Solid Blu-Ray burner for the Mac: Plextor PX-LB950UE

Plextor PX-LB950UE Blu-Ray burner
Plextor PX-LB950UE Blu-Ray burner
The Plextor PX-LB950UE Blu-Ray burner is a real workhorse and was even able to claim the title "test winner" in a MacLife test (02/2013) (Photo: Amazon.de).

Unfortunately, Apple decided not to include support for the Blu-Ray format in its Mac. This means that users who still want to burn Blu-Ray discs are dependent on using external Blu-Ray burners. The compatibility of many external burners with the Mac under OS X is definitely given, so that you can work with almost every available [Blu-Ray drive-> blu-ray] on the Mac. If you want to buy a burner, you just have to decide whether you want a mobile device or one that reads and writes quickly and weighs a bit more.


Update: Unfortunately, the Plextor burner described here does not seem to be commercially available anymore. For this reason, I would currently recommend this mac-compatible model from LG, which even supports USB3 and achieves 14 times the burn speed: LG BE14NU40 Super Multi Blue external BluRay burner (14x speed, USB 3.0)


Not a lightweight but a test winner: the Plextor Blu-Ray burner

Today I got the PX-LB950UE burner from Plextor select. It does weigh a lot more at over 1.000 grams than its "mobile" colleagues, who weigh around 300 grams, but it can score with good rates in read-write speed. In addition, it was also chosen as the test winner, as I read in MacLife 02/2013. So if you don't intend to carry the burner around every day, the Plextor is certainly a good choice. A small drop of bitterness is perhaps the price, which at around EUR 180 is at the upper end of the range. The tests in MacLife have definitely given the Plextor burner top marks in terms of speed and burning quality. The BR burner is connected to the Mac via [USB 3->usb-3] or via the [eSATA connection->esata].

It should also be noted that firmware updates can only be imported into the Bluray burners via Windows. Unfortunately, the manufacturers do not offer any software that runs under OS X. But if you are running VMware or Parallels anyway, you probably don't see this as a problem.

Plextor PX-LB950UE Blu-Ray Burner for Mac OS X
The Plextor is not the smallest and lightest burner, but it works quickly and reliably on the Mac.

A burning program is required for writing to blank Blu-Ray discs and blank DVDs with the Plextor. There are two possible candidates running on OS X:

Roxio TOAST 11 Titanium
The TOAST program from Roxio has been known on the Mac for a long time and is very easy to use. It supports many formats and can burn audio CDs as well as Blu-Rays or DVDs.
Adobe Creative Suite 6 Production Premium for the Mac
The Creative Suite 6 Production comes with an authoring program called Encore. If you intend to buy this bundle anyway, you will acquire a very good program for creating and burning Blu-Rays or DVDs.
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The page contains affiliate links / images: Amazon.de

16 Responses to “Solid Blu-Ray Burner for Mac: Plextor PX-LB950UE”

  1. Hello Sir Apfelot, found the article on the Blu-Ray burners very informative and followed the recommendation. I bought the Plextor PX-B950UE. So far so good, but unfortunately the device is not recognized by my computer (iMac 27 ″, i7). Do I have to make any adjustments? Or what can the problem be? Incidentally, the burner works fine on a Windows PC.
    I would be very grateful for tips and suggestions. Best regards, Stephen

    1. Hello Stecor!
      Oh I'm sorry. But there's a message on Amazon that says "I'm using this br player with MountainLion, on the iMac27", runs fine on toast titanium and plays blue rays on macGo blue ray player. Reads, writes, everything perfect!”…
      I don't think it can be a fundamental problem. Maybe you can do a firmware update on a PC? Unfortunately, I couldn't find any other tips on how to proceed differently. The burner was also tested by MacLife and they would hardly have voted it the test winner if it were incompatible with Mac OS X.
      If you find out something, I look forward to your feedback!

  2. Hello Sir Apfelot, just for information. Meanwhile the burner is running. I had it again on the Windows PC and uninstalled and reinstalled the supplied burning program there. It turned out that no country setting had yet been made, that was fixed and there were no more problems on the Mac. LG

  3. Pingback: Blu-ray player software for Mac OS X from MacGo »Sir Apfelot

  4. Hans Jürgen Sauerland

    Hello Sir Apfelot,
    Unfortunately this burner is nowhere to be found or is there a company that can deliver this burner?
    LG

    1. Hello Hans-Jürgen! You're right. Just saw it too. But I've just done a little research and there is a good alternative for Mac users that even runs with USB3 and supports the new Millenniata blanks (which should have a shelf life of 1000 years): LG BE14NU40 Super Multi Blue external BluRay burner (14x speed, USB 3.0)

      In the reviews, an iMac user has also spoken out, confirming the compatibility with OS X and giving the burner a good rating. I hope this helps you further!

  5. Hello Stecor,
    unfortunately did not understand the connection between PC and MAC? If you have de-installed and reinstalled the supplied program on the PC, what has to do with the MAC. Is your PC connected to MAC or am I wrong?
    Thanks for the short-term feedback, as I want to buy exactly the burner for my iMAC 27 ″.

    Greetings Reza

    1. Hello Reza! I think the problem with the missing country setting that Stecor had is very rare if a device is not yet prepared for the German market. The support can help you in an emergency, but usually the burner is set for Germany and you can plug it in and get started.
      But if I were you I would buy this Blu Ray burner here, which was released on January 14.1th. comes: Archgon external 6-way Blu-Ray burner USB 3.0 - it also writes the BD-XL media, is small and handy and is satisfied with a single USB port for power supply and data transfer (if you don't have a very old Mac that still supplies little power via USB). It runs on the 27-inch iMac with USB2, but if you ever have a new Mac that has USB-3 ports in the future, you can look forward to the higher speed.

  6. sir appleot,
    thanks for the quick response. I have the current 27-inch iMac and it supports USB 3.0. I also looked at the Plextor PX-B950UE external Blu-ray 12x burner USB 3.0 black. It also supports USB 3.0 and 12X speed and here at Archon Externer it burns 6 times. Meadow do you think it's better than Plextor. Did you mean it because of BD-XL media? Which one is faster since I am writing video data on it and is very right if it is fast?
    Greetings Reza
    PS: Thanks for your good contribution!

    1. Hello Reza!
      Thanks for your question: Of course, both the said Plextor and the LG BE14NU40 equipped with USB 3 and the LG can also write BD-XL media (the Plextor cannot, as far as I can see). If speed is your thing, then I definitely would LG BE14NU40 Super Multi Blue external BluRay burner (14x speed, USB 3.0) to take. Although it is larger than the Archon Brenner, it is also much faster. The Archon, on the other hand, is practical for people who want to take it with them because it is a slim line burner (very small housing).
      I hope I could help you decide! :)
      VG!
      sir appleot

  7. Hello Reza,
    The problem was that the Blu-ray burner could not be set via the Mac, so I had to make the changes via the PC, after that everything was fine, I am very satisfied with the device.
    Greetings from Stecor

  8. Hi Sir Apfelot,
    thanks for the information. I ordered the burner (LG).
    After a few tries, I'll get back to you.

    Greetings Reza

    1. Hello Reza!
      But of course! I think feedback would also be interesting for other readers who want to buy a Blu Ray burner for the Mac. So I'm looking forward to your "test report". :)

  9. Hello Sir Apfelot,
    I still owe you a report about my new BD-Benner, LG BE14NU40 Super Multi Blue external BluRay burner (14x speed, USB 3.0).
    I ordered the BD burner from Amazon and received it for 3 days.
    Unpacked and connected to my iMAC via USB 3.0:
    27 ″: 3,4 GHz
    Technical data
    3,4 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
    Turbo Boost up to 3,8 GHz
    8 GB RAM (2x 4 GB)
    1 TB hard disk1
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M with
    2 GB video memory
    connected. The burner is immediately recognized by Finder and could burn both data and a film from Adobe Premiere CC to Blu-ray. As far as speed is concerned, it was burned at 6X speed. With DVD it even burned up to 32X. I am very satisfied with the BD burner and can only recommend it. Unfortunately, I didn't have a suitable program on iMac to be able to see the quality straight away. Maybe you have a tip where I can find such a program for Mac? With my Blu-Ray player in the living room, the quality was great.
    I hope I could help someone with my report.

    Greetings Reza

    1. Hello Reza! Thanks for your report! I think this will be of interest to some readers who are also considering buying a BD burner. It's great that everything went smoothly. A program that plays Blurays on the Mac is not included with the Mac for free. But there is a software solution for that, which I have done before featured on my blog: It is from the MacGo company and is sensibly called “Mac Blu-Ray Player”. :-)
      Maybe you can download this demo version and try it out.
      Best regards!
      The sir.

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