Discussions

[Seraphine]

Hi! I have a Roku TV from 2018 with a USB port on it and the Media Player app. I just got an external Bluray Player that has a USB on it and is labeled on the bottom as a USB 3.0. Roku's support page says that USB 3.0 should work in 2.0 mode on the TV. The player lights up and reacts when plugged into the TV, but when I open the Media Player app it acts like nothing is connected. Any suggestions for getting it to work? Would a USB to HDMI converter work, or is that only for sharing the image, not the data?

[renojim]

The USB port on Roku TVs is only for connecting something like a flash drive to display pictures or watch videos stored on the drive.  I don't think there's anyway to get that Blu-ray player to work with anything other than a computer.  USB to HDMI converters are for getting video out of a computer.  The Blu-ray player doesn't have any other output other than the USB port?

[packetrat]

Yes, a computer-type Blu-Ray drive has no hardware for playing video itself, depending on the attached computer for this function, In order for a USB hookup to work, the Roku TV would need special software and device drivers for reading data blocks from the drive, handling the special Blu-Ray DRM copy protection, navigating the disc directory structure, etc. which it does not have. I wouldn't expect any brand of Smart TV to support this (other than those few with a built-in BluRay drive), as it would add significant extra cost for something few people would ever use.

You need a normal Blu-Ray player meant for televisions, with its own, native HDMI output.