Need Blu Ray Drive

[olds]

EDIT: 9/6/12:
How's this drive?


Don't have a blu ray drive in my "htpc" and my stand alone blu ray player is dying.
Anything special I should look for in a PC blu ray drive? Signal is going to my HDTV.

Don't have 3D TV but I imagine I will in the future.

 

[assassin24]

Realize that Windows 7 doesn't playback Bluray discs without software. I like Corel WinDVD Pro as its about half the price of other options like TMT5 and just gets the job done. I don't play many discs though.

Picking an optical drive is tricky business. There are hundreds of models and many of them are rebadged models from other manufacturers. With that being said I prefer Lite-On as every drive of theirs I have used has been solid. ASUS is a good option as well although many are rebranded.

 

[olds]

Basically, I should look for a drive that comes bundled with software?
How about VLC or GOM Player?

 

[assassin24]

Basically, I should look for a drive that comes bundled with software?
How about VLC or GOM Player?

Be careful. Bundled software sometimes is locked. Only stereo sound instead of surround sound is one example.

I tried VLC and couldn't get it to work for bluray discs. Don't think GOM player will work either although I haven't tried it personally.

 

[Durvelle27]

the best blu-ray software in my opinion is PowerDVD

on sale for $59 i have the same one paid $100 for it though

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106369

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Most blu-ray drives come with crippled, older, or trial versions of playback software where you need to upgrade to the full-featured version.

Your best bet is to buy a decent inexpensive blu-ray player and then watch for a discounted version of PowerDVD, TMT5, or WinDVD. Personally, I like TMT5 because of it has the best integration with WMC. If that integration isn't imporatant to you then WinDVD may be your best bet.

 

[stargazr]

the best blu-ray software in my opinion is PowerDVD

on sale for $59 i have the same one paid $100 for it though

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106369

I have an LG drive that came with Cyberlink's PowerDVD and love it, although I am not familiar with any other blu-ray software.

 

[olds]

Thanks.
Starting to get the feeling I should just buy another stand alone player.

 

[joutlaw]

Thanks.
Starting to get the feeling I should just buy another stand alone player.

Yep, I looked into going this route when I built my HTPC last summer. I stuck with my standalone.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Thanks.
Starting to get the feeling I should just buy another stand alone player.

I wouldn't give up just yet. I've bought drives that came with full versions of blu ray software and if they needed updates they updated just fine. Blu ray on PC loads much faster than any stand alone and you also have the option of converting your blu ray to mp4 or mkv for on demand viewing without having to stick a disc in to watch and they don't take up much space once converted. They also still look great even when converted.

 

[KeithTalent]

I have an LG drive that came with Cyberlink's PowerDVD and love it, although I am not familiar with any other blu-ray software.

I too have an LG Blu-ray drive and the PowerDVD it came with works very well. I do wish I could change the region more times than it allows, but I guess I have my region free player for that, so not a huge deal. Aside from that minor quibble, I have no issues with the drive or the software.

KT

 

[Zorba]

I have an LG that came with PowerDVD, which was just fine. You can also get AnyDVD and play Blu-Rays in MediaPortal. I think MediaPortal is also working on native BR support, without the need of AnyDVD. BR on an HTPC really isn't that big of deal, I've been watching BRs on mine for 3 years.

 

[olds]

Do all PC Blu Ray drives play back 3D? Or does it have to have 3D in the specs?
Looking at this drive:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005FMDZRS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A1BVYXEL822RF0

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Do all PC Blu Ray drives play back 3D? Or does it have to have 3D in the specs?
Looking at this drive:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...A1BVYXEL822RF0

Any blu-ray drive 2X or greater can play back 3D. 3D on a PC is all about the video card and the playback software.

 

[assassin24]

Agreed. "3D Bluray Drives" are all marketing. It reads the "1s" and "0s" just like a non-3D drive does.

 

[Rio Rebel]

I have an LG drive that came with Cyberlink's PowerDVD and love it, although I am not familiar with any other blu-ray software.

In my opinion, the best deal is to get a drive like this that comes with a limited Powerdvd9, and it qualifies you to upgrade to Powerdvd 12 ultra for 44.95. I just did that.

I used TMT for a long time, but it costs twice as much and is not quite as good, imo.

 

[funboy6942]

I may be wrong, but I believe K-lite supports Blu-ray, and its free.

 

[funboy6942]

Also I bought this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136250 for my pc, at half the price of what youre looking at, and its been great so far.

 

[Rio Rebel]

I guess a lot of this depends on a person's needs. If you want to integrate better with WMC, maybe you want TMT. If you want basic playback at lowest cost, you might get WinDVD or something else. For me, I want reliable bitstreaming of TrueHD and DTS Master Audio, 3D playback and conversion, and minimal to no crashing. PowerDVD was the best option for me.

 

[olds]

Also I bought this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136250 for my pc, at half the price of what youre looking at, and its been great so far.

What do you use for playback software?

Looks like VLC may work.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

What do you use for playback software?

Looks like VLC may work.

The statement made by the NE reviewer is a bit misleading. He didn't mention that in order to playback BD using VLC you need to circumvent the disc encryption by using something like AnyDVD HD.

There is no way to reliably playback blu-ray disks unless you use one of the major 3 intended for that purpuse that have already been mentioned in this thread. You can always rip a disc and then do playback with freeware like MPC-HC but it's still ultimately not free because disk space costs money, not to mention the time invested to rip the movies.

 

[olds]

The statement made by the NE reviewer is a bit misleading. He didn't mention that in order to playback BD using VLC you need to circumvent the disc encryption by using something like AnyDVD HD.

There is no way to reliably playback blu-ray disks unless you use one of the major 3 intended for that purpuse that have already been mentioned in this thread. You can always rip a disc and then do playback with freeware like MPC-HC but it's still ultimately not free because disk space costs money, not to mention the time invested to rip the movies.

Thanks. Not interested in ripping movies.

 

[funboy6942]

What do you use for playback software?

Looks like VLC may work.

VLC and K-Lite does not work. I use Cyberlink PowerDVD 10. I thought the other 2 worked but I think that was back when I had anydvdhd installed. Now I just use 10 to play all my movies with. I think though youd be better off with the drive I mentioned and getting powerDVD12. The stuff that would come with the drive I am sure will be watered down, then you have to upgrade at $55~ making it around $160 to enjoy Blu Ray movies with the new hardware.

Or you can just get anydvd/HD for cheaper and use VLC or Klite Classic media player. Dont have to be ripping the movies to install it to have it decode the movies so you can play them on what ever you want, with what ever you want. In fact I may just install it again and try VLC and Klite to see if it works. Ill report back if it does.

 

[funboy6942]

Confirmed. I dl'd the trial version of slysoft anydvdHD and it plays with Klite media player classic. Just be sure to dl the mega pack with player and install lots of stuff. I was going to buy powerdvd 12, but I think Im going to go with Klite instead. It bypassed all the adverts and warnings and went right to movie.

 

[funboy6942]

So, what you end up doing??