Do you own a Mac and want to play Blu-ray discs right there on your screen? The good news is that it is possible even though Apple doesn’t support the format. We’ve see many Windows computers include Blu-ray Disc optical drives which are useful for not only watching movies but for burning data on to the 50GB capacity discs. But Apple’s support of the format hasn’t been forthcoming. Apple was actually one of the companies listed in the Blu-ray camp when the war against rival full high definition format HDD was raging. But when the dust settled back in 2008, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was waiting for the format to be more widely adopted.
The result on Apple’s side was that no Blu-ray optical drives were ever included on any of its computers including the full high definition 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs. Today the iMac doesn’t even have an optical drive so it can’t play even play DVDs let alone Blu-ray. Apple has a USB SuperDrive available separately which can connect to the Mac to play DVDs. But you can also play Blu-ray right there on your Mac if you want to. The first thing you’ll need is an external Blu-ray drive.
Macgo Mac Blu-ray Player is the first Blu-ray media player software for Apple Mac, which can successfully play Blu-ray Disc, Blu-ray Menu, ISO files, and BDMV folder, as well as on iOS devices.
There are several available including models from Buffalo, Samsung, LG, ASUS and Sony. And while none of these state on the packaging that they support the Mac OS X operating system they will still work. These are connected by USB to your Mac. Depending on the drive, it might be necessary to connect two USB cables from the drive to your Mac to have enough power. We used the Buffalo MediaStation External Blu-ray Writer BRXL-PC6U2B ($125 from JB Hi-Fi) which had two USB cables to attach to our brand new 27-inch iMac running Mountain Lion. This way we don’t need to connect the device to power. Playing DVDs wasn’t an issue because the Mac’s native DVD player is still pre-installed on the computer despite the fact there is no longer a DVD optical drive on board.
We were able to see the DVD mount on the desktop after being loaded into the Buffalo drive and could play the disc using Apple’s DVD player software. But what about Blu-ray? We inserted a Blu-ray Disc into the Buffalo BRXL-PC6U2B and saw the disc on the desktop.
Now to play the disc you need third party software. There are a few options available including and which cost about $35 But we settled on the which we saw to be almost identical in terms of functionality and the best part – it didn’t cost us a cent. Now to burn Blu-ray discs there are also a few options including programs which can be downloaded from the Mac App Store like Blu-ray Creator. There is also which allows Blu-ray burning as well. It’s also possible to export to Blu-ray from Apple’s own video editing software as well. If you’re into Blu-ray and also happen to own a Mac – it’s good to know they can now work together. Related Stories.
The first free and all-region Blu-ray media player for Mac users to watch HD movies on Mac without any format barrier. Powered with advanced technologies, Leawo Blu-ray Player enables you to play and watch Blu-ray, DVD, ISO, up to 1080P HD videos and audio files on your iMac or MacBook without quality loss. Designed as free and all-region Blu-ray player, it plays back all Blu-ray discs, folders and ISO files, regardless of disc regions and protections. Meanwhile, Leawo Blu-ray Player also offers free service for you to play back DVD movies, up to 1080P HD videos, audio files and ISO files. Both commercial and noncommercial DVD discs could be played back.
It supports to play back video and audio files in 180+ formats including: M4V, 3G2, 3GP, TS, RMVB, IFO, MOV, DIVX, XVID, VOB, WMV, HD MP4, HD AVI, HD MKV, HD MPEG, MP3, AAC, FLAC, etc. With support of various advanced audio decoding technologies like Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc., Leawo Blu-ray Player delivers lossless audiovisual effect and enjoyment. During movie playback, you’re able to adjust video and audio effect, change subtitles, or even load external subtitles. You could add movies to the playlist and then set playback mode from 3 different options: Order, Loop and Shuffle. Virtual remote controller is supported for off-hand disc menu selecting and playback.
What’s more, it supports to switch movies in playing among multiple screen displays. Leawo Blu-ray Player comes with extremely simple interface and operation. It provides easy-to-understand navigation system and detailed playback control options, including: full-screen playback, volume control, fast-forward button, fast-backward button, Next button, Last button, Subtitle selecting button, Video setting, Audio setting, Main menu button, Clock Display, playback mode, playlist, etc. With easy to use interface and practical functions, Blu-ray Player delivers you the best movie experience with iMac or MacBook at home.
CLICK 'INSTALL'!, Mixed Thoughts. The app was confusing at first, definitley not user friendly. Once you get the hang of it though it is a life saver! I am using a macbook pro with retina and an external LG blu ray drive. When you open the app you should see a box with the name of your movie.
Simply double cick and it will bring you to all the files within the disc. This is where it got confusing, but the good news is, all you have to do is look at the bottom right and click ‘open’ and your movie should load.
This worked for me on many movies, and I was able to even see the title menu and navigate to chapters, scene selection, pt 1, pt2, etc, just as you would on a normal tv. The hitch came when I put in a blu ray disc for a tv show, instead of a movie. It does not play the ad’s like it normally would before bringing you to the disc menu, not to mention that it doesnt even do that! I get no menu at all, it simply just plays the first episode immediatley. This wouldnt be all that bad if it was in some ‘play all’ mode, but that is not the case either.
For me, as soon as I watch or skip past the first episode on the disc, it reruns that episode. There is no way to access later episodes. This app is great for watching movies even though it may be frustrating to work at first, but it is terrible for watching tv shows as their is no menu for those. CLICK 'INSTALL'!, Mixed Thoughts.
The app was confusing at first, definitley not user friendly. Once you get the hang of it though it is a life saver! I am using a macbook pro with retina and an external LG blu ray drive. When you open the app you should see a box with the name of your movie. Simply double cick and it will bring you to all the files within the disc. This is where it got confusing, but the good news is, all you have to do is look at the bottom right and click ‘open’ and your movie should load.
This worked for me on many movies, and I was able to even see the title menu and navigate to chapters, scene selection, pt 1, pt2, etc, just as you would on a normal tv. The hitch came when I put in a blu ray disc for a tv show, instead of a movie. It does not play the ad’s like it normally would before bringing you to the disc menu, not to mention that it doesnt even do that! I get no menu at all, it simply just plays the first episode immediatley. This wouldnt be all that bad if it was in some ‘play all’ mode, but that is not the case either. For me, as soon as I watch or skip past the first episode on the disc, it reruns that episode. There is no way to access later episodes.
This app is great for watching movies even though it may be frustrating to work at first, but it is terrible for watching tv shows as their is no menu for those. FrednonSped, Better than the Aiseesoft garbage I PAID FOR so far this player software is excellent, the BD’s load, you get the authentic menus and navigation and can easily right click on the screen within the player to bring up subtitle/language options etc. I paid about $50 for the Aiseesoft player which is junk in comparison. With Aiseesoft half the BD’s won’t play, they will load to a garbage looking menu, then crash some play, many won’t play at all and you have to select language version via the ‘other titles’ junk menu which is laughable. The latest version of the Aiseesoft player even crops off the sides of the image just a hair, which is annoying I’m only mentioning that player because I hate it and paid for it. This apparently free player is amazing since it functions just like a stand alone BD player. The picture quality is great this Leawo player offers brightness and contrast adjustments the gamma seems locked?
Anyway it’s great so far after just having down loaded it. So far I’m impressed in comparison to Aiseesoft junker. FrednonSped, Better than the Aiseesoft garbage I PAID FOR so far this player software is excellent, the BD’s load, you get the authentic menus and navigation and can easily right click on the screen within the player to bring up subtitle/language options etc. I paid about $50 for the Aiseesoft player which is junk in comparison. With Aiseesoft half the BD’s won’t play, they will load to a garbage looking menu, then crash some play, many won’t play at all and you have to select language version via the ‘other titles’ junk menu which is laughable. The latest version of the Aiseesoft player even crops off the sides of the image just a hair, which is annoying I’m only mentioning that player because I hate it and paid for it.
This apparently free player is amazing since it functions just like a stand alone BD player. The picture quality is great this Leawo player offers brightness and contrast adjustments the gamma seems locked? Anyway it’s great so far after just having down loaded it. So far I’m impressed in comparison to Aiseesoft junker. I2review, Must have a Blu-ray Compatable Optical Disk Reader This application has worked flawlessly for me on several Mac models with different optical drives. The only time it did not work was when I had an old optical disk drive attached that wasn’t capable of playing Blu-ray disks.
I suspect that many of the negative reviews could be hardware related and not directly related to the Leawo software. In another instance, I purchased an external 3rd party optical drive that didn’t work on the Mac with the supplied cable. I used it with a Thunderbolt-3 to USB-2 adapter, since the cable didn’t have a Thunderbolt-3/USB-C connector. Even though it worked for playing DVDs, it didn’t work for Blu-ray. When I changed cables to one that was natively USB-C on the Mac end, it played Blu-ray disks through the Leawo Blu-ray Player without any issues.
So unfortunately there might need to be some trial and error if you are not using a modern Apple supplied optical drive that is Blu-ray compliant. This is most likely a hardware problem, not the software player problem. I2review, Must have a Blu-ray Compatable Optical Disk Reader This application has worked flawlessly for me on several Mac models with different optical drives. The only time it did not work was when I had an old optical disk drive attached that wasn’t capable of playing Blu-ray disks.
I suspect that many of the negative reviews could be hardware related and not directly related to the Leawo software. In another instance, I purchased an external 3rd party optical drive that didn’t work on the Mac with the supplied cable. I used it with a Thunderbolt-3 to USB-2 adapter, since the cable didn’t have a Thunderbolt-3/USB-C connector. Even though it worked for playing DVDs, it didn’t work for Blu-ray. When I changed cables to one that was natively USB-C on the Mac end, it played Blu-ray disks through the Leawo Blu-ray Player without any issues.
So unfortunately there might need to be some trial and error if you are not using a modern Apple supplied optical drive that is Blu-ray compliant. This is most likely a hardware problem, not the software player problem.