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Blu-Ray Software for XP or MCE 2005

5687 Views 12 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  mva5580, 
B
I am finally buying a BD-ROM drive, so that my HTPC can begin to fulfill one of the original goals I built it for more than a year ago.


The playback software choices seem to be:


Nero Showtime

WinDVD HD

PowerDVD Ultra

Total Media Theatre


My system:


MCE 2005, Core 2 Duo, 3 GB RAM, GeForce 8600GT (with HDCP chip), and either the upcoming Sony BD-ROM drive or the Pioneer one. I have a Sharp 46" LCD TV connected via HDMI. My receiver is connected via Toslink to the PC, and it will stay that way - I only have 3.0 audio. Maybe this year I'll upgrade to 3.1.


I use Media Center, although I don't expect to be able to watch Blu-Ray within Media Center, I do expect to be able to use the MCE remote control.


My impression is that all of the 4 programs listed above suck and are astonishingly, even unacceptably, buggy. But I am sure that some of you have used all of them. Which sucks less with the configuration I have? To put it another way, who should get my money?


Thanks for your insight!
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M
PowerDVD Ultra is the "best" of the bunch. It's not as bad as what a lot of people would make you think, but at the same time it needs work. I don't know about XP, but in Vista Media Center you can configure it to where PowerDVD Ultra starts from within Media Center when you put a Blu-Ray in, and after you exit the program, it loads Media Center again.


I have the Media Center USB receiver as well, and I can use my remote within PowerDVD. It's not perfect software by any means, but I can't imagine many people thinking any of the other choices are better.
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kapone
My vote would be - None.


Save the money from the drive, and buy a standalone Blu ray player. given some of the recent announcements by the studios, I'd probably lean towards a BD player, instead of an HD DVD player.
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B
Thanks mva.


Do you know if there is any difference at all between the $100 PowerDVD Ultra download on Cyberlink's site, and the download that's 25% cheaper at NewEgg?
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M
hmmmmmmm well after reading that at newegg, I have 2 thoughts


1) People who write those reviews are funny.


2) It would APPEAR to me that it's the same version, but it's hard to absolutely know for sure. I mean it says that it's PowerDVD Ultra, and if it is, and they're sending you a valid Product Key, at that point you should still be able to go onto Cyberlink's site and download the full version directly from them anyway.


You're paying that amount more for the product key than you are the software, because anyone can download the program directly from their site. You just need the product key to actually be able to use it.
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B
Product reviews on Newegg tend to be comedy gold.


It seems the Newegg version might be classified as "OEM" but I'm not sure if that distinction actually means anything to me. Since Cyberlink likely won't provide support either way, I might as well save a few bucks. Or so my logic goes...


I also need to decide whether to keep my backorder at Amazon for the new Sony BD-ROM (BDUX10S) drive, or just pay $20 more and get the Pioneer BDC-202 that also burns DVDs.
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M
I think you're most likely right on your thinking about the whole OEM-or-not issue. Obviously everyone's experience is different, but I've never actually e-mailed them myself about any issues. And to be honest I myself have never had an issue with PowerDVD Ultra, it's ran fine. I understand everyone's experience is different, but I'm a little less hostile towards the product because I just haven't had the issues. The audio portion of it still needs some work, but honestly for the great majority of it, I don't have any complaints.


As for the drive, can't help you much there. I have the LG Combo drive and enjoy it very much. I'd never really burn any Blu-Ray's, so I guess I personally would stick with the normal drive. Especially considering the cost of Blu-Ray record-able discs right now, ridiculous. But obviously, your call.
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B
I ordered PowerDVD from Newegg. They sent me a download link (strangely enough, at a 3rd party site) and a serial number and it installed/activated with no problems. The version they are selling is 3315f. I tried to go to Cyberlink's upgrade URL and it complained that it's for "legit" users only. But when I launched the software, it offered the 3516 update immediately - I am downloading it now at a very leisurely 35kB/s pace.


I ended up buying the Pioneer BDC-202 as well. It arrives on Friday. With some luck I'll have time this weekend to hook it all up and enjoy my first Blu-Ray movie.


Thanks!
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B
Off to a good start: PowerDVD closes (crashes) as soon as I hit "Play" on a DVD, or DVD files on the hard drive. The disc does spin up, but then it goes boom. MCE DVD playback works fine. I'm waiting for a response from Cyberlink.
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B
I fixed the PowerDVD crash. Cyberlink asked me to run DirectX diagnostics, which crashed during the DirectInput phase (dinput8.dll). The culprit turned out to be my Smarthome Insteon PLC. Smarthome doesn't have a fix for it, and apparently none is planned - what a turd - so I guess I have to move it to a different PC.


Blu-Ray playback works just fine. Before I got PowerDVD working, I played with the demo of Total Media Theatre. I have to say that the Blu-Ray disc menus and animations were a LOT more responsive in that program.


I have a question - with PowerDVD, if I go to the menu while playing 50 First Dates, the software takes me completely out of the movie to show the menu. With Total Media Theatre, the menu pops up over the movie while it continues to play. Which behavior is correct?


Another issue with PowerDVD right now is the mouse cursor, which appears every 30-60 seconds over the video for no reason. Apparently it's a known problem. At least the cursor can be moved out of view!


I also saw some strange aliasing artifacts in the shadows of a few of the rainforest scenes in Planet Earth. I don't know if this is an encoding problem with the disc or a problem with PowerDVD. Perhaps my playback settings need to be tweaked?


Which hardware de-interlacer should I select? Bob or {bunch-of-hex-digits}?


Thanks!
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J
What about integration into XPMCE 2005? Does it allow the software to be started from within MCE? When you close the PDVD ultra (hopefully with the remote) does it go back (nicely) to MCE in full screen mode?


Also what capabilities do you get from the MCE remote?
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B
Total Media Theatre (TMT) has passable MCE integration. It adds a "Watch Blu-Ray/HD-DVD" option to the top-level MCE menu. Selecting it opens TMT, which does a decent job with remote control navigation. It's possible to select a few things that will require you to grab a mouse or keyboard. When you close TMT, you're back in Media Center.


PowerDVD Ultra has none of that - which for me is no big deal anyway, since my PC only runs Media Center a small fraction of the time.
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M

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bicster /forum/post/12954937


I have a question - with PowerDVD, if I go to the menu while playing 50 First Dates, the software takes me completely out of the movie to show the menu. With Total Media Theatre, the menu pops up over the movie while it continues to play. Which behavior is correct?


Another issue with PowerDVD right now is the mouse cursor, which appears every 30-60 seconds over the video for no reason. Apparently it's a known problem. At least the cursor can be moved out of view!


I also saw some strange aliasing artifacts in the shadows of a few of the rainforest scenes in Planet Earth. I don't know if this is an encoding problem with the disc or a problem with PowerDVD. Perhaps my playback settings need to be tweaked?


Which hardware de-interlacer should I select? Bob or {bunch-of-hex-digits}?
Click to expand...

Good question on the Blu-Ray menu issue, I have the exact same problem. I can't access the menu while watching the movie, whenever I hit the "menu" button, it stops play and goes back to the initial menu. I'd like to know a solution to this myself.


Can't speak much to the mouser problem as I just move it to the bottom corner of the screen before every movie anyway, so I would never see it



I have Planet Earth (on HD-DVD though) and can't say I've noticed the artifact problems. Discs look great to me.
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