I got a portable Blu-ray/DVD drive for Christmas to use with my laptop, but I'm hitting a wall because it won't read Blu-ray discs. I've tried a few tricks like downgrading the firmware to 1.00 to keep things simple, and I've used media players like MPC-HC and VLC, but they're not doing the trick. MPC recognizes the disc and shows the length of the movie but won't actually play it. It's been over two weeks, and I'm really eager to enjoy the gift since it cost me over $100. I could have just bought a regular DVD/CD drive for much less. Any advice?
3 Answers
First, check if the disc is spinning when you insert it. Also, does the drive have a power cable? Some external drives need two cables to function properly. What's the make and model of your drive? Don't forget to verify if it's set to the correct region and that the discs match that region.
You might need a specific license or codec to play Blu-ray media. VLC often struggles with commercial Blu-rays due to DRM issues. Try adding the necessary AACS/BD+ library files for VLC or consider using MakeMKV to rip your Blu-ray to a playable format.
I already tried installing the specific AACS and .dll files for VLC, but it still didn’t fully read them. I’ll give MakeMKV a shot since it's meant to bypass those protections.
Did you install all the software that came with your drive? Windows and many basic players usually can't handle Blu-rays by themselves. You might need something like Cyberlink PowerDVD to make it work.
I did install software from the included disk. Honestly, I might double-check if it’s all set up right.
Just a heads up, the only software I found on that disk was Nero Burn & Archive for CD/DVD.
Yeah, the disc spins! I’ve tested both DVDs and Blu-rays, and I even checked the Blu-ray on a regular player, and it worked fine. The drive just needs one cable, and it's a Verbatim External Slimline Blu-ray Writer 4K USB-C.