We live fully in the digital age . Tablets, smartphones, Facebook, voice messages, short videos on WhatsApp, viral videos ... But the reality is that at home we currently have dozens of DVDs that we like to watch again from time to time..
It is very easy to watch YouTube videos on our Windows tablet or copy a downloaded video to its memory and enjoy it, but can we enjoy a physical DVD on our tablet? It is also possible.
Windows is a system with many possibilities
Thanks to the use of an operating system as versatile as Windows, tablets with this operating system such as the Tablet Ideapad Miix 300 with an Intel processor have the same functions as a computer, and reading DVDs is one of them, although the tablets themselves lack integrated reader (for size reasons, especially).
Even so, it is easy to get hold of an external DVD reader / writer that works via USB, such as the Lenovo ThinkPad UltraSlim DVD Burner, and make it compatible with our tablet in a few simple steps. The Windows application store is full of DVD-compatible apps, but if there is a versatile and free application that reads DVDs, it is VLC Media Player. It will be as easy as installing and ready..
Of course, we must warn that this will not be possible to do on absolutely all Windows tablets on the market or even less on Android tablets: it is necessary that the operating system is capable of recognizing external devices and it is not 100% sure that a tablet conventional, with processor based on ARM architecture, is able to recognize a DVD player.
The good news is that recent system updates such as Android , specifically the new Android 6.0 Marshmallow, make devices even more compatible with external USB memory sticks, and a USB-connected DVD player is still a USB device to the use for android. If so, we will only have to install applications compatible with DVD files such as VLC Media Player, MX Player or Daroon Player (especially suitable for DVD files)..
How do I connect a DVD player to my tablet?
Returning to the example of a tablet with Windows, making our tablet read a DVD is a really easy process, but, despite this, we will have the need to use a couple of accessories.
The first, and logical, is the external DVD disc reader itself , in our case the Lenovo ThinkPad UltraSlim DVD Burner. We can find many models available, all of them use a power supply and a USB data cable. It is not possible to connect a DVD player without supplying power externally, as the operating system may not recognize it.
The second indispensable accessory, in many of today's tablets, is a conventional USB to microUSB OTG connector. These types of connectors, commonly available at any electronics store, allow the tablet to recognize the DVD player and read data from it. Likewise, we can use it to connect USB memory sticks or other peripherals such as keyboards, mice, controls, etc.
Once with the accessories in our possession, the process is simple: We will have to connect the DVD player to the electrical current and, in turn, connect its USB cable to the OTG connector (if necessary). Now we only have to connect it to the tablet.
On the tablet we will have to have the application that we will use to read DVD ready. As we mentioned at the beginning, VLC Media Player stands as the most suitable option as it is fully compatible and free with DVD players. Of course, we can also use alternatives from the Windows app store or other DVD Video reader applications that we have purchased for Windows.
If our Android tablet is capable of recognizing a DVD drive, the process to be carried out is exactly the same with the exception of the applications that we will use, which will be the ones mentioned above.
Images | fandroids
