Best Windows program for playing Bluray (I don't mind paying)

[MicrosoftBob]

After buying The Hobbit part 2 (The Desolation of Smaug) on Bluray, I found my supposedly top-of-the range Blueray player struggling in parts, and freezing at one or two points which required a power cycle before it would continue.

I'm pretty sure this wasn't due to dust on the disk, as the thing was brand spanking new and squeeky clean. So it seems its processor simply can't keep up with the high-definition data (15 Gbytes worth).

However, when trying to play the thing on my Alienware laptop, none of my programs would play it at all! So in summary, I wondered what the best most advanced Bluray player program was these days that would support this evidently new format (or the new copy protection the disk may incorporate).

To give an indication of the film's format on the disk, the latter comprises folders AACS, BDMV, CERTIFICATE (and a desktop.ini file)

Given that dual layer Blurays can already be 50gig in size that can only get woese

[MicrosoftBob]

Interesting to see confirmed my suspicion that blurays are not all created equal and the more recent ones with higher definition content cause borderline "el cheapo" players to struggle or even flake out. But as Bluray is a container format, I suppose that's only to be expected.

The all regions Bluray player I use in my lodgings is fine for most blurays. But when I tried playing the Hobbit Part 1 on it, it was whirring and clicking away like a grandfather clock about to strike the hour, and the picture was slowing and pausing almost non-stop.

Worst case I use DVDfab to rip them and then run them off a NAS box, never had any problems then

[CloudWalker]

here you go:

PowerDVD 14 Ultra - Blu-ray, HD, 3D & 4K Media Player Software | CyberLink

[OwlHoot]

I got a Bluray player just after that format won the war, it's quite a decent Sony box that we got because it was on offer and had just come top of one of those reviews in a home equipment magazine. We just don't use it these days as it's utterly abysmal for the more recent Bluray discs, I timed it taking nearly 4 minutes to get from disc in to playable and then I accidentally hit the "home" button which restarted the whole process. There are no firmware updates available for that box. At bits of very high bandwidth playback it has occasional framedrops and is clearly not up to the job. I gave up with the format as I'm too tight to get a newer version and I can get just as good a quality experience from downloading the content from, say, iTunes store.

Interesting to see confirmed my suspicion that blurays are not all created equal and the more recent ones with higher definition content cause borderline "el cheapo" players to struggle or even flake out. But as Bluray is a container format, I suppose that's only to be expected.

The all regions Bluray player I use in my lodgings is fine for most blurays. But when I tried playing the Hobbit Part 1 on it, it was whirring and clicking away like a grandfather clock about to strike the hour, and the picture was slowing and pausing almost non-stop.

[craig1]

Because they don't know which language you'll want the subtitles in, peut-être?

Ahhh... good point. Still.. funny furrin folk should be able to read proper English anyway

[Ticktock]

The one that really struck me as stupid though was the Lord of the Rings trilogy, why wouldn't they fully burn in subtitles in the bits where they're speaking elvish? Do they expect someone to turn it off to be more "realistic" or something?

Because they don't know which language you'll want the subtitles in, peut-être?

[craig1]

Beginner.... Got 11TB at the moment (although I lot are queued up TV series).

I hope you've got that backed up!

I had to re-rip quite a few as I'd not hit the "foreign language" subtitle search option. It's quite disheartening watching something where you know there should be the subtitles but they aren't there. The one that really struck me as stupid though was the Lord of the Rings trilogy, why wouldn't they fully burn in subtitles in the bits where they're speaking elvish? Do they expect someone to turn it off to be more "realistic" or something?

(I just realised this is way off topic, apologies!)

[eek]

You're most likely right with that. The wife used it for playing normal DVDs for a while as it was good for that, excellent upscaling functionality, but even that's gone now that I've ripped all our DVDs and stuck them on my media server (current size is 3.6TB)

Beginner.... Got 11TB at the moment (although I lot are queued up TV series).

[craig1]

That's surprising, and pretty disappointing really. I've always used my PS3 (and now PS4) for Blu-rays and they've never had any problems but they've obviously got far more grunt than any standalone Blu-ray player and they get software updates regularly.

You're most likely right with that. The wife used it for playing normal DVDs for a while as it was good for that, excellent upscaling functionality, but even that's gone now that I've ripped all our DVDs and stuck them on my media server (current size is 3.6TB)

[eek]

That's surprising, and pretty disappointing really. I've always used my PS3 (and now PS4) for Blu-rays and they've never had any problems but they've obviously got far more grunt than any standalone Blu-ray player and they get software updates regularly.

I had to replace my 2009 Sony blu-ray player for a new one a fortnight ago. Then discovered that I need one of the 2013 Samsung models as the 2014 are crippled by a change in how applications are created and deployed...

Personally I would have gone for a PS3 if the latest super slim model didn't look SO cheap....

[Bunk]

I got a Bluray player just after that format won the war, it's quite a decent Sony box that we got because it was on offer and had just come top of one of those reviews in a home equipment magazine. We just don't use it these days as it's utterly abysmal for the more recent Bluray discs, I timed it taking nearly 4 minutes to get from disc in to playable and then I accidentally hit the "home" button which restarted the whole process. There are no firmware updates available for that box. At bits of very high bandwidth playback it has occasional framedrops and is clearly not up to the job. I gave up with the format as I'm too tight to get a newer version and I can get just as good a quality experience from downloading the content from, say, iTunes store.

That's surprising, and pretty disappointing really. I've always used my PS3 (and now PS4) for Blu-rays and they've never had any problems but they've obviously got far more grunt than any standalone Blu-ray player and they get software updates regularly.

[craig1]

Have you tried updating the firmware on the Bluray player? I find it hard to believe a dedicated Bluray player would struggle with HD as that's its main purpose.

I got a Bluray player just after that format won the war, it's quite a decent Sony box that we got because it was on offer and had just come top of one of those reviews in a home equipment magazine. We just don't use it these days as it's utterly abysmal for the more recent Bluray discs, I timed it taking nearly 4 minutes to get from disc in to playable and then I accidentally hit the "home" button which restarted the whole process. There are no firmware updates available for that box. At bits of very high bandwidth playback it has occasional framedrops and is clearly not up to the job. I gave up with the format as I'm too tight to get a newer version and I can get just as good a quality experience from downloading the content from, say, iTunes store.

[Boo]

...I wondered what the best most advanced Bluray player program was these days ...

ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre got the best review in this weeks MicroMart roundup of such software. It's here on their website...

Hth,

Boo

[Bunk]

Have you tried updating the firmware on the Bluray player? I find it hard to believe a dedicated Bluray player would struggle with HD as that's its main purpose.

[OwlHoot]

After buying The Hobbit part 2 (The Desolation of Smaug) on Bluray, I found my supposedly top-of-the range Blueray player struggling in parts, and freezing at one or two points which required a power cycle before it would continue.

I'm pretty sure this wasn't due to dust on the disk, as the thing was brand spanking new and squeeky clean. So it seems its processor simply can't keep up with the high-definition data (15 Gbytes worth).

However, when trying to play the thing on my Alienware laptop, none of my programs would play it at all! So in summary, I wondered what the best most advanced Bluray player program was these days that would support this evidently new format (or the new copy protection the disk may incorporate).

To give an indication of the film's format on the disk, the latter comprises folders AACS, BDMV, CERTIFICATE (and a desktop.ini file)