Blu-Ray Discs not playing.

[SHOrdr]

just bought a new bulk packaged asus blu-ray play from microcenter. easily installed it and it reads discs fine. but when i put Rush Hour on Blu-Ray in, staring Chan and Tucker, it doesn't do much of anything so i thought hey i probably need a program to play the video so here i am.

Please direct me to a free Blu-Ray player program something clean and easy that works preferably, lol. Thank you AnandTech forum pplz!

Uhmmm, running windows 7 if it matters.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Sadly, there are no totally-free Blu-Ray disc playback programs for Windows.

Blu-Ray is patented up the wazoo, and the licensing fees for playback, are still not cheap.

If you get lucky, sometimes Newegg will have Blu-Ray/DVD playback software for $30 on sale. Generally, it will run you around $80 regular price.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Sadly, there are no totally-free Blu-Ray disc playback programs for Windows.

Blu-Ray is patented up the wazoo, and the licensing fees for playback, are still not cheap.

If you get lucky, sometimes Newegg will have Blu-Ray/DVD playback software for $30 on sale. Generally, it will run you around $80 regular price.

Gotta love that complete lack of Linux support too.

I heard VLC Media Player was making some headway into blue ray playback though. Might be worth looking into.

 

[oynaz]

Sadly, there are no totally-free Blu-Ray disc playback programs for Windows.

Blu-Ray is patented up the wazoo, and the licensing fees for playback, are still not cheap.

If you get lucky, sometimes Newegg will have Blu-Ray/DVD playback software for $30 on sale. Generally, it will run you around $80 regular price.

..and for some reason Blu-ray seems to be on it's way out fast.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

OP, look for a fire sale for Total Media Theatre.... the software was recently yanked off the market with not as much as a *beep* from the company, leaving customers scratching their heads...

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2400406

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I'll just mention macgo player as a cheap alternative. The windows version of course...

http://www.macblurayplayer.com/store.htm

Can't say how good it is, I'm using PowerDVD 12.

 

[sweenish]

..and for some reason Blu-ray seems to be on it's way out fast.

correlation != causation

Big fat hint, it's services like Netflix.

As for OP, you can rip the disc to your computer and watch it with the program of your choice if you use MakeMKV. Not a very efficient method.

If you just want to pop a disc in, use software. The drive should have come with some.

 

[cubby1223]

OP, look for a fire sale for Total Media Theatre.... the software was recently yanked off the market with not as much as a *beep* from the company, leaving customers scratching their heads...

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2400406

Blu-ray software needs occasional updates, I would pass on a company who just dropped support.

Cyberlink's PowerDVD Ultra is the standard, used to be able to easily find sites selling oem copies for like $10, but not seeing them right now. Keep an eye on ebay.

..and for some reason Blu-ray seems to be on it's way out fast.

I first heard that argument 8 years ago

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Blu-ray software needs occasional updates, I would pass on a company who just dropped support

Perhaps you should reconsider (and read between the lines).

1) I have TMT v5 (the last version which played Blu-Ray and HD-DVD), and I use it extensively with my high-definition disc collection (over 200 titles) - it never choked on any title.

2) Anyone who uses a HTPC for high-definition discs will also know to use AnyDVD HD - which supersedes the need to update the software player.

3) As far as the need for update goes, the only time I've seen a standalone player refusing to play a disc was with a first-generation Sony and "Terminator 2 - Skynet Edition".

 

[SHOrdr]

Thanks for the halps pplz love y'all!

 

[Anubis]

Slysoft - AnyDVDHD

 

[jkauff]

Slysoft - AnyDVDHD

AnyDVDHD will allow free players to access the main movie on the disc, but not the menus or extras. For that you still need something like PowerDVD. If you already own a recent version of Nero, the Platinum version has a pretty good Blu-ray player included.

Keep in mind that DRM copy-protection schemes are updated regularly, so even if you have anything other than the very latest version of PowerDVD you may still need AnyDVDHD to defeat the copy protection.

Even more important, AnyDVDHD allows you to rip an unprotected copy of the disc to a hard drive. I'm on another forum where they're discussing a bad case of disc rot on some Criterion titles. If the disc goes bad, you're out of luck without a backup.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Keep in mind that DRM copy-protection schemes are updated regularly, so even if you have anything other than the very latest version of PowerDVD you may still need AnyDVDHD to defeat the copy protection.

I'm using PowerDVD 12 build 3519, and so far no new discs have refused playback. That's a two and a half year old version, with the latest build dated 10 and a half months ago.

Also, if you happen to have an older PowerDVD version, the upgrade is not that expensive.

 

[cubby1223]

Slysoft - AnyDVDHD

I don't know how easily AnyDVD is available by searching google - I do know a purchased license of AnyDVD HD is more expensive than a purchased license of PowerDVD Ultra.

 

[jkauff]

I'm using PowerDVD 12 build 3519, and so far no new discs have refused playback. That's a two and a half year old version, with the latest build dated 10 and a half months ago.

Also, if you happen to have an older PowerDVD version, the upgrade is not that expensive.

You must not have come across any discs that use Cinavia copy protection. I think a later build of PowerDVD 13 was the first one that could play a Cinavia disc. It never became a widespread standard because of the high cost of a license. Most studios passed on it because the BD player manufacturers balked at the price.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

You must not have come across any discs that use Cinavia copy protection. I think a later build of PowerDVD 13 was the first one that could play a Cinavia disc. It never became a widespread standard because of the high cost of a license. Most studios passed on it because the BD player manufacturers balked at the price.

I'm not sure. Could you provide a few titles with known Cinavia protection so I can test...?

(Need to be available in either region B or region free)

 

[motsm]

AnyDVDHD will allow free players to access the main movie on the disc, but not the menus or extras.

You can access the extras without the menu by exploring the discs "Stream" folder. Sorting by file size will typically help identify the actual content, since nothing will have recognizable names.

 

[jkauff]

I'm not sure. Could you provide a few titles with known Cinavia protection so I can test...?

(Need to be available in either region B or region free)

Here's a link to a list maintained by the DVDFab folks, but there's no region specified:

http://blog.dvdfab.cn/cinavia-protection.html

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Here's a link to a list maintained by the DVDFab folks, but there's no region specified:

http://blog.dvdfab.cn/cinavia-protection.html

I have a few of those titles available, and they play just fine. Coincidently they're specifying PowerDVD 12 build 1905c as the update that adds Cinavia DRM.

 

[motsm]

I have a few of those titles available, and they play just fine. Coincidently they're specifying PowerDVD 12 build 1905c as the update that adds Cinavia DRM.

Cinavia on the disc is little more than a watermark from my understanding, so if the playback device you're using doesn't include the DRM, the watermark is completely meaningless. In other words, Cinavia is only effective when the Blu Ray player has it, as it will detect Cinavia discs and look for the proper watermark, if it's not found, it will either mute the audio or stop playback with an accompanying message.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Cinavia on the disc is little more than a watermark from my understanding, so if the playback device you're using doesn't include the DRM, the watermark is completely meaningless. In other words, Cinavia is only effective when the Blu Ray player has it, as it will detect Cinavia discs and look for the proper watermark, if it's not found, it will either mute the audio or stop playback with an accompanying message.

Far as I know, the Cinavia "protection" only checks if the content is protected by AACS. If that's the case, it doesn't do anything.

A bluray player that does not implement Cinavia should not care one way or the other, since there is no detection routine built-in.

Ganesh did a good piece on it two years ago:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5693/...top-worrying-and-love-blurays-selfdestruction

 

[smitbret]

Cinavia on the disc is little more than a watermark from my understanding, so if the playback device you're using doesn't include the DRM, the watermark is completely meaningless. In other words, Cinavia is only effective when the Blu Ray player has it, as it will detect Cinavia discs and look for the proper watermark, if it's not found, it will either mute the audio or stop playback with an accompanying message.

Except that any device that was manufactured after Feb 2012 and is licensed to fully support BR is required to support Cinavia. All Blu-Ray players must support it and that includes software players like PowerDVD.

Rip to .m2ts or .mkv and playback as a standalone video file and the BR thing is moot.

 

[motsm]

Except that any device that was manufactured after Feb 2012 and is licensed to fully support BR is required to support Cinavia. All Blu-Ray players must support it and that includes software players like PowerDVD.

Rip to .m2ts or .mkv and playback as a standalone video file and the BR thing is moot.

Yes, or use AnyDVD and play it in MPC, VLC, or the work in progress dslibbluray. Of course no one will notice Cinavia 99% of the time if they are playing the movie off the original disc anyway.

 

[smitbret]

Yes, or use AnyDVD and play it in MPC, VLC, or the work in progress dslibbluray. Of course no one will notice Cinavia 99% of the time if they are playing the movie off the original disc anyway.

You mean keep the discs in a cabinet and then pull them out and put them in BR Drive and then wait for it to load?

Then, if I want to watch a different movie, I have to remove the old disc, find the new one and go through the whole process again?

How archaic is that?