Guys, I recently purchased a Pioneer BDR-S06XLB writer but am struggling to find software that will play Blu-Ray movies. I was hoping to use XBMC but that does not seem to play Blu-Ray and neither does VLC (well not without a lot of messing about anyroad). I have my HTPC connected to my TV downstairs and this in turn is connected to my home network. So my question is this, is there some free software that will allow me to play Blu-Ray with the option of playing it over the network i.e streamed from my PC upstairs?
You could stream from MakeMKV to VLC on the machine upstairs. Personally I'd recommend Arcsoft Total Media for bluray playback. It's not free but it's the best software I've found (& it integrates with Media Centre perfectly)
Yes hopefully, but I want to be able play Blu-Ray discs too. I will take a look at this.. I did get a disc that came with the Blu-Ray writer which has PowerDVD 9 on it and a serial key. It does state on the disc that it is 2Ch, what is this does anyone know? I also see that CyberLink now has PowerDVD 11 Ultra so even if I do use the software on the disc it's out of date straight away.
It's 2 channel audio decoding only. PowerDVD is also quite rubbish when it comes to playback and actually working with newer titles.
Okay so the list so far for recommended players is: - Arcsoft Total Media (very expensive) PowerDVD (quite expensive) DAPlayer (free) VSO Player (free) VLC Player which will apparently play MKV files I am really wanting a player that will play ripped Blu-Rays and a one that will play Blu-Ray discs out of the box. Whilst I am at it what do people use to rip their Blu-Rays to HDD?
I got a free version of Power DVD 9 with my blu-ray drive too, it does have an annoying ad asking me to upgrade. I think it is locked to 2 channel audio, thankfully I do not have a surround sound setup, otherwise the fact that it is an older version is irrelevant to me, it works and was effectively free.
I got PowerDVD 8 with my drive. A few months back it started to fall behind, and wasn't able to keep up with some new releases. Then, out of the blue, Cyberlink notified me that I got an upgrade to PowerDVD 10 for free. I have no idea why it happened. That was the happiest I've been in years As others have noted MakeMKV can be used for free, it will rip your BD's in lossless quality.
Personally, I use DVDFab to rip the full blu-ray disk in folder format to a ReadyNAS NV+. On my desktop, I don't do anything fancy except VLC to open the folder and plays like a charm. Full video resolution and audio transfers SPDIF to the receiver just fine (Dolby Digital, etc.) On my HTPC, I am playing around with XBMC and using TMT (Total Media Theatre) as an external plugin to stream the discs from the NAS or play them with the hardware bluray drive. (If anyone has a tutorial or knows how to do this, drop me a line. It's rather frustrating to set up.)
I use Power DVD 9 simply because it came free with my Samsung Blu Ray Player. Some oem versions (ie. free with players) are locked to 2 channel audio but this is only a problem if you actually have a multi speaker set up. Power DVD 9 plays all the latest blu rays despite what you may hear to the contrary (I have used it with several brand new titles). It may require you to patch the software (easy and free) and it may also require you to update your players firmware (you should be doing this as a matter of course anyway). Yes it will prompt you to upgrade to version 11 from time to time, but one small flash screen on programme start up is not too much of an annoyance. Power DVD seems to be universally loathed here, but if you have a copy for free then it is fine. If you are prepared to splash out some cash, then as someone stated above - Arcsoft Total Media Theatre is generally accepted to be really good. *edit* Thought it may help to give you a heads up on patching power dvd 9. In the software, go to settings and then upgrade. Under this tab will be some entries for power dvd 11 - which are links to their web site. There should also be a entry to patch power dvd 9. This should be a link to their web site where you can download a patch. This will need to be downloaded and run as an executable (it is not an automatic patching procedure). You can not download patches for the oem version directly from their web site support pages, you must follow the link given in the software update tab. Follow the manufacturers instructions for updating your drive firmware and hopefully your good to go. This should work but their is no guarantee. Each oem version of power dvd 9 is unique and they may have stopped offering support for some versions. If your drive is still on sale in the marketplace though then there should be patch support for the software. Good luck.
You can get $30 off Totalmedia Theatre at the moment if you use the code nyarc30. That makes it a bit more reasonably priced.
I use DVDFab for normal DVD's and really wanted to use their blu-ray ripper but it was a little costly (although I may just buy it anyroad). I think using MakeMKV and Handbrake may just be as good I dont know... When you use DVDFab to rip your blu-ray's does it put it into MKV format? and thanks for the info guys, really informative.
No it rips them raw and are exactly the same as the disc. you need handbrake to then convert the massive 25GB BR to an .mkv and remove the crap and compress slightly.
I use MakeMKV for a straight rip than XBMC for playback. I don't see the point of compressing the rips as I want full Blu-Ray quality.
I was under the impression XBMC couldnt play Blu-Ray .mkv files or have I got it confused with not being able to play from a Blu-ray disc?
now that i have it working properly, i have powerdvd 11 ultimate, upgrade version, with that i can use iphone as remote control
