[Samsung Galaxy Tab S8] drjoe1:
I was trying out my CD/DVD drive to see how it works with the Tab S8+. Because the Tab S8 series is "productivity" I thought I would re-write and repost a review of my Android CD/DVD player from the Tab S4 Forum. A problem with modern laptops -- and laptop replacements like the Galaxy Tab series tablets -- is that they don't have CD/DVD drives. But I have years of discs laying around my home office. So one evening a few years ago, I had a CD rom disk I wanted to get a data file off of, but left my laptop at work. I tried hooking a USB DVD drive (a full size desktop "internal" drive in a powered USB enclosure. Used to be top of the line, high speed re-write, etc. 10 years later, it is obsolete junk, slated to go to the landfill home of Zip and Floppy Disk drives. Am I the only one that is maudlin?) to my Tab S4 with nothing but incompatibility (even using exFat/NTFS for USB by Paragon). And came up empty. Most plug-n-play USB devices play pretty well with Android. I had no problems hooking a USB Floppy drive up to Android and pulling files off it with Solid Explorer (Sabrent FL-UDRV). But nothing worked for the CD/DVD drive. I didn't realize this was "hard". I'm really trying to go PC-less, and occasionally need to look up a file on DVD or CD Rom. It would be nice to be able to do that with my tablet.

So I found a Quora post that said that USB CD/DVD drives need to have "USB Flash Drive Mode Support" (which most drives don't seem to have). I found one Hitachi-LG model on Amazon that people report has this support -- otherwise described as TV Connectivity. So I found an LG drive that specifically claimed flash-storage support: The manual says it has TV Connectivity where it acts as a flash drive.

https://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-Portable-External-GP65NB60/dp/B00ODDE33U

What is TV Connectivity? TV Connectivity is a function that allows you to enjoy videos, pictures and music by connecting this product to a compatible A/V device (e.g. DIGITAL TV, DIGITAL PHOTO FRAME, PC) that supports USB connectivity.

How to Use TV Connectivity

* This product is defaulted to ODD mode when it is powered on.

1) With the tray open, press and hold the ‘Eject’ button for 2 seconds. (The LED indicator will turn on, switching to TV mode. Press and hold the button again for 2 seconds with the tray open to return to ODD mode.)

2) Insert your supported media into the drive. The disc file system will be converted to FAT32 and will be recognized as USB flash memory.

3) Select and play the files from your A/V device to enjoy videos, pictures and music. Refer to your A/V device owner’s manual for more information.

Good enough, you can at least read-only DVD’s and CD’s.

Well, I looked a bit more at Hitachi-LG drives and found something even better: a DVD/CD read-write drive compatible with Android! (It also supports TV Connectivity.)

Android OS (Smartphone & Tablet) Connectivity*

Transfer and preserve photos, videos, music and data from your Android OS devices to an optical disc. Also, video, audio and data from optical discs can be played and read on your Android OS devices.

* Optical drives are compatible with devices running Android version 4.4.2 or above. Not all file types are compatible. Compatibility may depend on codec of application being used when playing files.

My Model (no longer available):

LG Ultra Slim Portable DVD Writer DVD Disc Playback & DVD- M-DISC™ Support (GP95NW70) | LG USA

Get information on the LG Ultra Slim Portable DVD Writer DVD Disc Playback & DVD- M-DISC™ Support (GP95NW70). Find pictures, reviews, and tech specs.

www.lg.com

https://www.newegg.com/lg-model-gp95nw70-slim-dvd-burner/p/N82E16827136309

The current model:

https://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-GP96Y-External-Android-Windows/dp/B09XT9MF72

A Korea-only true USB C Model (DVD Player + USB Hub)

http://global.gmarket.co.kr/item?goodscode=2107679847

The apps:

UD Link App:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=kr.co.hlds.udlink

https://hitachi-lg.com/sw/udlink

Models KP95 / KP95+ / KP96 / KP99 / GP95 / GP96 / GP78Y / UD10 / GPM1

Disc Link Platinum: (Superseded by UD Link)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=kr.co.hlds.disclink.platinum

http://hlds.co.kr/sw

Models KP95 / KP95+ / KP96 / KP99 / GP95 / GP96 / GP78Y / DVRP-UT8ATV

True DVD (Play Video DVD’s)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smedio.hldsusb

http://hlds.co.kr/sw/index.html

Models GPM1 / UD10 / GP95 / KP95

Long first impressions of LG GP95NW70

I received my GP95 from Newegg, it is now out of stock and I don’t see it available anywhere. This model is Android compatible out of the box. There are two apps you need to download from the Playstore to make it work. Documentation is very poor. The only LG optical drives that are compatible with the software are KP65, KP95 and GP95. At the time, was the only available model in the USA and I only found it on Ebay and at Newegg. Hitachi-LG also sold models GP65 & GP60 in the US but neither of these models are listed as compatible with the Android apps you need to access the drives (but had TV Connectivity). Now the Amazon Android model is GPM1NW10.

There are the two apps you need that are published by Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Inc.:

1) The original app was Disk Link. Disk Link Platinum was required for tablet use (allowed app rotation for landscape orientation). It is still supported in several versions in the app store, but has been superseded by UD Link. This is the app used to read/write data DVD and CD’s and play audio CD’s

2) The Video DVD Player is TrueDVD. There are several versions for different models. TrueDVD works with my player and was $0.99 now is $4.49. This pays for the DVD Video codecs used to play DVD Video disks. Well worth it for the increased functionality. Unprotected DVD Video Disks can be played with VLC Player (I haven’t tried other players), but I haven’t tried this. Most store-bought Video DVD’s have copy protection.

Now the evaluation:

Out of the box, the drive has a female micro USB connector, they give you

1) A micro male to full size USB 2.0 male cable,

2) A micro USB adaptor that allows for external power + connecting to your phone (Full size USB from the player + micro USB power in / micro USB male to plug into your android device)

3) a micro USB female to male USB C adaptor plug to convert the micro USB adaptor to work with a USB C device.

4) There is a windows software disk

5) Poor documentation (what else is new?)

Links in the TrueDVD, Disc Link Platinum, and UD Link play store entries take you to Korean web pages where you can download a firmware updater (that runs on Windows, of course). The manufacture date on the unit I got was from October 2018; its firmware "needed" to be updated out of the box. Of course, I have no idea what the update in the firmware has to do with anything.

TV Connectivity Mode:

TV Connectivity Mode (which the GP60 / GP65 models sold in the USA support), is very limited. By holding the eject button down with the door open, you can convert the CD player to a Fat32 read-only flash drive. I had problems getting Solid Explorer to recognize the drive. Microsoft exFAT/NTFS by Paragon works, but you have to pay extra for Fat32 (I optioned only for NTFS). It didn't seem to work with a hub.

Connectivity:

When running the aps, it seems to work fine plugging the full size USB into a powered USB C hub. It runs fine plugging directly into the tablet using the included adaptor, both with and without external power. I purchased a USB C to micro USB cable so I can connect directly to the tablet without the hub / adaptors.

The apps:

Disk Link Platinum was a relief after running the Pro version. Screen rotation is a must. It reads CD's, opens PDF's / images from a data CD without obviously saving it locally to the device (the Paragon enabled file explorer had to copy it to local storage). Besides the data CD, I browsed images saved on a DVD ROM disc. No problems playing an audio cd, Gracenotes automatically loads CD disk art & audio track information. Pressing the eject button on the unit brings up a "do you want to eject" pop-up on the screen. I'm not sure if you can minimize the window and keep playing. UD Link appears to function essetially the same as DVD Link Platinum.

TrueDVD is worth the $4.49 (a couple years ago it was $0.99). This allows you to play video DVD's. The menu's are touchscreen activated. There was a weird issue with eject -- pressing the eject button didn't do anything, and there was no menu item to "eject". I had to disconnect / reconnect & hit eject to get the video DVD out. "Help" on the app sends you to a Korean web page that says that non-white protected DVD's can be played from VLC Player, but that copy-protected material can only be played with the TrueDVD app. The app would not play in split screen mode, and doesn't have a cast function (I don't know if it functions with screen mirroring). Besides a video DVD, I was able to play a DVD audio Disc (Dolby Tracks only, not DTS). DVD audio would not run minimized.

The video DVD player is region-locked. It came out of the box as Region 2 (Europe/Japan). When you put a Disc in, it says "The player region does not match the disc. Would you like to change the player region? You can do this 5 times and then it locks". I set it to region 1 and all ran fine. But it is a shame you can't make it regon free -- I have several DVD's I purchased years ago from Europe / Japan that weren't available in the USA. I don't know if the region selection is tracked in the TrueDVD app, or in the hardware; I suspect it is in the hardware. So you can't freely switch regions. Not a big deal unless you live in the US and are a big anime fan. I suppose you could buy two players and set one to Region 1 and the other to Region 2. But watching video DVD's is not the primary purpose I bought the drive for; it is just a perk.

I have no plans to try burning discs. That's what flash drives are for. I need it for reading existing CD/DVD ROM discs with out a PC. It seems to do this well. Audio CD and DVD video playability are happy (but probably seldom used) extras.

Disc Link works fine with DeX. TrueDVD, no. In the link to the Korean help page for TrueDVD it mentioned that mirroring/casting (or what they refer to as "remote viewing") is not allowed for copy protected DVD's. But it suggests casting is OK for non-copy protected material using external viewers like VLC. Well, I'm not sure I have a video DVD that isn't copy protected. And TrueDVD sees DeX via HDMI to my TV as "remote viewing." So no-joy. I tried DeX locally on the tablet, and while it will run, if you try to resize the screen, it freezes. So you have to properly size the window before playing the DVD.

The other non-related to DeX observation was that I don't have to unplug / reconnect the drive to eject video DVD's -- If I hit the eject button, then close both apps and reopen Disc Link, the "do you want to eject" message pops up and the tray opens when you click "yes". In the Disc Link Platinum playstore "about this app" documentation, in a footnote, it says, "to eject the disc inside ODD during video/music playback on the player works on with, terminate the player and then press eject key of ODD." Obviously, this means when I want to eject a video DVD, I need to close TrueDVD+, then hit eject and the eject button works. And it does. ?

I think this is a very useful arrow for the quiver. I'm happy I can access data from old CD/DVD ROM libraries. It works well for this. I can't imagine ever using it to burn a CD or DVD -- we have USB flash drives today. Likewise ripping or burning an audio CD. It is a nice plus to be able to view video DVD's, but there are some limitations: ejecting, region lock, resizing, casting not possible. Likewise, a nice plus to be able to play audio CD's with Gracenotes. It is a head-scratcher to me that they aren't marketing this more strongly in the US market. I couldn't find anything on other optical disc drives which could work with Android. There has to be at least a niche market somewhere in the electronic world for this.

Take care,

Joe