DVD players, 2021

January 28, 2021 12:59 PM

I have a Toshiba Fire TV and a 2019 Macbook Air. I want to watch DVDs that I borrow from my local (NYC) public library, primarily on the TV -- what is the best (and preferably cheap) way to accomplish this?

The Toshiba TV has a USB port, 3 HDMI ports, an audio jack, and something labeled "Digital Output Optical." 2 of the 3 HDMI ports are used for other devices. The laptop has two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, one of which I normally use for power, and the other of which I often use to hook up to the TV, when I'm streaming something that I can't get directly via the Fire TV interface.

I'm primarily interested in watching on the TV, so I think the easiest solution is to just get a standalone DVD player that plugs into the TV, instead of a solution playing the DVD on an optical drive hooked up to the laptop and then hooking up the computer to the TV, which seems unnecessarily complicated.

I'm assuming I should get one that hooks up via HDMI, right? Is there anything else I should watch out for before I just google "DVD player HDMI" and find the most reasonably priced one out there?

posted by andrewesque to Technology (9 answers total)

There's not a big difference in price between DVD players and Blu-ray players (which play both Blu-ray and DVD discs). A cheap one should be perfectly fine. As far as I know they all connect via HDMI.
posted by pipeski at 1:04 PM on January 28, 2021

Blu-ray players (which also play DVDs) are incredibly inexpensive now. Buying one was the solution we ended up using. You have more than enough ports to make this an easy 'set it and forget it' solution. You could probably even find one for free on CL or a local buy nothing group.
posted by quince at 1:06 PM on January 28, 2021

Yeah, if you're buying a player, you might as well spend the extra $20-$40(?) to get Blu-ray and be modestly future-proofed. As long as you have a free HDMI input on the TV, this is by far the simplest way to do it.
posted by praemunire at 1:08 PM on January 28, 2021

If you post on freecycle or a buy nothing group asking for a DVD player, you will likely get one or several.
I believe several game systems can play DVDs,
If you have cds you might want to rip, get an external drive CD/DVD.
posted by theora55 at 1:11 PM on January 28, 2021

2 of the 3 HDMI ports are used for other devices.

If either of those ports is hosting a gaming console, you may already be covered. PS2, PS3, PS4, Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One can all play standard DVDs (although I wouldn't expect the original Xbox or PS2 to be on an HDMI port).
posted by hanov3r at 2:56 PM on January 28, 2021

If you can hook up the Macbook to the TV, perhaps consider a cheap external DVD (or Bluray) player for it. If you're out of ports, you can get a USB-C splitter.

Not an issue with Blurays, but software can do a better upconversion of DVD media to modern displays than an old standalone DVD player.
posted by porpoise at 3:30 PM on January 28, 2021

I'd say just get a Blu-Ray player for your TV.
posted by kschang at 3:54 PM on January 28, 2021

You can pick up two or three hundred DVD or Bluray players with HDMI connections at any given Goodwill for $5 for the lot, or seconding the freecycle or a buy nothing groups tack.
posted by General Malaise at 4:06 PM on January 28, 2021

Thank you all so far! hanov3r is correct that one of the ports is hosting a gaming console, but alas it's a Nintendo Switch (alas for the purposes of this question -- I otherwise love the Switch!)
posted by andrewesque at 4:19 PM on January 28, 2021