Thinking of getting a blu ray player...

badbob said:
Looking into BR myself, I'd use a HTPC with Blu-Ray player..that way can play all regions. Unlike a dedicated unit or PS3 which is locked into UK market.

PS3 would be my second choice.
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Last week I would have agreed with you there Badbob. I bought a LG Blu ray/HD-DVD combo reader last week for £136 and rented 3:10 to Yuma - safe to say powerdvd cant play it, the keys dont work on the menu. I updated to the 3730 release still know luck.

I wish I had never bought the LG blu-ray/ Hd-DVD combo drive, I wish I put the extra money and bought a ps3 for blu-ray. Yeh I know powerdVD will catch up I just feel bitter atm

OP - buy a ps3, sony updates the firmware/software regulary so it should always play the latest films. Sony cant afford to have the ps3 not being able to play the latest BD+ films. It seems to be the only sure way of full blu-ray compatiblity, blu -ray on HTPC hangs on Cyberlink patches, and from what I have read there not keeping there customers happy.

Im gonna buy a ps3 in two weeks purely as a blu-ray player. I just cant spend any more time to find fixes/patches for powerdvd. 3:10 to Yuma has driven me mad!!

Out of interest can anyone tell me if any blu-ray films dont work on a ps3? Does War play? and 3:10 to Yuma?

:)
 
Im fairly certain that the PC Blu-Ray drives are region free. Every DVD drive i have ever had and anyone else i know has are region free.
 
I knew I wouldn't have to look hard to find a post containing the question I've been asking: to PS3 or not to PS3? Is it too soon to start converting my collection to Blu-Ray?

I haven't much need for video games, but you never know who might show up at a party for a little Madden 2008 or something. I know absolutely nothing about modern gaming consoles. Are they still cheesy flip-up top-loaders like the old Playstations? Or are they more friendly and asthetically pleasing? You know, a black front-loader unit that fits nicely into a 19"w rack would be ideal.
 
Nymins said:
Im fairly certain that the PC Blu-Ray drives are region free. Every DVD drive i have ever had and anyone else i know has are region free.
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Most drives I have had only allow a certain amount of region changes before they lock on the last region used, and last time I tried it this didnt affect hardware/software profiles either (ie a profile would still count down the number of changes left)
 
Chronicle said:
What kind of problems with htpc do you get? would have thought once its set up, it just works?

don't really want a ps3 because i'd never play games on it (got xbox... prefer it i think, and as far as i know theres no games only on ps3 that are worth getting a ps3 for)

and isn't there going to be a new ps3 bundle out soon, with new controller or something?
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right, so far ive found:

* powerdvd doesnt do hd audio. at all. it wont do it.
* i cant play any of my discs (bluray or hd-dvd) on my sony 40w2000 without using anydvdHD to remove the protection first. That's illegal by the way - i have to break the law to play my legal discs on my hdcp certified graphics card and tv, otherwise it doesnt even play!
* powerdvd dvd constantly needs updates to play the latest discs, and sometimes those updates take a long time to surface. and untill they do, the dont play!
* powerdvd swaps the center and rear left speaker around, so all dialogue comes out of the rear left if i use analogue.
* arcsoft totalmedia theater is promising, but its still full of bugs (discs not playing, crashing, audio swap just like pdvd) and doesnt work at all on 64bit o.s's. nice one guys.
* nero showtime wont give me a picture at all on my sony tv, just a blank window. thats fine if i only want sound lol.

even if all that werent a problem, id still choose the ps3 because its just easier to use and an all round better experiance:)

Raist said:
I knew I wouldn't have to look hard to find a post containing the question I've been asking: to PS3 or not to PS3? Is it too soon to start converting my collection to Blu-Ray?

I haven't much need for video games, but you never know who might show up at a party for a little Madden 2008 or something. I know absolutely nothing about modern gaming consoles. Are they still cheesy flip-up top-loaders like the old Playstations? Or are they more friendly and asthetically pleasing? You know, a black front-loader unit that fits nicely into a 19"w rack would be ideal.
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you dont know what a ps3 looks like? :confused:
 
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I use a LG BD/HD drive unfortunatley James.miller is right. PowerDVD doesnt play the latest films until patched my 3:10 to yuma still doesnt work.

The Ps3 is the best blu-ray player out there. Even if u never play a game on it, its still the best player!

Buy a Ps3 soley for blu-ray playback. Sony updates it instantly, I think im right in saying its pretty much the only player atm that actually plays all the films

Im gonna buy a ps3 next week as a blu-ray player, powerdvd isnt reliable enough.
 
Chronicle said:
Looks like ps3 is everyones option... Wish the xbox had a blu ray player attachment like its hddvd one...

Does it (ps3) upscale dvds to 1080p ok?
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Why The 360 Addon is an awfull player.

The ps3 alone is one of the best blu ray player out there and is always geting updated. It's win win
 
Bigpig said:
Why The 360 Addon is an awfull player.

The ps3 alone is one of the best blu ray player out there and is always geting updated. It's win win
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no it isnt. i wish people would realise its the xbox thats the problem, not the hd-dvd drive. the hd-dvd drive is just an optical drive, it doesnt do any of the decoding!
 
james.miller said:
no it isnt. i wish people would realise its the xbox thats the problem, not the hd-dvd drive. the hd-dvd drive is just an optical drive, it doesnt do any of the decoding!
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Stop nickpicking You still need the 360 to use it. I can't just plug the drive into my tv
 
I have an xbox 360 and recently got a PS3 mainly for blue rays. I have to say that I am very impressed with it as both a blue ray player and an upscaling dvd player. I will continue to use my xbox360 as the main games console but I did enjoy ratchet and clank on the ps3. I have also watched divx's without issue from a removable HD. Every blue ray I have tried so far has worked fine. Its great if you use tesco dvd rental as blue rays are also available on our price plan (I have recently upgraded a few quid extra a month and I can now get games as well).
 
I must admit to not having had too many problems playing HD-DVD's via Power DVD Ultra on My HTPC and Sony TV.

Are the problems described here Blue Ray specific? I was under the impression BD and HD-DVD used the same codecs.etc.

Maybe other factors are involved here such as certain drives/firmwares/op system and Graphics Card driver combinations,there are so many variables with an HTPC that to solely blame power dvd could be being harsh.

Also cheap DVi-HDMi leads often give HDCP errors,experienced this myself with a cheap £5 lead,changed over to a good quality lead(£15)and problems were eliminated.

Maybe when I eventually get hold of a Blue Ray drive my problems will begin,but so far,apart from the odd hiccup,my HD-DVD viewing experience via the Power DVD/HTPC combo has been a very fuss free and enjoyable one.
 
james.miller said:
nope, the problems occur with both bluray and hd-dvd:)
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Alright James,just out of interest which BD drive are you using and are you on Vista or XP?

I'm also assuming your're using a DVI-HDMI lead,have you tried a different lead? Sorry to sound patronising as I know you're a very clued up PC/Home Cinema enthusiast,it's just I had no end of problems with certain leads.
 
What's the sound quality like from the PS3 when playing DVDs and CDs via optical out? I'm also thinking of getting one instead of an Arcam DV135 as that will be pretty outdated soon.
 
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