Question Looking for a good external blu-ray player

[noxnoctum]

I'm interested in buying a blu-ray player as I'm slowly amassing an anime blu-ray collection (went with blu-ray mostly because some series are only available in that format and studios seem to tend to spice up the art for BD releases) but I'm clueless about the technology and don't know anything about TVs either. I'd be either using it with my desktop through my widescreen monitor or through an TV connected to the desktop (need to figure out what TV to get as well). What are the different options and things I need to take into account? A quick search on Amazon shows they've got players from $50 up to $300+ but I have no idea where to start. I assume I'll probably have to get some software to go with it as well.

I'm not sure my desktop specs are relevant but just in case:
i5-4690K @ 3.50GHz
8 gigs of RAM
Gefore GTX 970

Running on Windows 10.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I have this player, purchased in 2017.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OLZCD5K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


And I use this software for playback, which is the ONLY Blu ray player software out there that doesn't cost anything.

Best Free Blu-ray Player Software for Windows - Leawo Blu-ray Player

Leawo Blu-ray Player,the best Blu-ray media player software tested by 50,000 users! With this Blu-ray Player software, you can easily play Blu-ray/DVD disc, common videos and up to 1080P HD videos smoothly on Windows 8.

www.leawo.com

Both have worked flawlessly for me and I watch ALL my Blue ray discs with this combination, which is a lot. If you want to be able to copy, rip or otherwise burn Blu ray disks, you'll need additional software and I recommend highly the DVD Fab blue ray copy software, and any DVD fab software to be honest is a good choice. There are some purchasing concerns as they only take specific types of payment since the US seems to dislike them, but again, I've had no issues and they offer superb support of their products both directly and through their forums.

https://www.dvdfab.cn/blu-ray-copy.htm?trackID=headmenu2