Blu Ray playback software

I have recently purchased a BD drive for my pc, the drive itself did not come with any software. I need to know a good and affordable software solution for BD playback.

Thx
 
windows media player/center should be able to do it if you buy a BR codec from MS's marketplace thingy... I'm guessing that would be the cheapest option. Other than that there's full-blown packages like PowerDVD or WinDVD that also do BR these days. Haven't used either of these programs for years and years, but last I did they were becoming bloated and trying to do too much at once. Maybe things have changed in the half-decade+ since I last used 3rd-party PC playback software.
 
Total Media Theater was better than either powerdvd or windvd in the past. I cannot be sure now though as I haven't looked into it for awhile. I was trying to wait till they got a new version out (as the new version of PDVD copied many of the good stuff from TMT and I thus hoped TMT would again innovate).
 
MPC Home Cinema might be able to do it.

http://www.freewarefiles.com/Media-Player-Classic-Home-Cinema_program_37052.html

http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/media-player-features.html

Some Russians have been doing heaps of updates to an ongoing, perpetual, beta version.

http://www.xvidvideo.ru/media-player-classic-home-cinema-x86-x64/

Here's a guide, it's a little on the old side as the latest betas have new features.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/accelerate-x264-1080p-movies-over-the-gpu-guide/4

Anyway, MPC HC should have everything it needs within its own libraries. No need to download and register other codecs.

The VLC Player has recently gotten a lot better. It too might play Blu ray and it too has all its own libraries.

http://www.videolan.org/

You need a decent CPU with The VLC Player as it won't use hardware acceleration, afaik.
 
Total Media Theater was better than either powerdvd or windvd in the past. I cannot be sure now though as I haven't looked into it for awhile. I was trying to wait till they got a new version out (as the new version of PDVD copied many of the good stuff from TMT and I thus hoped TMT would again innovate).

I recently tested TMT, PD, WinDVD and decided to payup for TMT as it gave best overal IQ. Also their upscaling solution for DVD is quite good aslong as sharpness is balanced and ATI CCC video settings are balanced as they also get into effect. The uscaling can run on GPGPU ATI/NVidia and has recently got addition of dynamic color adjustment.
 
MPC Home Cinema might be able to do it.

http://www.freewarefiles.com/Media-Player-Classic-Home-Cinema_program_37052.html

http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/media-player-features.html

Some Russians have been doing heaps of updates to an ongoing, perpetual, beta version.

http://www.xvidvideo.ru/media-player-classic-home-cinema-x86-x64/

Here's a guide, it's a little on the old side as the latest betas have new features.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/accelerate-x264-1080p-movies-over-the-gpu-guide/4

Anyway, MPC HC should have everything it needs within its own libraries. No need to download and register other codecs.

The VLC Player has recently gotten a lot better. It too might play Blu ray and it too has all its own libraries.

http://www.videolan.org/

You need a decent CPU with The VLC Player as it won't use hardware acceleration, afaik.


Hmm, how would those free programs go about decrypting actual Blu-ray discs? Wouldn't they require a license and key updates every now and then?

@ OP: That is an outrage, I would not have accepted the drive without a player software.
 
I would not have accepted the drive without a player software.
Not all people run the same OS, so bundling software people might not be able to use will lose you sales.

Also, some people might already have their own software, making any bundled software redundant and rising prices needlessly - again costing sales.

Third, not all people might enjoy the bundled software. It might be an old, obsolete version by the time you buy the drive, yet you have to pay for it regardless, raising cost, and possibly leading to lost sales once more...
 
:smacks head:

You're right, I'd forgotten about the encryption process. I just saw

MPC will play almost any format from MP3´s to Blu-Ray DVD´s.
and didn't think they must be referring to disks that were decrypted.

Apologies to the OP if I wasted any of their time.

Now that I think about it I remember some customers at Newegg were complaining that their OEM Blu ray burners/players were coming without any software.

Apparently it was hit or miss with some people getting some software.

Hmmm, here we go.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136181

Huh, seems the complaints are valid. I went to LG's site and they won't recognize that OEM model as supported.

If this is the drive in question, my sympathies at not getting any software!
 
Not all people run the same OS, so bundling software people might not be able to use will lose you sales.

Also, some people might already have their own software, making any bundled software redundant and rising prices needlessly - again costing sales.

Third, not all people might enjoy the bundled software. It might be an old, obsolete version by the time you buy the drive, yet you have to pay for it regardless, raising cost, and possibly leading to lost sales once more...

Riiiiight, bundled software means lost sales. You learn something new every day. :D
Just an idea, the cost incurred is neglible, the software is basically a freebie, mostly bait and switch, don't confuse this with the infamous Windows Tax. If you don't like the software, don't use it, throw the disc away. It's still ten times more preferable to have something that provides at least basic functionality, like a burning software or a player, than having nothing at all - which defeats the whole point of the purchase in the first place :D See the OP's problem.
 
The cost of BR playback software is not negligible though, because there's a sizeable license fee for every BR playback product sold (be it hardware OR software). So it WILL add up cost on the product, and that's undoubtedly the reason why there's no software included.
 
:smacks head:

You're right, I'd forgotten about the encryption process. I just saw

and didn't think they must be referring to disks that were decrypted.

Apologies to the OP if I wasted any of their time.

Now that I think about it I remember some customers at Newegg were complaining that their OEM Blu ray burners/players were coming without any software.

Apparently it was hit or miss with some people getting some software.

Hmmm, here we go.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136181

Huh, seems the complaints are valid. I went to LG's site and they won't recognize that OEM model as supported.

If this is the drive in question, my sympathies at not getting any software!

Its quite alright and the player is the Liteon model. For whatever reason I was under the impression that it had software bundled with it. The only problem is that with all the suggested software I am seeing is that it is about the same cost of the drive. I will most likely only use the drive for BD playback very rarely, but at the same time I would still like the option.
 
I will most likely only use the drive for BD playback very rarely, but at the same time I would still like the option.
Then you should look at just trying to acquire the BR codec for windows media player if that is possible. I've seen DVD codec/decrypt key for sale in the past, it stands to reason - or so I assume anyway - that the same is possible for BR as well. Then again maybe it's not that simple, since BR contains full Java support and shit... Maybe you need a full dedicated player for it to work. :p
 
Also the OP didn't mention whether the drive was an OEM version or not. OEM drives very rarely come with any software.
 
Then you should look at just trying to acquire the BR codec for windows media player if that is possible. I've seen DVD codec/decrypt key for sale in the past, it stands to reason - or so I assume anyway - that the same is possible for BR as well. Then again maybe it's not that simple, since BR contains full Java support and shit... Maybe you need a full dedicated player for it to work. :p

Unfortunately there currently is no way to integrate it with WMP or WMC. It seems that I am regulated to using 3rd party software (which is rather overpriced).

Also the OP didn't mention whether the drive was an OEM version or not. OEM drives very rarely come with any software.

Perhaps I wasnt clear, but my concern wasnt that the player didnt come with software rather that I need affordable software for BD playback. Sorry if this wasnt clear.

My primarily complaint isnt the lack of software, but that much of the software available actually costs more than the drive itself.
 
Perhaps I wasnt clear, but my concern wasnt that the player didnt come with software rather that I need affordable software for BD playback. Sorry if this wasnt clear.

My primarily complaint isnt the lack of software, but that much of the software available actually costs more than the drive itself.

Oh your post was fine, I should have quoted this in my reply:

Kurl said:
@ OP: That is an outrage, I would not have accepted the drive without a player software.
 
It would if it has a burner function and you use it for backup purposes or somesuch (illegal movie pirating, lol)... Other than that, it would just be for watching movies.
 
This reminds me why I haven't made the switch to BR yet. We don't even own a HD TV-set (old 100Hz CRT which gets very little play as is), no graphics card that can output CP content on my PC or laptop (not sure, it's a 8800GTS but no adapter, no HDMI) and I have no BR drive, but worst of all, no BR movies. I used to have exactly one but "gifted" it to a friend who let us watch it at his place in exchange :p

And why do people burn pirated movies anyway? From what I've seen blank BRs are crazy expensive and the aggregate cost of burner, copying/ripping software and blanks must be prohibitive when you can get 7 euro Blu-Rays on sale. HDDs are still cheaper, safer and faster as pure backup media, too. Thankfully we get invited over to various friends for some HD goodness every once in a while.
 
In the US, blank BD-R single-layer 25 Gig discs are under $3 USD and can be had for $2 if you buy in larger quantity (25 = $2.29, 100 = $2.19, 500 = $1.99).
 
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