Optical Drive on Surface RT

[Marco Miranda1]

I bought the Surface RT some days ago in a very good offer
The think is that I use a lot my external Blu-ray reader/writer
So I wonder if anyone has use some of this even from playing

 

[GizmoEV]

I can read files from one on my Lumia 2520 which also runs Windows RT like the Surface RT. I was not able to play a video DVD, however. Hopefully Microsoft will write a CODEC so that video DVD & Blue-ray movies can be played.

 

[ahumeniy]

Yes, you can attach a external optical drive. But you could need an external power supply for it like an external battery pack. The only problem are codecs for playing DVD, and don't ever think about Blu-Ray because those needs specialized hardware. You can't play a Blu-Ray movie even on a desktop PC without a dedicated graphics card (no, the latest Intel HD Graphics doesn't count as one) or AnyDVD -which may be illegal-

That thing aside, I have ripped my BD movies at the highest settings (around 10 GB MP4 file) and my first-gen Surface RT can play it nicely even if it's display isn't full-HD. Connected to an external monitor or HDTV I can watch the movie at full HD without even heating and after two hours I still have plenty of battery left.

 

[Greywolf1967]

So I wonder if anyone has use some of this even from playing

I use an LG DVD Burner/Reader with my Surface RT ( 1st Gen). I also added PowerDVD Mobile from the Store.
PowerDVD WinRT

Now I have not been able to launch a DVD from the app, it has let me view DVD's by going in via explorer and launching the video files. Now it has been a hit and miss as some dvd were not playable at all.

A drive control as to burning should not be hard to add, as the ability to format read and write to SD is built in....either an app builder or MS just has to write the code for it.

My hope is when VLC RT is released it may add full dvd play......maybe I can't find out for sure. They did submit to the store but were rejected for some unknown reason.

So you should be able to read disks with no added software ( pictures, MP3, WMA, WMV).

Just as an added note my LG has 2 USB plugs and requires both to be plugged in to be used....so I have my RT with 2 4 port hubs attached, 1 which is a powered hub.