directly to the motherboard.

I was looking to replace A failing DVD burner. I could’ve opted to get the same one but I chose a more compact version with this Pioneer. Don’t let the compact size fool you. This little guy really does the trick.

So far for me, It’s done everything that I could throw at it. Whether it’s just playback of a blu-ray or DVD or copying and burning. Works well with my third-party software. The only con that I have with it is the way you have to load and unload the discs.

It’s a kind of a top loader. You have to lift the cover and actually place the DVD and snap the center of the disc onto that middle holder part. Then you have to snap it out the same way. It’s almost inevitable to not get fingerprints on the disc while trying to do this.

I would’ve rather had the sliding drawer come out like I did in my previous DVD burner. That’s why 4 stars. I knew what I was getting though when I purchased it, so I share some of the blame. The good reviews is what lead me to purchase and so far it does what it supposed to do !.

I used to archive to CD in the 90s then DVD then BR but every few years had to perform a do over because disks made then used dyes to burn the data. Even when stored under the best conditions I would redo them as a precaution.

M-disc doesn’t burn using dyes and I can rip my archives and know the data is going to be safe for decades. Problem lately has been phasing out of optical drives. Thing is those like me need to archive beyond cloud or external platter/SS hard drives.

I wanted something not just for ripping but allows me to install software I have on disk I perpetual licenses for. I gave it a test run archiving 20GB of RAW+JPEG photos from a trip 4 years ago. Placed a 25GB single layer (SL) m-disc and ripped at the 2X speed and 45 minutes later I got those files onto a medium that will last decades.

By the way, it’s was quiet and didn’t notice a heat problem. Haven’t ripped using the 50GB dual layer (DL) or 100GB triple layer (TL) but specs say it can and I certainly plan to. It’s size is nice so it’s easy to transport.

No need for a separate power supply because it uses the USB cable to power the drive. The only down side is USB connection. If you’ve owned a lot of Western Digital external drives then you will have a spare USB-A to USB micro B super speed cables (has an odd look).

These days we’re seeing more USB-C/Thunderbolt in place of the old A style on laptops. So consider getting a male A to male C USB connector if you don’t have A ports but have the C ports. As noted, this is powered through just the USB cable and my first time was with an AIO desktop without optical drive.

Haven’t tested it using just my detachable laptop’s battery. The burning software is CyberLink and you just download it. Once you register on the Pioneer website, they provide a download link. Activation key for the CyberLink software is on the instruction book.

Considering the price, features, and being a I’ll have it when I need it. externals, I would say it’s worth getting.

I got a new laptop which like nearly all modern laptops lacks an optical drive. I needed a portable one, so I opted for this because I had nothing to play a blu ray with. I’ve learned that Blu Ray is not as straightforward as DVD playing was.

You need software. I’m not aware of any operating system that supports Blu Ray natively. Recent windows versions don’t support DVD either. I started looking for free options naturally. Most of them did not work or were not stable.

They might work on one of my machines but not another. Long story short, you will probably need to purchase software to do Blu Ray at least to play commercial disks (more later on that). Fortunately they all seem to have a trial period, so you can verify they suit your needs before purchasing.

I’m not recommending since i found different hardware may work while others won’t. I would say don’t think about doing Blu Ray in windows without at least a core I5 processor. A high end graphics card might get you around that limit, but i don’t know.

You should plan on some experimentation before you start relying on it for Blu Ray. Ultimately remember Blu Ray got the nod not because it was best, but because it offered the best copy protection. The system requires that the player download code from the kisk to unlock the disk and play it properly.

I think this is where the free software stumbles. Some codecs need to be licensed. If you are only using it to record and play your own home made Blu Ray disks, the free versions might work for that.

But, again, plan to experiment!! Despite the Blu Ray challenges which would be true for any drive I suspect, it is a good clean well built drive and I’m happy with my purchase. I could not give it 5 eggs because of the very poor documentation.

CH.

USB-C connector on the back is poor, and very touchy. The device is very thin and light, so if you aren’t careful to hold the unit steady when inserting or removing discs, the USB cable will move slightly and the drive will disconnect (you will hear the Windows sounds for disconnecting, and maybe then reconnecting – if you are lucky).

This results in strange behaviors, depending on the app you are using the drive with, and a lot of wasted time trying to get it to reconnect and be recognized by your apps. Other than this, the device itself works as you would expect.

But definitely needs a better connector design that isn’t so flaky when you touch the case. Maybe I just got a bad one.

Don’t know why so many laptops don’t come with CD Drives anymore. And those few desktops that feature them will only do CD/Blu-ray, or CD/DVD (mostly the latter). But then along comes this little external drive, that will do all three! I can listen to music or install files/drives for other items; I can can watch a movie on DVD; or I can even watch a movie on Blu-ray! What’s more, I can even write to all three file types.

One little drive with all 3 features and at a really great price; what more can you ask for?!.

Overall, my experience with this device has been a positive one. I especially like how LG bundles Blu-ray player software with the device so you don’t have to pay extra to make use of the bloody thing, something that has always bothered me.

I have yet to make use of the burning options but I probably won’t use that anyways, I bought this for playing movies, not for burning. Also, it can be loud at times, namely when installing or idling with a disk inside.

Luckily, when the disk spins up, the whine stops and become whisper quiet. So, when you are watching a movie, you will not be distracted by any excess noise from the drive unless you pause it for a while.

For the price you pay, it certainly cannot be beat. It’s not perfect, but it does come highly recommended by me, so take that for what it’s worth.

I wanted this player due to the huge backup capacity on one disc. Some of the new Bluray discs can hold 100 GB or more (although I could not find any above 100 GB). It is very easy to create a backup using the provided Cyberlink software for backup, playing discs, or any function this machine can do.

There are only two things I found that it can’t do (apparently). One is, it won’t play a 4K Bluray disc, only standard Bluray. The second is that it (apparently) won’t write to the new “M” discs, although I didn’t try it.

Those discs are the ones suitable for archiving because they are said to last many years without the risk of deterioration. They are heavy duty discs which apparently need a more powerful laser to record data on them.

I did use my Buffalo drive to save data to a 100 GB disk and it worked fine. I also used it to play standard Bluray discs, and that worked well also. The only other thing that is a bit annoying is that the software is from Cyberlink and they like hardware companies to ship their product down-rev.

That way, they can keep prompting you to upgrade the software for a price. Luckily, I just bought a new PC and the Bluray player Cyberlink software provided was nearly the latest available, but even that can be upgraded for more $$$$.

In other words, the software, not the hardware, leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Other than that, I like it!!!!!.

If you are not burning M-Disc, you are burning temporary discs. Even the best purple dye discs have a lifetime of around 5-7 years. M-Disc has a 1000 year lifetime so the ability to burn them is essential.

(We use the white printable M-Discs and a Epson printer that can print on discs. ) The picture on Home Essentials Direct, shows a nice pleasant green LED indicator light. Sadly, they switched to a eye-piercing blue light.

Blue lights should always be avoided in this kind of application. Red or green is the way to go. As a retired electrical engineer I was curious to see inside. You can remove one screw but it would require a lot of force on the case to get it open.

I decided not to risk it. I don’t like designs that make it difficult to get inside the case. Should the optical drive over fail, it would be nice to be able to get inside and replace it. Regarding the optical mechanism inside, doing a system report on my 2019 Mac Pro shows the manufacturer to be “Buffalo”, not “Pioneer” (nothing wrong with Pioneer in my view).

I do not know if the firmware has been crippled by the Hollywood cartel or not. I am only burning M-Disc DVDs and Blu-rays, I have not tried anything of larger capacity. Some disc burning software is included.

If you are using a Mac, none of this is necessary. If the activity indicator LED was green and not blue, and the case were easier to open I would give a 5-star rating. Frankly, no one does optical enclosures correctly.

The OWC enclosure is excellent except it’s 1/4 of an inch too short to accommodate the longer Pioneer drives. I was hoping this Buffalo unit would be a replacement for the OWC enclosures we normally buy.

However, because of the difficulty in opening them up I can’t justify switching to Buffalo. Shockingly, the enclosure has no, On and Off switch for power! First time I’ve ever seen that. For the more casual home user, the Buffalo unit is not a bad choice.

With the shortcomings mentioned above, I will close with the fact that the unit does appear to work as advertised. The product is manufactured in Japan, not China.

Buffalo BRXL-16U3-EU 16 x USB 3. 0 External Blu-ray Drive It is compatible with Mac OSX. I have tested it on an iMac Mid 2011 High Sierra. Connect the power supply and usb cable supplied. Nothing else to do.

Audio CD’s are played and /or down loaded to iTunes. Film DVD’s are played through the DVD Player. app. Burn a DVD by alt clicking the relevant file or folder and choose “Burn”. Application auto start set-up DVD’s start as expected.

If you require other features then additional software will be required. This is the reason the original spec does not mention Mac Compatibility, as the additional free software features are only for Windows supplied as.

exe files. Hence only 4 stars. For OSX I suggest looking at: 1. Wondershare DVD Creator 2. Aiseesoft DVD Creator for Mac I guess I’ll be looking for something soon as I’m very pleased with the purchase.

This drive has proven to be fast and reliable even when reading slightly imperfect DVDs. I don’t have any 4K discs to test it with as yet. It is amazingly slim and light, so if you want something easily portable this fits the bill.

I like that it has a USB-C port for connection rather than a hard-wired cable, so you can use whatever length of cable you need; the supplied cable is a little short (44cm). No additional power connection is required which keeps things tidy and simple.

My main disappointment is that it does not work with my Android TV – when I plug it in to the USB port it’s just ignored. While the Verbatim product information made no claims about this I assumed that it would just work, but unfortunately that’s not the case.

Still, a great external drive for a PC.

The good side of the product is the hardware (eg. the material and the connection) the down side is the software which is using Nero. For me personally difficult to use. I will recommend you download a software from the one you are provided thank you.

Arrived in good time and in perfect condition. Worked perfectly for what I needed it for. Thank you!

I’ve bought about two years ago. I’ve been using it seldomly, maybe for two, three times for writing data on bluray discs (family videos). When I tried again now, the unit doesn’t recognize the blank bluray disc, so I cannot burn bluray discs anymore.

I’ve reinstalled the driver and firmware but without success. This is the second ASUS unit that I’ve bought so far – the first stopped working in similar way. I have also an Asus laptop (big mistake!) that is freezing from time to time eventhough I am using it occasionally.

Good lesson for me: quit buying from ASUS brand – bye, ASUS!.

Purchased this device on August 31, 2021. Device satisfactorily played hundreds of blu-ray and dvd discs until July 2022. Beginning July 2022, device loaded blu-ray discs with difficulty but no difficulty with DVD discs.

September 14, 2022 – two weeks out of warranty – device failed to load any blu-ray or DVD disc. Upon close inspection of tray, disc spindle holder was damaged and no longer fastened to tray. Do I want to buy another ASUS device? Nope.

Buyers beware.

In order to play retail DVDs and BluRays that are region locked you need to set your drive’s region (this is standard one-time setting for any pc dvd/bluray optical drive you install) before you can play DVDs and Bluray.

Note, home videos from friends and family aren’t region-locked if you’re asking. a. Click Start (or Search), type devmgmt. msc and hit enter to open Device Manager (or right-click Computer on your desktop and choose Manage and then click Device Manager) b.

Double-click DVD/CD-ROM drives to see your new Asus drive, right-click this drive, and then click Properties. c. On the DVD Region tab, choose United States (or what country you’re in or what region-locked your discs are from).

I considered Asus USB 3. 0 burner which utilizes a desktop optical drive (hence the larger size difference and power requirement) as it was only $15 more but I already had a external dvd burner like this size (these uses laptop optical drives which is why their slim, also usb 2.

0 enclosure) and it made it super convenient for me to take it with me – in a bag, or quick setup and go from PC to PC in an IT environment when needed. This device compactness and no need to carry a power adapter for me was worth the main difference – half the burn speed (6x vs 12x).

Sure USB 3. 0 vs 2. 0 a bigger difference, but it’s the burn speed you should consider as that’s what it all means. We rarely burn Blu-Ray discs and for the times we do we have 50 BD-R discs available that are 6x anyway so burning at 12x wouldn’t be possible unless we discarded these.

No firmware updates at Asus site so no need to check. Update: 3/18/2017. received $30 rebate after purchasing it on 11/30/2017. Drive has been working out quite well.

I have a strong preference for a built-in burner, but, this was not supported with my PowerSpec G900 so I bought one of these. I have no problem burning DVDs. This drive uses two USB plugs. I assume that it is so that it can draw enough power without plugging it into the wall.

I would have preferred the ASUS BW-16D1X-U, which costs more, burns BD-R faster, has USB 3. 0, but you MUST plug it into the wall for power. Not needing to plug this model into the wall means that this is probably a better choice for on the road with a laptop if you have two ports available.

When purchased on sale it is not a bad buy. I did have a few problems setting it up though. First after Plugging it in I did not see it appear. I powered off (Not restart) Then back on again. On my ASUS system it appeared in device manager as Legacy Device.

On my thinkPad it just appeared when I clicked on my computer after rebooting. Note there is a lot of info on the internet describing “how to” connect this to your system. I cannot speak for Mac I run Linux and windows.

Once I could recognize the unit I tested by playing a DVD. It worked fine. Next I Used VLC media player to play Blu-ray. This is a great media player, really great. You may have to go into the VLC settings and set the region you are in and also that the media you are using is BLU-ray.

You will find info on the internet how to set up VLC to play blu-ray if you ruin into problems. Playing Blu-ray works fine also. I do not regret the purchase. If you are non tech then you can get a friend or some one to help you.

I like this because it is basic, does the job nicely and did not damage my bank account by much.

and when it doesn’t work, it doesn’t indicate anything is amiss. It simply refuses to do anything. About half the blueray disks I’ve tried in it, it reads fine. The other half of the disks, it does not acknowledge exist.

No error messages. This is even true for pristine “straight from the factory” disks. I could understand if the drive were defective, and errors were produced. or if the disk were defective in some way, and errors were produced.

but I’m not getting any feedback at all from the drive. Is there a problem with the drive? With the disks? With drivers? Is the operator at fault? Is it an unsupported media format? What about firmware? I can’t even tell if my firmware is up to date – the support pages don’t list this drive.

Looking for support options on the webpage for it from the manufacturer takes me away from the page for the drive to a “select your product” page that doesn’t include the drive I was just looking at.

I bought this when I built my latest pc as I bought a case with no option for a disk drive. Also neither mine nor my wife’s laptops have them anymore, which is fine so for the random times I needed a drive I decided to spring for one.

Right off the bat, I am not sure what all others have tried to hit issues with it. I have tried this drive across 5 machines now (granted they were all win10) with no issues at all, and no need for drivers.

Noise level wise it is a tab loud when it boots up initially, however it is no louder than any laptop drive I have ever used. It plays dvds and bd’s perfectly fine,and comes with a version of power DVD to allow you to actually play BDs and UHDs on your pc.

UHDs are rough to get going though, they are really dependant on your computers hardware if you will ever be able to get them going or not. I have seen some complaints about vibration, but I have not noticed anything abnormal.

It comes with rubber feet and sots fine on a desk or ontop of a pc tower. The connection is just a standard USB Micro cable. It does not need a cable with 2 USB ends for most usb ports that are able to provide modern power supply to USB peripherals.

While I cannot comment on performance on OSX or Linux right now, overall using it I have been happy with the performance. Ripping audio CDs with EAC has actually been faster than any previous drive I have used (however all previous ones were just standard DVD drives).

Would recomend this to anyone looking for a external drive for their laptop or tower drive.

This was a little tricky getting the system to recognize the hardware. I had to rip the installation disk that came with it to a USB drive and direct the system to install the driver from that file & I had to install a patch of some kind that came on the disk as well.

After that its been pretty reliable. Ive played blu rays & DVDs from several regions without issue. I use the Leawo Blu Ray player software (Free) on Windows 10 system for Blu ray discs, & both USB lines are connected to USB 3.

0 ports. I had to use an old laptop to copy the installation CD to USB. Probably not the best product for someone not tech savvy. I had googled the issue of the system not recognizing the hardware & there was no remedy I could find.

Cant load a CD onto a computer if the drive isnt recognized & theres no other CD-rom capable drive. The software couldnt be found on ASUS website either but not sure if its changed since I bought this in 2017.

If you have the same issue, try what I tried. If you are not tech savvy, find someone who is and see if they can help :-).

Propped up, it takes up less space on my desk, which for me was important. Also, it DOES come with burning software for blu-ray discs (and everything else) – even better. Has been fine so far. Had to deduct one point for the fact that the cable uses two USB 3.

0 ports on my PC – and also the cable itself is very short: only 20 inches, which is a lot less than it sounds. Overall, very happy and impressed with the price. However, I forgot to mention one thing for my original review.

The player is Region A (the Americas) not B (Europe etc). That’s not a problem for me as I don’t use it as a player – apart from anything else, my PC can burn Blu Rays very easily, but can’t play them for toffee! But others should bear it in mind.

If this is not an issue for you, and the region setting has no effect on burning discs, I highly recommend this drive!.

The USB3 cable it includes is short. It’s a standard cable type though (USB3 Micro-B), so you can pick up a longer one for a buck or two. For me, it’s sitting on my desk connected to a NUC, so a short cable is actually preferable.

I assume the typical use case (connected directly to a laptop, or to a USB hub integrated into a monitor) will also be fine. There’s a barrel plug on the back which can be used with a separate (not included) AC adapter.

The manual says it’s 5V, 1A output type, and there’s a note to call Pioneer if you need one. It also says it’s only needed if power is insufficient when using two USB ports. Weird. The USB3 cable is a single connection and it works just fine, and I haven’t seen a dual-USB connection cable on an external peripheral in years.

But it’s there I guess if you have a really old system that can’t provide enough juice over USB. Which, I guess, why are you connecting a blu-ray drive to a system that old? Also weird. The manual also says it is compatible with USB 2.

0 systems but you need to install a “high speed” driver for it. No driver is included, no idea what they are talking about. Again weird. Pioneer firmware / utility download page: http://pioneer. jp/device_e/product-e/ibs/device_e/dev00001r_e.

html.

Just purchased this burner a couple of weeks ago and it works perfectly on a new 2020 MacBook Pro. I have been able to rip multiple Blu-Ray disks with no errors. I was skeptical at first at the slot loading design of this drive but so far its working perfectly.

i purchased it Brand New (unopened Old Stock). Happy I did. It has so far exceeded my expectations although I have not had a need or opportunity to test the burning capability of the drive.

Was a little worried when I received it with the Mac Logo on it if it would work with Windows 7. Plugged it in, worked great, but slow. Did an update for the USB 3. 0 driver on the Pioneer website and it worked as advertised.

Doing a little research there apparently is a Windows version out there that is cheaper, I suggest going that route. Had I known I would have. Overall I am very happy with this drive, so the price was worth it.

The optical drive in my desktop was far too noisy for watching films. I took a chance on this drive and hoped it would be be almost silent in operation. It was. It’s exactly what I was looking for.

TranslateShow in original languageDas Laufwerk ist klein und leicht und lässt sich problemlos anschließen. Werden USB-2-Anschlüsse benutzt, benötigt man 2 Anschlüsse am Computer, um genug Strom für das Laufwerk zu erhalten, bei USB 3 reicht einer.

Die Lautstärke ist nur beim Anlaufen wie bei einer Kreissäge, aber das legt sich sofort. Auch der Filmgenuss wird nicht gestört. A pro pos Gekaufte BluRay-Filme haben einen Kopierschutz und lassen sich nicht einfach so abspielen.

Weder mit der beigelegten Software noch mit VLC. Dazu werden auf dem Computer entsprechende Schlüssel benötigt. Sind diese aber vorhanden, spielt das Laufwerk ohne Schwierigkeiten oder hohe Lautstärke ab, es ist dann sehr leise.

Brennen klappt tadellos mit allen von mir getesteten Medien Verbatim BD, TDKPlatinum DVDs, Maxell CDs. Besondere Treiber müssen nicht installiert werden, weswegen ich es problemlos an verschiedene Rechner bei Bedarf anstecken kann – genau das habe ich gesucht sowohl Windows 10 als auch Ubuntu.

Und das zu einem sehr guten Preis – das ist mir fünf Sterne wert!.

TranslateShow in original languageTuote on hyvälaatuinen ja monipuolinen. Ohjelmisto täyttää minun tarpeeni. Tallennan valokuvia bd:lle. Tämä laite hoitaa sen. Toki myös kaikki vähän vanhemmat laitteeni ovat taas turvattuja, koska niiden ohjelmat ja asennus ovat cd:llä tai toisinaan dvd:llä.

Tallennuksia on myös paljon BD/DVD/CD:llä ja ovat siis käytössä vielä pitkään tällä laitteella. Hyödyllinen. Kohtuuhintainen.

So the player itself is great, burns CDs no problem, plays Blu-Rays no problem, unfortunately the software from Cyberlink is uh. not great is a good way to put it. I had to reinstall it over itself to get it to actually work, but I don’t blame the player for that.

Giving it 4 stars because the software is part of the cost, and the software is meh. Player itself is high quality, solid and slim, have had no issues playing/reading discs of any kind, playback of Blu-Rays on my computer was crystal clear with no issues.

That’s pretty much it. If you’re looking for a portable/USB external Blu-Ray player that can also burn/play DVDs & CDs, this thing is pretty great quality and well worth the money.

I still collect / buy physical media, Bluray, DVD, Games but I sold my old work station about two years ago and upgraded. My old PC had an LG Bluray Drive in it of which was the perfect workhorse. I was planning on purchasing an external drive for my new build anyway since my new case doesn’t allow for a BD Drive to be mounted, plus I wanted my new build to have a clean aesthetic without the noticeable clunky BD Drive.

Read a lot of great reviews on this item, so I though why not jump at it, it’s slim and stealthy looking which is what I was looking for in an external drive and it also needed to be silent whilst running.

Packaging: Comes package really well inside it’s tiny box which has nothing more than a picture of the unit and a few manufacturer details printed on the outside, I’m glad manufacturers are finally moving away from the ugly plastic clam shells and are keeping things environmentally friendly with recyclable materials.

The drive was held snuggly by a couple of soft foam pads to prevent it from moving around during transit, inside the box has it’s double ended USB power / data cable, a CD with bundled software and a small instructional leaflet.

Aesthetics: The unit is typical of a stealth looking drive, you almost wont even notice it on your workstation because of it’s slim design and dark color theme. Powering and Data transfer: It is recommended to use both USB connectors as one utilizes a single USB port to feed a sufficient amount of power to run it and the other for data transfer, buyer beware, using only one USB port would cripple it’s performance and it may struggle to read or transfer data from your media disc especially Bluray disc’s that hold more information.

Installation and OS compatibility: The unit presented no issues with installation and was immediately detected upon plugging it into two free USB 3 ports on my Windows 11 PC, yes, this unit will run on a Windows 11 PC with the latest 22H2 update build version 22622.

601 installed. User awareness, be sure you have x2 USB (either USB 2 or USB 3) ports free like I previously mentioned, this requires x2 USB ports to run at it’s full potential. Use and performance: Ejection button is very responsive and the disc mounts securely into place, the tray slides in and out freely and locks securely into it’s closed position, the supplied software disc spun up almost immediately upon closure of the disc tray which presented a few typical clicks and whines as the disc spun up.

The unit presented no issues reading or playing back data, DVD’s and Bluray discs although I haven’t yet written or burned any media to disc (as I don’t have any blank disc’s) but I’ll try that out at a later time.

The drive is really quiet, I couldn’t hear it working which is a good thing, there was no heat detected coming off of the tiny unit and the USB cables provided must have been doing extremely well with feeding power to it as unit didn’t seem to fluctuate during playback of any media.

The bundled software included on the CD disc is Cyberlink Media Suit 15, I wont go into what apps were included as I most likely wont be using any of them since I have my own personal preferences already installed on my PC anyway.

Now for the downside which isn’t really a downside but just me being nitpicky. For those who have a huge work station and have their PC’s sitting under their desktop, you would need to have your PC close enough to manage a suitable or permanent spot for it to sit as the cables for this unit are not that long that they can be conveniently routed cleanly from USB ports at the rear of your PC, perhaps I would recommend that you’d use a couple of USB extension cables or a USB hub extension to have placement options.

Other than the short cable, I’m very happy with the unit as it will more than likely be used simply to backup my physical media library to my PC and nothing more. Would I recommend this unit? more than likely yes to those who are looking for a slim, quite external drive for either using with their desktop workstations or mobile laptops.

So this bluray player was being a little difficult to use because of the power it need from the usb outlet. It needs a stable 5 volts 2 amps in order for the bluray player to work so i had to use a samsung fast charger power brick from my note 9 connected to the included cable with the two USB type A connectors.

One of those usb type A plugs goes connected to your computer and the other needs to be used for power i recommend a external power adapter. Plug it in and see of it works, if you get the unit disconnecting and reconnecting then swap the usb type cables and that should do the trick.

Another issue i had with this player was the software. It was very confusing to use the correct one because instead of it coming with 1 software to simply play your bluray or dvd movies on your laptop or in my case a windows 10 PC it came with many that were completely useless for this unit.

I decided to return it because it was wasnt as easy yo use and i would occasionally get the unit to restart it self randomly and repeatedly even after fixing the power issue, i even had a bluray dist get stuck for about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to safely get the disc drive to open and once i finally did thats where i drew the line and packed it up and sent it back.

I had this unit for a while and reached out to LG about the issues and never got any support. I went woth LG because i own 2 of their OLED 4k tvs and love them and figured if they can make such an amazing TV then their bluray players must be built in the same quality manner.

I was wrong.

On unboxing I tried peeling back what I thought was electronic film on the case since it is riddled with air bubbles. I discovered that it wasn’t removable and is just a super crappy build. The tray that holds the disc feels like it could snap with little effort.

Then I realized how hard it was to hook up to my MacBook Pro, which I consider a major design flaw. I had to buy two USB adapters that were thin enough to connect on the same side since the provided cord is daisy chained with a very short second connection cable.

I was willing to look the other way on all this, but then it would only recognize discs some of the time. I tried multiple times with different discs under a number of conditions and it just doesn’t reliably recognize discs.

That is a deal-breaker and very frustrating! I also could register through LG website and was told to email LG my product info. I did this and never got a response. This is my first experience with LG and I definitely will steer clear in the future.

Appears to be well made and does the job for which it is designed. Compact for a tray loading unit. It is a plug and play item that works perfectly with my Mac. I find it interesting that it is automatically recognised as a Pioneer Blu-Ray device which makes me think that it is the same as Pioneer which is no bad thing.

It is a pity that it is not in a brushed silver finish, but as it is out of sight most of the time, this is only a minor gripe. I’ve had some difficulties writing to DVDs, but this is more a problem with the Mac software than the writer itself.

I bought this product to archive family photos onto blu-ray M Discs. Hard drives are fine for easy access to information but I wanted something that could be burned and stored without having to keep re-burning every few years or checking their integrity.

Installing Nero burning software that came with the drive was a pain. If your user account name has spaces in it, it won’t install. Had to set up a new admin user in Win10 without any spaces in and it installed.

I could then use it on my original username. Very odd. Works perfectly now it is installed though. I would still recommend this product though if you have a lot of archiving to do. Think you need other software though if you want to watch blu ray media with it.

I use this to backup my movie collection. Windows does not support blue ray play back. As far as I’m concerned this is the studios giving us the green light to rip our blue rays for personal use. I do this and it works perfectly.