Windows 7 will not support Blu-ray playback

And? None of the previous Windows operating systems naively supported old fashioned DVD's either. That's what PowerDVD and TMT are for.

Thats funny VMC allows me to play DVDs without a crappy 3rd party app.

Yeah, not a big deal. I expected to use 3rd party software players anyways. Actually, I would use a 3rd party player anyways, even if M$ support BD playback.

That can only happen with 3rd party software installed that circumvents old fashioned DVD copy protection like AnyDVD since the OS does have mpeg2 playback capability. You can also playback DVD that done have copy protection or "ripped DVDs". Similar to how sageTV works (another media center type product).

yeah...A bit disappointing...I will continue to rip with AnyDVDHD...Hard disk space is cheap...I got 4.5TB useable in a RAID 5 NAS...$900.

Why am I not surprised.

They still have it against Sony? Dont want to pay royalties to the BluRay group?
Or is it that hard to implement?

edit:
just read it and I was right.

This is about as crazy as saying that Windows 7 will not natively support Microsoft Word. No, it doesn't come bundled with the OS, but you buy the program and install it, and you're done. Simple concept.

It would be nice if it came bundled with every piece of software anybody would ever need, but that would unnecessarily raise the price of admission and be just a little bit too bloated.

Why would you expect that it would? We had to wait until Vista to get native DVD playback. I wouldn't count on native blu-ray playback until another windows version or 2. Does it really matter?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't individuals confirmed that bluray discs copied to hard drive are playing fine in MC7? If that's the case, then that seems like a nice compromise.

They aren't playing fine. You still need a Blu-ray player app to play them as Blu-rays. You may be able to play the individual files - but that isn't the same thing. To get the proper Blu-ray experience (menus etc.) you need a player app, just as you used to need a DVD player app on earlier Windows builds.

I can see MS not wanting to buy a Blu-ray licence for each copy of Windows they sell - but they could have at least made it an upgrade option? Native integration in Media Center has to be implemented for Media Center to be taken seriously surely?

MS has no stake in Blu-Ray, why would they promote it?

There is a reason why MS promoted HD-DVD before it finally gave up. Blu-Ray support will not be included in Windows unless Blu-Ray becomes as ubiquitous as DVD's. And that is not a given.

"I can see MS not wanting to buy a Blu-ray licence for each copy of Windows they sell - but they could have at least made it an upgrade option?"

According to MS, they are not going to support Blu-Ray and will leave it to BR drive makers and other third party to hook into W7MC.

I wish they would make it possible for a 3rd party to write an app that could effectively replace media player as the default media center player and thus integrate fully into the GUI. I would pay a lot for that.

what does microsoft have to gain by including bd in windows? that is, how would MS make money from bd?

looks to me like they would just be paying a lot of money to use the technology and that money would be going to their big competition (sony, sun, etc.). MS was not part of the bda and bda companies only grudgingly used MS technology mainly to lure in studio support.

if they have a choice in investing development resources, it makes more sense for microsoft to go after downloads and streaming where there is still a lot of opportunity for them.

Microsoft invested time and energy into hd media before the formats launched. they tried to get HDi into the bd specs. also pushed for mandatory managed copy. the bda companies snubbed them and now it appears that ms cannot make enough money off bd to justify putting any more time into it.

Well presumably MS will lose some sales in the Media Center portion of the market.

If a consumer buys a Media Center PC to connect to their HDTV, it is not unreasonable to expect it to play a BD disk as well as a DVD in this day and age, just as you would expect it to receive HDTV as well as SDTV. If MS can't support BD in a consumer-friendly manner out of the box - and rely on klunky, and not that well implemented, 3rd party solutions (Cyberlink and Arcsoft you know who you are) they aren't really taking that portion of the market seriously.

It may be that they have taken a calculated decision that that bit of the market isn't worth the cost. It may be that until the BDA makes it easier to license BD tech (which it recently has) from a single entity, rather than multiple tech rights holders, it hasn't been that easy to do. Licensing from a single entity rather than directly with Sony, Sun etc. may also be a bit more palatable I guess...

There may also be a degree of not wishing to agree that they backed the wrong horse with HD-DVD either.

However if MS think that streaming and download are going to be rivals for BD in the HTPC quality stakes, they are currently mistaken. All the HD downloads I have seen are pitiful in quality (sound and vision) terms in comparison with a good BD.

I can see Microsoft's reasons, but at the same time, they and everyone else should think about what the consumer wants. As it is, my options for movies are vast, and I typically just buy the blu-ray and then either rip it or download the movie so that I can hit it with my NAS from VMC.

Most of the time the disks just gather dust because they're cumbersome.

Honestly, I think they don't want to squash the 3rd party app people. GEt too big and offer too much and you get slapped with a charge of becoming a monopoly.

Even Apple/Jobs does not want to deal with Blu-Ray...It is a "Bag of Hurt".

the pc manufacturers bundle 3rd party players. microsoft still gets the OS sale even if they didn't provide the player software.

how many sales of bd equipped pcs are actually lost because they have a 3rd party player instead of an MS player?



it is unreasonable to expect any corporation to pay to include technology that doesn't make them any money.

the consumers are getting the bd playback with 3rd party software bundled by the pc manufacturer.


the only reason a corporation doesn't include new tech is because they believe they can't make money with it. it is either that they can't make money short term or they have a long term strategy that bd is in conflict with.


imo this is assigning human emotion to a corporation. they couldn't care less about the past mistake if they can make money now. if they have corporate execs that make decisions out of sour grapes then they should be fired and replaced with people that have good business sense. wait a sec... that is what happened the top execs of the loosing format for the most part, aren't making the decisions anymore.


doesn't matter if downloads and streaming are currently THE hd technology or not. the point is that the technology is still evolving (bd isn't). MS is effectively locked out of bd IP and there is nothing they can do about it. they can invest in downloads and streaming and if that takes off then they can have a piece of that pie. the bd pie is already divided up as far as who will make the big money and ms isn't on that list. also, you seem to think that download and streaming is only useful for hd video (like bd). in fact, it is used for all types of video. ms gets paid to create the tech. behind free downloads and free streaming.

That's a bit expensive for so (relatively) little space.. Unless of course you have room for 8-10 more HDDs in the Nas Box..

the bda specifically designed bd to block you from copying discs to your pc. that is the purpose of the drm. microsoft tried to get them to support mandatory managed copy.

MS got burned bad by including an Internet browser in Windows. They are STILL fighting lawsuits over it...and that happened with Win95.

Image tha lawsuits over putting BR playing ability into Windows.

The EU already sees MS as a steady source of lawsuit gained income...MS does not want to make it easier on them to take it.

I don't think this has anything to do with promoting BR. It all comes down to money, and if they were to support BR it would easilly put another $20-30 on top of the price we already will be paying.

As far as I can remember XP didn't support DVDs, but Vista did (atleast some versions). So it might come in Windows 8 or 9 depending on where BR turnes out to be at that point.

They sure are. Microsoft developed the VC-1 codec used on a lot of Blu-ray discs

This makes sense to me. I honestly only know 4 maybe 5 people with BD player (including myself). Blu-ray isn't mainstream enough to mess with yet.

Ditto to above...cynical, yes, but prob so true.