BluRay playback over DVI

p4radox · 18 Dec 2008 at 16:47

Here's the deal - I'm thinking about upgrading my PC to have the following:

E5200
ATI 4870
LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray Reader & HD-DVD ROM Drive

and I have an OcUK 24" TFT monitor. This only has DVI and VGA inputs.

Bearing in mind I don't really know anything at all about HDMI, HDCP, HD, codecs, standards and software, will I be able to play BluRay discs on my PC?

I understand there might be some issues playing this content over a DVI cable. Is the bundled PowerDVD BD & HD-DVD software okay for this?

Thanks

lord filbuster · 18 Dec 2008 at 17:06

I think all of those components support HDCP, so you should be fine there. To be honest i don't think it even does anything at the moment, There is an option on the disc to force downscaling to 540p when used on non compliant hardware, but afaik it isn't used on most discs, so they will work fine over vga or dvi. The powerdvd bundle should be fine for watching them, though i think some of the bundled versions will only output 2.0 sound. It should install it's own codecs too.

Jez · 18 Dec 2008 at 17:12

I use VGA from mine with BD discs with no worries, i am not sure when HDCP actually comes into :confused:

p4radox · 18 Dec 2008 at 17:51

Excellent, thanks guys.

Grimley · 18 Dec 2008 at 19:29

Use this advisor tool to check.

http://www.cyberlink.com/stat/bd-support/enu/index.jsp

Katoom · 18 Dec 2008 at 20:30

I have the Overclockers 24" monitor (DGM), I'm sure it hasn't got HDCP.

james.miller · 18 Dec 2008 at 21:13

i know mine doesnt. you'll need to use VGA

Jez said:
I use VGA from mine with BD discs with no worries, i am not sure when HDCP actually comes into

when you're not using VGA

p4radox · 18 Dec 2008 at 21:21

So as long as I've got the software, I should be fine with DVI then.

I'm sure I remember people talking about needing to use AnyDVD to play BluRay if you don't have a HDMI connection.

SiD the Turtle · 18 Dec 2008 at 21:38

You'll be fine. Check out page 3 of the manual that comes with that drive, it has a chart of what works with what. In short if you want to use VGA you don't need to worry about HDCP, if you want to use DVI or HDMI you do, but a google suggests that the card has HDCP on board anyway (but you might need a HDCP compliant screen I suppose).

The only issue you may have is that the bundled copy of PowerDVD doesn't have built in Dolby Digital decoding (it's speculated that the reason they do this is because it's a freebie and the licensing costs a lot) so it will revert to stereo. If you have an optical out and a hardware decoder, you can pass the audio signal out of the PC and into your amp so it can deal with the decoding.

thepharcyde · 20 Dec 2008 at 19:34

Get a copy of AnyDVD HD if you are faced with any HDCP issues