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I have a media center behind my TV and a DVD drive in an external enclosure (connected via USB) where I can reach it. I'd like to put a Blu-ray drive in there instead, but I'm concerned that it won't play the movies (maybe it's not HDCP compliant?). What if I get a new enclosure that's external SATA - would this be HDCP compliant, even though it's external? Can the PC (or the Blu-ray licensing module, for that matter) tell the difference?

Here's another question about this topic - I'm not concerned about throughput, since it's USB3, but rather about the drive being HDCP compliant. Has anybody with an external USB drive played a Blu-ray and can confirm if it works or doesn't?

Community
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SqlRyan
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2 Answers2

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It depends on two things, 

1)If the hardware has an HDCP chip
2)If the software you're using for playback supports HDCP

http://www.sevenforums.com/music-pictures-video/61955-understanding-hdcp-blu-ray-copy-protection-its-h.html

MDMoore313
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Im not 100% sure of this, but Im fairly positive about my answer.

Yes, you can play Blu-Ray movies with a Blu-Ray drive connected via USB. However, there is a caveat: it will not play at 1080p. Since this method is not HDCP compliant, the player will actually strip data and not play at the full resolution and bitrate. The assumption is without the HDCP token being passed, that you may be attempting to pirate the movie.

Keltari
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