Why wont my samsung dvd-vr357 play blu ray disks

See if I can make this simple and integrate the previous 2 answers. Macgo is talking about playing Blu-ray on a computer. The samsung dvd vr357 is a home unit so that answer does not apply. Referring to the second answer. Blu-ray is not a glorified DVD. Also, you can not play a blu-ray on any DVD player. If you could then it would be a Blu-ray player. So the "most case" mentioned is moot. No DVD player plays blu-ray.

The laser on a DVD player is red. The laser on a blu-ray is, well, blue. The data on a blue ray disc, or pits, are smaller than a DVD disc. The blue laser can read the smaller data as well as the "larger" pits on a DVD.

trying to keep is simple again, as for as blu-ray being a "glorified" DVD. When this all started TV had 240 lines of resolution. The video cassette followed this. Think of your white, red, yellow patch chord that plugs into the back of your TV from your VCR. Then we had "super" VHS and it used a "S-VHS" cable, a round plug with pins inside, to give more lines of resolution. A DVD player will have this connection in the back, as well as the white, red, yellow connectors to work on older TV's. The "S" cable will send 480 lines of resolution to your TV so your DVD will look a lot better than standard TV ( read yellow connector, the other two are for audio ).

Then "High Definition" arrived. We had 720 and 1080 for HD-TV. 720 is dead. The blu-ray sends 1080 lines of resolute to the TV. More than double the DVD. To get the 1080 lines you have to use a HDMI cable or what is called a "component" cable. Which looks like the white, red, yellow cable but is called a red, green, blue cable, the ends are color coded as such. It plugs into the appropriate connections on the back of the TV.

Not all TV's have all the connections. Some DVD players had Red Green Blue connectors only and the TV had HDMI only so they were incompatible. HDMI cables have pretty much replaced RGB cables. And S video has been replaced by blu-ray. If your going to pay the money for a TV 40 inches or larger you might as well have 1080 lines of resolution. That is what they are made for.

You need a blu-ray player software to play blu-ray discs. Besides, your external drive must support blu-ray discs. If you still need a blu-ray player, try Macgo Blu-ray Player for Both Windows and Mac.
http://www.macblurayplayer.com/

Educated guess is you need a blu ray player. I have several very expensive Pioneer Elite DVD players and they cannot play blu ray. Blu ray is a multi level glorified DVD which you need at least a blu ray player to play in almost all cases.

You can play dvds on a blue ray but not the reverse in most cases. If you play a dvd on a blu ray player it kicks the video up to HD for the DVD.