Can I easily play Blu Ray through Win 7 Media Center?

[WannaFly]

I currently have a Win7 computer that i use soley as an HTPC. It's about 3 years old.
Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 Wolfdale 2.66GH
4GB DDR2 800
Onboard NVIDIA GeForce 7150

It plays the recorded TV in 1080 beautifully. I'd like to add a blu ray play, but only if it can be a matter of popping the disc in and playing it in media center.

I'd probably get a drive similar to this that comes with powerdvd, which i believe has the codec i'd need to play it through media center.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-12XRea...7621489&sr=8-1

Does this sound about right? I do not want to bother with ripping/etc. I just want to put the disc in and press play on my MCE remote, just like I do with a DVD now. Thanks!

 

[notposting]

Its my understanding that you have to play through an external application, it will be set to launch automatically and then go back to MC automatically when complete. This is why I have held off for now.

 

[Binky]

Blu-ray is not fully integrated with MCE. It plays outside but powerdvd and TMT both have semi-integrated themselves into MCE. You *might* have to do more than put the disc in and push play...i.e. use a keyboard at times, but it should work pretty smoothly.

Is your video output HDCP compliant? If not, a cheap video card like a 5450 or 6450 will give you an HDCP compliant HDMI output for $15-$20 or so.

The bundled Blu-ray software that comes with drives may be a castrated version that only allows for 2-channel audio. I'm not sure how you would check this before getting the drive. Just be aware that you might have to invest in additional software or an upgrade to get full quality sound.

 

[blackangst1]

If set up correctly, yes you can. Its a small amount of work to do, but you only have to do it once. I'll quote myself from another thread:

Windows Media Center + properly configured Shark007 codecs + MP3tag + Virtual Clone Drive + Mikinho Mount Image = playback of 99.9% of anything you throw at it including .iso, x264, DTS Master, flac, and DVD rips.

All free software.