[tboooe]

I am planning on building an HTPC with a bluray drive. From what I understand there are 3 options in terms of software to play bluray:

Cyberlink Power DVD
Arcsoft True Media Theater
Corel WinDVD

Which one is the best?

[eskro]

altho i never tried it yet,
latest XBMC should be able to play unEncryted Bluray Discs by now...

And for Encrypted Bluray Discs,
you'll need the help of a copy-protection remover such ANYDVD-HD...

Also, theres a Bluray Plugin for XBMC that works with MakeMKV...
see here --> http://lifehacker.com/#!5621471/how-to-e...ck-in-xbmc

[tboooe]

altho i never tried it yet,
latest XBMC should be able to play unEncryted Bluray Discs by now...

And for Encrypted Bluray Discs,
you'll need the help of a copy-protection remover such ANYDVD-HD...

Also, theres a Bluray Plugin for XBMC that works with MakeMKV...
see here --> http://lifehacker.com/#!5621471/how-to-e...ck-in-xbmc

Thank you eskro. Much better than paying $50 for PowerDVD!

[eskro]

no problem good luck

[tboooe]

no problem good luck

Now I just have to find me a slim bluray drive thats reasonably priced. Why does it seem like there are not many options? Most of the slim bd drives I found have been discontinued (Sony, LG).

[ZOTAC PR]

I use PowerDVD to playback Blu-ray. I have XBMC configured with the Launcher plugin to launch PowerDVD - and PowerDVD set to always play in full screen.

The other solutions require ripping/reencoding the movie first, instead of just popping it in and hitting play.

[eskro]

ZOTAC PR, i've read that the latest XBMC now plays unEncrypted Bluray Discs...
Altho u dont get the MEnu and stuff, they movie itself will play!

And like i said, if the disc is protected,
with the help of ANYDVD-HD, XBMC will be able to play the movie...

but again, without getting the MEnu and Extras...
and thats because XBMC is free and it would need to be a pay-able app
to allow use to see BD Menus and Extras...
and that wont ever happen,, at least i think

[poofyhairguy]

The other solutions require ripping/reencoding the movie first, instead of just popping it in and hitting play.

Ripping isn't that bad. Once you do it you just have to hit play.

[AJP69]

AnyDVD HD is real time no need to rip.

[jaydash]

I've been using the Blu-ray plugin that works with MakeMKV... it works pretty well, I really like it.

But the ANYDVD option sounds even better (I don't care about menus or extras)... but how does it handle Blu-rays with episodes, say for instance one of the Dexter Blu-rays I've got at the house from Netflix right now? Will it allow you to browse the streams or will it just play the biggest stream?

[eskro]

with the Blu-ray MakeMKV plugin, you can browse to the stream u want manually

[ZOTAC PR]

Ripping isn't that bad. Once you do it you just have to hit play.

Yes but if your XBMC system has a small boot SSD - it won't fit and ripping to a network location isn't ideal for speed reasons .

[P.Kosunen]

No need to rip, MakeMKV has some kind of http stream system integrated.

[teaguecl]

Yes but if your XBMC system has a small boot SSD - it won't fit and ripping to a network location isn't ideal for speed reasons .

These are symptoms of a poorly thought out system. Why is your BR drive in the htpc at all? It should be in your NAS - speed problem solved.

[poofyhairguy]

ripping to a network location isn't ideal for speed reasons .

If you have a good enough network you can pass Blu Ray files back and forth on it all day without any trouble. Its what I do almost daily.