Out of the box, your Mac can do almost anything, but playing Blu-ray movies isn’t one of them. Not only do Macs not ship with Blu-ray playback software built in, but Apple still doesn’t make a drive capable of reading Blu-ray discs. Fortunately, with a little inexpensive hardware and software, you can turn your Mac into an awesome Blu-ray player.
To play Blu-ray movies on your Mac, you’ll first need a drive that can read the discs. Apple’s SuperDrive won’t do it, but there are plenty of good third-party options that’ll do the job. There are plenty of compact, affordable choices for this in the sub-$50 range that connect via USB.
With a Blu-ray drive connected to your Mac, all you need is an app to play the movies. Aiseesoft Mac Blu-ray Player brings powerful Blu-ray features to the Mac, including Dolby Digital audio, fine audio controls, and multiple playback modes. It even lets you play Blu-ray ISO files directly, so the player itself is optional.
With Mac Blu-ray Player installed, just insert a Blu-ray disc or click Open File in the app and browse to your ISO file to get started. With the movie loaded, you can click around the main menu normally, or use the app’s built-in navigation panel to choose chapters to view, select your audio settings, and enable subtitles.
You can switch up your viewing mode on the fly to choose the best screen layout for any situation. In the Video pull-down menu, choose between half-size, fit-to-screen, full-screen, and other options on the fly. Or just drag the corner of the window to size it manually.
For the ultimate movie experience, connect your Mac to a set of 5.1 surround-sound speakers. Mac Blu-ray Player supports DTS 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Digital for awesome audio quality.
Pro Tip: Most DVD playback software won’t let you capture images from your movies. With Mac Blu-ray Player, you can. Just click the Snapshot button in the menu at the bottom of the screen, and the app will let you save the current frame as a JPEG, PNG, or BMP file.
Playing Blu-ray movies on your Mac is an awesome experience that liberates your movie experience from the confines of the living room. Visit Aiseesoft now to get the Mac Blu-ray software at a special discount exclusive to Macworld readers.