this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2025
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Dears,

I'm asking for your DVD player recommendations - I'm done with the streaming platforms. I'm looking for something simple and robust with all the important key features but I'm a little lost with the current offer. What's a must have?

Ideally, I'd go for a player that has both HDMI and USB-C in output, to make sure it still works fine in the future - but I'm not sure USB-C output exists. Now I'm also questioning the need of BluRay/image upgrade, as it shouldn't be too expensive.

Do you use a DVD player? What is your recommendation? Would any 2nd have from 2010's do the job?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: I understand USB-C output does not exist - and any 2nd hand Blu-ray player would be perfect and be quite cheap! Thanks all for your comments!

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[–] utopiah@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

FWIW I had similar concerns and here is my suggestion :

  • no physical player or even DVDs... just get DRM-free files
  • if you still do want to do the whole thing offline I bought a brand new 20€ DVD player with USB input to plug on my Linux computer
    • I then installed dvdbackup
    • use it to get VOD files
    • read directly with e.g vlc
    • compress with ffmpeg

Might sound complicated and first time maybe it took me 1h to setup, now I put a DVD in, start my script and 15min later I have a video.mp4 with everything I need. I can play it locally, share on LAN with miniDLNA and let any other device (phones, video projector with VLC, etc) play the content.

I then frequently go to my public local media library, get the content I need legally and the right holders get their cut, no data going to BigTech platforms.

[–] utopiah@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Also if you don't care for miniDLNA and streaming over your own LAN (or even online if you have your own VPN) copy the resulting files on a 5€ USB stick on plug on your TV, works just as well. If your TV isn't "smart", which is perfectly fine, then use a RPi and do the same.