External BR optical drive not playing DVDs

[RobColorado]

Following advice in a recent thread, I just purchased a samsung BR optical drive and a macally case from newegg. I intend to use it to rip dvds and blu ray disks to my new 2011 mac mini server.

The drive works--I was able to load IWork from its disc.

The drive recognizes the DVD as it lists the name of the movie in the menu. However when I try to play the movie I get the following error message:

"There was an initialization error. A valid device could not be found for playback. (-70017)"

I would appreciate any suggestions.

thanks

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Did you try Mac OS X' own DVD Player application?
If so, try VLC Player, as it is capable of playing from an external ODD.

 

[fhall1]

Are you trying to play a regular DVD movie, or a BR movie? If BR, you need to get a software player that recognizes the format.

 

[RobColorado]

I was trying to play a DVD not a BR. I tried VLC and that worked.

Any suggestions for BR software?

Thanks to you both.