My sister recently bought several of her favorite movies on Blu-ray, but she realized her DVD player can't read them. I want to surprise her with an external Blu-ray player for Christmas, but I'm having trouble finding a good one. All I see are either overpriced models over $100 or cheap ones that only play DVDs for around $20. I'm hoping to find something decent for around $50, ideally on Amazon. Is there still a market for these players, or is that technology fading away? (Just for context, I only have a Nintendo Switch, so I can't use that as a Blu-ray player.)
3 Answers
Just do a search on Amazon for "external Blu-ray drive." I saw some options for as low as $45. Just make sure to check the reviews because some of them are listed as Blu-ray drives but can't actually read Blu-rays.
You could try looking for a budget player on Amazon and see what you find! There might be some secondhand options that work well without breaking the bank.
If you want a quick option, here’s a link to one I found that’s cheap and seems decent: [https://amzn.eu/d/h8dxaar](https://amzn.eu/d/h8dxaar).
Yeah, he's really looking for suggestions so he doesn't end up with junk. A bit more guidance would help!
If you're only interested in playing standard Blu-ray (not UHD), there are a bunch of lower-priced drives available. I found one for around $50 from a lesser-known brand. Just be ready for some possible jank with the software, though VLC is a good option if you find the right instructions to deal with the keys and decryption. If you want to play UHD Blu-rays legitimately on a computer, that's tougher and quite pricey now. For a simple solution, you might want to consider getting a dedicated Blu-ray player, they’ve really come down in price, or a console like the Xbox One S for UHD.
I'm curious about those more complicated methods too! I want to convert my 3D Blu-rays for VR viewing. I’d love to stream them from my PC as well, including the UHD ones.
I looked at those, but many of them just mention Blu-ray in the title and then reviewers say they can’t actually read the discs. Most reliable ones seem to start at $100.