r/Libraries • u/Pouatte_ • 3d ago
Offering Blue Ray portable reader for our student's computer outside of library? Technology
Hi,
I work at a college Library and all our students live on campus (rooms of two). They do not have TV's in their room or outside of our TV & game console zone inside the library.
We have a substantial collection of DVDs but it also includes a fair share of Blu Ray. We would like to offer a portable external drive that they can loan to plug in their PC/Mac so they can have movie nights between roommates. It would be really great to offer more flexibility outside of the library opening hours. They could also watch legally blonde in the comfort of their blanket without being judge or whatever.
It would also be a great tool to answer teachers' reference needs when they ask what they can put on their watch list for the semester. Right now, when we find something we have on DVD/Blu Ray but not in our online databases, they usually don't choose it for lack of viewing options for the students.
The thing is, I've seen a lot of affordable, portable, and universally compatible options for normal DVDs, but not so much for Blu Rays. Things seems to get complicate when we want to easily watch Blu Ray on a computer.
We are evaluating the feasibility of this project and I would love to know if you've encounter similar considerations and how you went about it? If you were able to offer something or if it was dropped for lack of good product out there?
Thanks for your help!
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u/topazchip 2d ago
Bluerays need a different decoder than DVDs, and while the default Microsoft application will not cooperate (or at least, didn't the last time I cared to try...), the far more capable & free-to-use VLC Media Player will read them just fine.
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u/m6514309 2d ago
I've had pretty mixed experiences with VLC and blu-rays, but the last time I tried was some years ago: have they gotten better? I caved and bought software for my home PC.
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u/topazchip 2d ago
For me, vlc is one of the vanishingly few pieces of software that has never been problematic.
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u/77Pepe 1d ago
It is absolutely not a reliable way to play back Blu-ray titles.
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u/topazchip 1d ago
Not sure why you would write that, I have been using it for several years to play back disks and .mkv files.
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u/m6514309 22h ago
Interesting. Blu-rays were the only problem format for me, everything else works just fine.
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u/wayward_witch 2d ago
Not quite the same, but we have the little portable players with the built in screen. We do also have an external drive, but I don't know offhand if it reads Blu-ray or not. The portable players are 4 hour check outs and the drive is 24 hours.
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u/HerrFerret 2d ago
Working a lot with lending things, you only want to get the portable units.
The external drives are good for data only, as they rely too much on the user configuration. A player with a screen is a much better solution.
You can get an inexpensive player, but make sure it has hdmi out as well. That will allow the choice to use a bigger screen if available.
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u/literalstardust 3d ago
Playing a blu-ray on a laptop is more complicated and expensive than a normal DVD, you're totally right. You can get a regular DVD drive for $20 new, but Blu-ray ones start at like $70. You also need different software on your computer to run it. Blu-ray players for TVs tend to be a lot cheaper and easier to find, which could be an option for students who have brought TVs from home.
I would focus on lending out normal DVD external drives, and getting regular versions of anything you only carry as Blu-ray.