What's the best way to play Blu-Ray movies on a PC?

[Alpha Skyhawk]

I just reformatted my hard drive, reinstalled just about everything, and realized that I don't remember where I put the disc that came with my Blu-Ray drive. It had PowerDVD on it.

I'd be up to spending money. From what I've read in the past, there are no free ways to watch Blu-Ray discs on a PC.

 

[Kid Panda]

VLC doesn't play Blu-Rays?

 

[Alpha Skyhawk]

VLC doesn't play Blu-Rays?

Not the last time I tried.

 

[Cylotron]

i used to use PowerDVD on my old laptop for blu-rays. it worked fine.

http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdvd/overview_en_US.html

 

[RabbitTroop]

Have you tried to contact your computer or device manufacturer and tell them you misplaced the install disk for PowerDVD? They should be able to get you a copy for free or for a small fee. Definitely cheaper than going the route of just buying it again. Unless you just want to download it the old fashion way.

By the way, I was surprised to hear VLC didn't support Bluray as well. Learn something new every day.

Edit: I have no way to test this, but it looks like bluray is supported in VLC: http://www.ehow.com/how_8474511_play-bluray-dvds-vlc.html

It supports everything... I'd at least give it a try with the latest version.

 

[neo_X7]

Has anybody heard when Apple is going to add Blu-ray to the Mac's?

 

[Alpha Skyhawk]

Well, it appears VLC at the very least has experimental Blu-Ray playback. It started with 2.0, and now they're up to 2.0.2.

This dude had problems. http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=102080

But maybe I'll give it a shot.

Have you tried to contact your computer or device manufacturer and tell them you misplaced the install disk for PowerDVD? They should be able to get you a copy for free or for a small fee.

It's been nearly three years. I doubt they would give away playback software by this point. I wouldn't do it if I were them.

 

[Alpha Skyhawk]

Well, I tried VLC and a few of the fixes that have been floating around. It didn't work with my Captain America disc. I think that's my latest disc, so it either doesn't work with newer discs, or it wasn't working at all. Either way, if it doesn't work with Cap, then it's useless to me.

My PowerDVD software might pop up somewhere. Until then, please keep those suggestions coming! Hopefully suggestions with experience, too. And Zardoz, thanks.

 

[Cylotron]

well, a side from Power DVD.. Win DVD also plays Blu Rays(is supposedly the best player for them) although it's $49.

then again, you could always find alternate ways of acquiring such things.... õ_Ô

 

[Lastblade]

VLC can play bluray but it doesn't support the hidef sound and menu doesn't work, so it will boot straight to the movie (or whatever the file structure it defaults to, so not all BRDs work). Frankly, it is pretty much unusable to me so I ended up using PowerDVD instead. Total Media Theater also works but it is jittery on my machine, I couldn't figure out why.

 

[RabbitTroop]

It's been nearly three years. I doubt they would give away playback software by this point. I wouldn't do it if I were them.

If there is one thing in life I've learned is it never hurts to ask/tell people what you want. I've been surprised on a number of occasions. Most people are just too damn stubborn or afraid to ask. What's it hurt to shoot off an email. If they say no, so what. You have nothing to lose.

 

[Alpha Skyhawk]

well, a side from Power DVD.. Win DVD also plays Blu Rays(is supposedly the best player for them) although it's $49.

then again, you could always find alternate ways of acquiring such things.... õ_Ô

$49 for WinDVD? I'll add that to my list of possible purchases. Thanks!

If there is one thing in life I've learned is it never hurts to ask/tell people what you want. I've been surprised on a number of occasions. Most people are just too damn stubborn or afraid to ask. What's it hurt to shoot off an email. If they say no, so what. You have nothing to lose.

It's less me being afraid to ask and more me not wanting to do something to somebody else that I wouldn't want done to me. I screwed up. I can pay for the consequences.

 

[bloodhokuto]

Have you tried MakeMKV? This is free,

You can apparently use this to stream feed the footage to VLC, but I prefer to rip the Blu Ray with Make MKV, then most video playing software will run the MKV files as is. (Although I don't have much choice because I have a Mac).

Only 2 things with this method;

1) Ripping the disc takes about the length of the film.

2) The film takes up round 20 - 35 GB.

Some links for this;


http://www.makemkv.com/

http://macenstein.com/default/2011/02/how-to-rip-a-blu-ray-movie-on-the-mac/

http://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1053


The second link is a simple guide on how to rip the disc properly (doesn't matter that it says its for the Mac as the PC version follows the same process, as far as I am aware).

Don't bother with the Handbrake bit (step 4 onward), unless your intent on keeping a BR rip library, -and it'll take ages, -and you will lose some quality, so not much point (for me).

The last link is for the temporary keys for the program (changes every month). (It's still free).

Has anybody heard when Apple is going to add Blu-ray to the Mac's?

Never gonna happen.

 

[Alpha Skyhawk]

I've heard about MakeMKV, but I'd rather be able to play directly off of the disc normally.

 

[Kid Panda]

Truthfully I'm surprised there is no freeware option for playing Blu-Rays :/
Or maybe I hate Sony that much..

 

[Ruell]

yeah, best bet is just to get PowerDVD and get it over with if you don't want to deal with the hassle. Of course, having a NAS with all you're blu-ray backups would be cool as heck though. But probably more just for the hard drives to hold everything than to just get the program.