External Blu-Ray Player Software for Mac

[mrinternet]

hi
Just purchased a new Sony/NEC USB external Blu-ray player for my mac/pc (s) / network ($50 so I had to).
Works fine after finding the right software for my PC.

Am I right that there is no blu-ray 'playing' software for a MAC and the only way at the moment to play blu-ray on a mac, is this old thing called ripping.

I did not think I was that far ahead of the curve on the pc.

The mac of course sees the blu-ray unit.

Thanks in advance

[mrbass]

Hope it can burn dvds and cds. If not your SOL and makemkv will not be able to rip blurays on your mac.

[rumplestiltskin]

Toast will burn BluRay. LaCie ships it with their burner so it should work with your burner, as well.

Playing it back, however, ...???

[videopoo]

Mac does not support BD playback at this time.

[mrbass]

I believe on Mac you can use Makemkv to play Bluray discs as of version 1.4.9

http://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=703

Direct video streaming

Postby mike admin » Fri Dec 04, 2009 8:14 am
Starting from version 1.4.9 MakeMKV supports direct video streaming. Currently this feature is highly experimental. Direct streaming enables instant playback of blu-ray and DVD discs without converting them to MKV first - while less interesting for DVD it is quite usable for blu-ray since it enables blu-ray playback on Linux and Mac OS X directly from optical disc

[mrbass]

yep MakeMKV works just great for a bluray player for Mac. I believe it's the first bluray player for Mac (could be wrong though). True doesn't do menus or anything like that but you can watch main movie or even extras that you leave out of your bluray rips.

Open bluray disc in Makemkv and then click Stream.

Click http://192.168.0.180:51000 (for instance) to open your default web browser.
It'll look something like this

name	value
type	Blu-ray disc
name	V For Vendetta
titlecount	10
title0	/web/title0
title1	/web/title1
title2	/web/title2
title3	/web/title3
title4	/web/title4
title5	/web/title5
title6	/web/title6
title7	/web/title7
title8	/web/title8
title9	/web/title9

navigate to title look at duration of title like

name	value
id	0
duration	2:12:32
chaptercount	32
formatcount	2
format0	m2ts
file0	/stream/title0.m2ts
format1	ts
file1	/stream/title0.ts

then right click and copy title
http://192.168.0.180:51000/stream/title0.ts

Then paste that link in VLC in the File | Open Network (command N) in the URL section and voila watch your bluray on Mac directly off the bluray disc in VLC.

Do not try to stream or play in Firefox or Safari it just won't work.

[Tedness]

So far no official blu-ray playing software, work arounds yes, but a bit of a hassle. So the answer is no, not like the pc has with all their software players. Its a shame, it'd be nice to add to my mac.

Good luck,

Ted

[BigCat]

yep MakeMKV works just great for a bluray player for Mac. I believe it's the first bluray player for Mac (could be wrong though). True doesn't do menus or anything like that but you can watch main movie or even extras that you leave out of your bluray rips.

Open bluray disc in Makemkv and then click Stream.

Click http://192.168.0.180:51000 (for instance) to open your default web browser.
It'll look something like this

name	value
type	Blu-ray disc
name	V For Vendetta
titlecount	10
title0	/web/title0
title1	/web/title1
title2	/web/title2
title3	/web/title3
title4	/web/title4
title5	/web/title5
title6	/web/title6
title7	/web/title7
title8	/web/title8
title9	/web/title9

navigate to title look at duration of title like

name	value
id	0
duration	2:12:32
chaptercount	32
formatcount	2
format0	m2ts
file0	/stream/title0.m2ts
format1	ts
file1	/stream/title0.ts

then right click and copy title
http://192.168.0.180:51000/stream/title0.ts

Then paste that link in VLC in the File | Open Network (command N) in the URL section and voila watch your bluray on Mac directly off the bluray disc in VLC.

Do not try to stream or play in Firefox or Safari it just won't work.

The "Stream" button is disabled after opening the external bluray disk.

[freakqnc]

yep MakeMKV works just great for a bluray player for Mac. I believe it's the first bluray player for Mac (could be wrong though). True doesn't do menus or anything like that but you can watch main movie or even extras that you leave out of your bluray rips.

Open bluray disc in Makemkv and then click Stream.

Click http://192.168.0.180:51000 (for instance) to open your default web browser.
It'll look something like this

name	value
type	Blu-ray disc
name	V For Vendetta
titlecount	10
title0	/web/title0
title1	/web/title1
title2	/web/title2
title3	/web/title3
title4	/web/title4
title5	/web/title5
title6	/web/title6
title7	/web/title7
title8	/web/title8
title9	/web/title9

navigate to title look at duration of title like

name	value
id	0
duration	2:12:32
chaptercount	32
formatcount	2
format0	m2ts
file0	/stream/title0.m2ts
format1	ts
file1	/stream/title0.ts

then right click and copy title
http://192.168.0.180:51000/stream/title0.ts

Then paste that link in VLC in the File | Open Network (command N) in the URL section and voila watch your bluray on Mac directly off the bluray disc in VLC.

Do not try to stream or play in Firefox or Safari it just won't work.

The "Stream" button is disabled after opening the external bluray disk.

You need to select backup and an wait until makemkv has identified the content on the BD. Once the app will be done your stream button will be available. You will see a list of checkboxes. Uncheck all, but the one corresponding to the largest file (that's the movie). Select stream and then follow the info provided above, but keep in mind that's an experimental feature and may not work with all BD titles. Good luck!

[Roughy]

Hello guys,

Are there some software blu-ray player available for Mac already?
I've found these recent blu-ray player reviews http://www.reviewmaze.com/2011/01/windows-blu-ray-player-software.html and there is good info but nothing mentioned about Macs. Do you know if any of those applications could be used also for Mac computers?

I hope there is something I can use for playing blu-ray discs.

Thanks in advance!

[marclar83]

There's no easy way to Blu-Ray movies on mac. That's sad, but I found a work around.

Use MakeMKV Beta to create a Streaming Server with your Blu-Ray discs to do that I had follow the Steps describe at this web site:

Ultimate Mac Upgrades

STEP 1- Open MakeMKV and put a Blu-Ray disc in your drive.
STEP 2- In the Toolbar select File>Open disc> and select your Blu-Ray drive.
STEP 3- Start Streaming the Blu-Ray. This action create a local streaming server that we can access by VLC.

follow the link you'll find in MakeMKV
You should see a message saying : "This page is designed to be read by robots, not humans..." at the last line you should see the link /web/titles

STEP 4- Open /web/titles link.
STEP 5- Open the main movie title link. You'll find the length of the movie when you'll click on the link, that way you can be sure you have the right title.
STEP 6- Find the link with the extension ".m2ts", right click on this link and copy the link.
STEP 7- Open VLC
STEP 8- In VLC toolbar select File>Open Network (shortcut cmd+N).
STEP 9- Paste the link in the URL space and hit Open. (It should look something like "http://192.168.2.1:51000/strem/[the movie title].m2ts"

Done ! You can enjoy a full length Blu-Ray movie on Your Mac without ripping it !!

[redwudz]

The problem is the decryption. If you could decrypt the BD like AnyDVD or similar does with a PC, the individual video files can be played back with VLC Mac or maybe other software players that can handle HD .m2ts files. Most times the largest .m2ts file is the main movie.

For PC users, it's also mostly limited to programs like TMT3 or PowerDVD or similar for computer playback of a full BD disc. The movie industry doesn't appear to like playback on computers.

[marclar83]

I think digital distribution is trully the future of HD on Personnal computers.

[daodeltaforce]

This is all pretty crazy just to play a Blu-ray disc in a Mac. Until Apple takes this media seriously and includes a full featured Blu-ray disc and media player, I suggest you install Windows in Boot Camp and then install Cyberlink PowerDVD 9 or above to play your Blu-ray disc. If you want to play a Blu-ray movie on your HDD or SSD, I suggest extracting the Blu-ray movie as an ISO file and mount it in a virtual drive for playback in PowerDVD. That's all you need to play your Blu-ray on your Mac.

[rumplestiltskin]

Blu-ray - the answer to a question nobody asked.

Apple will not "take this media seriously" because it's a bad joke.

[daodeltaforce]

Blu-ray - the answer to a question nobody asked.

Apple will not "take this media seriously" because it's a bad joke.

Hmm, an interesting perspective. I take it you don't like Blu-ray??? Too bad, it really is a lovely cinematic experience! I'm not sure how it can be a "bad joke" as it is a cutting edge technology that submerges the audience in a truly rich audio and video environment. Perhaps you don't like the cost of BD discs or the large file size, e.g., BD25 takes about 30 GB of space? In any event, the technology is here and it's not going to vanish simply because Apple OS X has not adopted it.

[rumplestiltskin]

Blu-ray - the answer to a question nobody asked.

Apple will not "take this media seriously" because it's a bad joke.

Hmm, an interesting perspective. I take it you don't like Blu-ray??? Too bad, it really is a lovely cinematic experience! I'm not sure how it can be a "bad joke" as it is a cutting edge technology that submerges the audience in a truly rich audio and video environment. Perhaps you don't like the cost of BD discs or the large file size, e.g., BD25 takes about 30 GB of space? In any event, the technology is here and it's not going to vanish simply because Apple OS X has not adopted it.

I have a 720p TV and the OTA broadcast stations are plenty sharp. When I watch movies, I prefer to let the director use his (internal) vision to provide the "cinematic experience" rather than being forced to provide excruciatingly detailed images that, perhaps, detract from the atmosphere (s)he is trying to attain.

The cost is, indeed, horrible but I'm not talking about $$; rather, it's the draconian DRM that is the real purpose of the medium. HDCP over HDMI or you get 480p. Hollywood's adoption of Blu-ray is for no other reason that that. The technology will vanish although there will be those who, like their spiritual forebears, will hold on to their Betamax VCRs and pound sand complaining.

[daodeltaforce]

[QUOTE=rumplestiltskin;2075695][QUOTE=daodeltaforce;2075669]

The cost is, indeed, horrible but I'm not talking about $$; rather, it's the draconian DRM that is the real purpose of the medium. HDCP over HDMI or you get 480p. Hollywood's adoption of Blu-ray is for no other reason that that. The technology will vanish although there will be those who, like their spiritual forebears, will hold on to their Betamax VCRs and pound sand complaining.

Well, I do agree that DRM is the name of the game for the motion picture industry, but that's the nature of the business. Artists need to protect their creative interests. If you want to bypass DRM you can simply decrypt the disc using any number of software programs or download it from any number of websites. Voila! The Internet is free once again. I disagree about Blu-ray technology fading into the sunset, it is a wonderful cinematic experience, and is not akin to Betamax which did not even have DRM issues back in those days gone by. If you haven't set your Mac to output to 1080p on your big screen HDTV you are missing a really great experience.

[Case]

• MacFixit: Blu-ray playback comes to OS X
• MacWorld: First Look: Macgo Mac Blu-ray Player
• Macgo website

[Vintage]

That Macgo Blu-ray Player is incredible. Does the best job I've seen with my LG Blu-ray player/ writer

[hazard0us]

I tried this player with the Sony BDX-S600U on my wife's Late 2010 11" Macbook Air. At first glance the software works great, but it seems the Mac isn't powerful enough to play the movies... the sound is fine but the picture is herky-jerky. Jury's still out on that, got to do some tweaking. (I have an HP DM1z which plays the movies out of that Sony unit just fine)

The software seems like a great product! Although at $49 it is a tad expensive.

[stanislawski]

http://www.macblurayplayer.com/

[KellyAVDesign]

The reason I'm here searching in vain for a solution is because MacGo's Mac Blu-ray Player will not work on any Mac I have tried it on. Same problem every time, it begins playback, identifies the disc and then hangs. Definitely try before you buy. On their FB page, lots of complaints from peeps who bought, software will not work, and have NO response from MacGo. One look at their site and you get the sense that nobody's home. Poor grammar as well as no certification or accreditation as to their customer service responsibilities = probably a site from who-knows-where and BUYER BEWARE!!

There is NO GOOD REASON for an apple computer to NOT play a BD. Just none at all. It's BS. In January 2012, you can't play a BD on a Mac. What?!!

Makes it kinda hard to set up Blu-ray functionality for my client's Mac mini AV Server. You can get a nice budget BD drive from OWS for about $99. But then you're stuck because there is no working software to enable the viewing of the BD disc. www.macblurayplayer.com does not work as advertised. VLC says their player can play Blu-ray, but their is no provision or procedure to enable this.

Arrgghhh! Very frustrating. Only way I've found to get good results is to rip via MakeMKV (great software) and then play in your server software of choice, VLC, PLEX, XBMC, etc. Thanks to MRBASS and others for the streaming help. It does work but I noticed the movie pauses when the disc must spin-up once the buffer calls for more.

[rumplestiltskin]

If you read the review here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/835-69-macgo-player you get the feeling that the MacGo thing is a scam. I'd recommend you go here: http://eshop.macsales.com/search/external+blu+ray as OWC is a quality vendor and stands behind the products they sell.

[jman98]

You are right about VLC. I went to their main webpage and they do claim to play BluRay discs. That's BS. They have NEVER supported what any rational person would consider to be playback. Namely they have never supported BluRay menus. Sure if you burn MKV files to a BluRay disc, they will play that (assuming for some reason that meets your definition of "plays BluRay discs" - get it, not BluRay FORMAT but the discs themselves), and if you try to play decrypted M2TS files directly under file play mode it should do that, but wow, this is really very misleading.

[KellyAVDesign]

Just learned something. First disc I tried was "Jarhead" BD. For some reason it hangs the software (on 3 different machines). Just got the Porcupine Tree "Anesthetize" BD concert in today and IT PLAYS!!!!!!!!!!

So, MacGo's got a problem when a BD is too new (?) and the copy protection scheme is not yet known, I'm guessing?

Whatever the case, the hang is a real bad deal because you must force-quit and then restart the computer – some "lib" file has the BD disc in its grasp and won't allow an eject.

My workaround in a case of a BD like this, is to rip it to HDD with MakeMKV, then watch on VLC.

[freakqnc]

hi
Just purchased a new Sony/NEC USB external Blu-ray player for my mac/pc (s) / network ($50 so I had to).
Works fine after finding the right software for my PC.

Am I right that there is no blu-ray 'playing' software for a MAC and the only way at the moment to play blu-ray on a mac, is this old thing called ripping.

I did not think I was that far ahead of the curve on the pc.

The mac of course sees the blu-ray unit.

Thanks in advance

You don't have to rip or convert, search on the internet, there are many blu ray players. I use iDeer blu ray player on my iMac, works fine till now.

Try using Macgo blu-ray player... you can download a trial version of the program here.

Reading around, looks like since it came out, several fixes were made to the software and many reported that it's now working fine for most BD players and commercial BD titles. I have no personal experience with it, but if you test it please report back with your findings and impressions (TIA). Read more here about the Macgo blu-ray player program's features... hope this will help you.

Cheers!

[Ai Haibara]

The VLC team doesn't look favorably upon MacGo's player, at least not officially. One of the devs recently pointed me toward this Ars Technica article for an official statement:

UPDATE: The developers behind the popular open source video playback software VLC (VideoLAN Client) contacted Ars to let us know that MacGo, the developers of Mac Blu-ray Player, actually based their software on VLC and is in violation of its open source license.
"Mac Blu-Ray Player uses VLC 1.1 as the base of their product," developer Jean-Baptiste Kempf said via e-mail. "As per the GPL license, the complete code should be GPL'd. VideoLAN and VLC developers have contacted them several times, and they said, 'soon.' However, nothing ever arrived."
Furthermore, Kempf noted that version 1.2 of VLC, currently in early beta testing, has some experimental Blu-ray playback capabilities on Mac OS X. "It is still starting and experimental," Kempf said, "not all BD will play and there are no menus, but we are working on it." We will definitely look into playback using that update when it's finished and released in final form.

[freakqnc]

The VLC team doesn't look favorably upon MacGo's player, at least not officially. One of the devs recently pointed me toward this Ars Technica article for an official statement:

UPDATE: The developers behind the popular open source video playback software VLC (VideoLAN Client) contacted Ars to let us know that MacGo, the developers of Mac Blu-ray Player, actually based their software on VLC and is in violation of its open source license.
"Mac Blu-Ray Player uses VLC 1.1 as the base of their product," developer Jean-Baptiste Kempf said via e-mail. "As per the GPL license, the complete code should be GPL'd. VideoLAN and VLC developers have contacted them several times, and they said, 'soon.' However, nothing ever arrived."
Furthermore, Kempf noted that version 1.2 of VLC, currently in early beta testing, has some experimental Blu-ray playback capabilities on Mac OS X. "It is still starting and experimental," Kempf said, "not all BD will play and there are no menus, but we are working on it." We will definitely look into playback using that update when it's finished and released in final form.

Well, then sorry for suggesting that software do not support Macgo if they based it on VLC! (are there any proof of such wrongdoing? )

I guess the only way to kill the plagiarism and illegal misappropriation of GPL code would be for VLAN to release a version that plays BD so that Macgo will no longer have a "product" and contextually denounce it openly on any outlet VLAN can reach included here on Videohelp and any media sector (Cnet, Gizmodo, Mashable, etc) as well as spreading the info on social media to make more aware of the fact (with proofs at hand) that Macgo is a program based on stolen GPL code.

Thanks for sharing the info though I would love to know more and where proof of wrongdoing could be found.

Cheers!

[Ai Haibara]

Only what the VLC developers have claimed, as you see in the Ars article quoted above. I became aware of it when Feepk (Felix Paul Kuehne) posted this to MacUpdate's page for MacGo's player back in May:

This software is essentially VLC with a custom interface, so if you're using the latest version of VLC, you'll get the same or even better playback experience.
Thus, it would be interesting for us where you see the benefit of this app

Additionally, this app actively violates our copyright.

NB: I'm the Lead Developer of VLC for Mac.

You can try contacting the developers via PM on the VLC forums (forum.videolan.org), like I did, if you want to ask them about it.