First thing you need is an adapter cable - Micro USB OTG 

I got this one http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B005QX7KYU for $1.50.  It took a couple of weeks as it came from Asia.

You must use an external drive that has its own power source.

I have tested with an old, old LiteON DVD burner drive and a new Seagate 3 TB HDD.

Cable also works for phone interface and USB flash drive.

Here's a trick. If you only have an external cd drive that requires power from a pc to work- do the following.   works only if you have a laptop or PC besides your dell venue 8 pro.

Your External cd drive came with a Y cable. it goes into the computer to assist with power. 

Put one end of the Y cable in your main laptop

The other end into your Dell Venue.

Now 1 of the 2 (either the laptop or your venue will show up with a external cd drive) If it's the laptop, switch the Y cable around.

Now the venue will see the cd rom

This way you don't have to purchase a external CD drive with a power supply

It's just grabbing the power from the main laptop or PC and allowing it to connect to the venue. 

Hi,

You probably already fixed this issue but I have some relevant information here for others.

With the Venue 8 Pro, I strongly suggest using externally powered devices and if you need to use USB devices without external power then an OTG cable and externally powered USB hub is the way to go.

I put a few videos together and diagrams for my community users on one of my blogs.

http://InternetSchoolBus.com/blog - there are a number of videos specifically for Dell Venue 8 Pro.

Brian Collins

I have not tried it, but the Samsung SE-218BB drive is designed to work with tablets - even Android tablets. You'll need an OTG cable - and the drive comes with a standard USB to mini (not micro) USB cable.

I know that the DV8P can run an external USB floppy drive without requiring any additional power so I suppose it could also run a DVD drive designed for use with tablets.