Blu-ray PC drive question

Factual Questions
1

I’m building a computer to run boxee and I was thinking about putting a Blu-ray drive in it; a friend of mine pointed out that it might be sluggish and/or quirky on a PC, reasoning that the decoding would be done via software. Does anyone have any experience watching Blu-ray on a PC?

FWIW, the system I’m building is a 2.2 GHz AMD Phenom 9500 x4 processor with 4GB 800 MHz RAM on an ASUS M2N68-AM SE2 motherboard. I haven’t decided on an OS, but I’m leaning towards Ubuntu (an adventure in itself for me).

2

I’ve done some research and it looks like there’s no Blu-ray option if I go with Ubuntu. Can anyone tell me how well Windows does playing Blu-ray?

3

I’m not familiar with blu-ray directly, haven’t picked up a drive for my HTPC yet. But I do have experience with high def video: It does use up CPU cycles, and depending on the codec it can be a lot.

My recommendation would be to pick up a silent (no fan just a heat sink as a cooling solution) based graphics card that will support both HDCP and will accelerate high def video decoding.

Hmm, I just realized you are going with a quad core phenom. That won’t break a sweat playing back high def video, even if it’s all being done through software. However, your video card will still need to be HDCP ready.

Windows 7 public beta will cost you nothing (at least until it comes out on retail) and it comes with media center, you might want to give that a try.

4

I was concerned that the on-board video wouldn’t be sufficient; but it does look like an HDCP card won’t cost very much at all - ~$45 for a GeForce 9400, which, I’m hoping, will do the trick.

I’m thinking I may be down to having a dual-boot system - Windows for Blu-ray and Ubuntu for Boxee (at least until Boxee’s Windows version comes out).

5

No OS that I’m aware of has built-in Blu-Ray playback support. If you buy a cheap drive it may not come with software, especially if you buy an OEM drive. Blu-Ray discs take forever to load and the software choices out there (Cyberlink and WinDVD) are pretty flaky in my experience. If they work at all, they don’t work as well as they should.

Yes, many people have had some success, and with the right set up, sitting close enough to a properly calibrated display in a good viewing and listening environment, it looks and sounds great. But the AV and system builder forums are chock full of horror stories about people trying to get this crap to work. It is a technology that is not ready for prime time, IMHO.

I would spend the money on a better remote/input device and making the system quiet and hold off on the Blu-Ray until Windows 7 is out and we see a robust playback software for it that actually works for most people.

6

Thanks! That’s the kind of insight I didn’t have. Have you heard if Windows 7’s playback works as advertised? Or is it still just a promise?

7

No, Windows 7 will not have native Blu-Ray playback. I meant a third party software.

8

I think the state of affairs for blu-ray on PC is not as bad as that now. Maybe a year ago.

Several third party software playback solutions exist and there are some media center plugins that will tie them into the media center GUI allowing you to play back Blu-Ray content right in media center.

Of course there is also the possibility of ripping your blu-rays to your hard drive, in which case all you need are the right codecs installed in order to play the video (no third party software required - except the one you need to rip - and no HDCP ready video card/display).

9

The place to ask this question is the Home Theaterthread at AVS Forums. You’ll get a lot of opinions, but the creator of the thread, renethx, really knows his stuff.

10

I have a homemade htpc with a bluray drive. It works well enough. I bought a oem drive that came with cyberlink. Its just xp home with a wireless keyboard and mouse.

That said, Im not an “audiophile” or AV nerd. I dont do stuff like color calibration or 5.1. I dont buy 100 dollar gold plated cables and argue about framerates and pixel depth. I simply watch hi-def movies.

The free version of cyberlink doesnt do 5.1, so if you need 5.1 then youll need to pay an extra 80 dollars. Thats important if you think you can just spend 99 dollars on a bluray drive and be done with it. Not to mention your entire system from motherboard to video card must support hdpc if you want to view bluray on a tv from a pc. I bought a bargain basment 8400 card for this as my motherboard already supported bluray.

My bluray drive (onlite) bricked when I attempted a firmware upgrade. I got an RMA and got a new one. The new one is running the stock firmware and I’ll never update it. Not sure if I will have problems in the future because of this.

The long as short of a windows based htpc is that a home computer plugged into your tv will always be a hobbyist level affair. Once you get all your drivers and a good install going you can leave it alone and expect it to work with the exception of windows updates and cyberlink updates.

The real problem Ive had was noise from the htpc’s fans. I unplugged that fan from the video card and found no problems. My case had good enough ventilation for this. This only left a very annoying cpu fan noise from my dual-core celeron. I spent 40 dollars on a thermaltake cooler and mounted it. I ran speedfan to watch temps. The thermaltake cooler has so much metal that I can shut off its fan and still watch bluray movies with no overheating. Right now my box is nearly silent as the only fans running are the two case exhaust fans in the rear.

Considering the price of the drive and the software (if you need 5.1), the hassle of building a quiet and stable htpc, a lot people are better off with a standalone bluray player. I have one because I like to build things and tinker, YMMV.

One thing I did learn is that with digital delivery, netflix, on demand, torrents, etc Im not buying bluray often. I just borrow one from a friend or relative. It really is incredibly how quickly digital delivery of HD has hurt BD. Driving to the video store or paying 30 dollars for a movie is crazy to me. The BD drive barely gets used. Of course YMMV.

>a friend of mine pointed out that it might be sluggish and/or quirky on a PC, reasoning that the decoding would be done via software.

This is the least of your worries. CPU power is cheap and plentiful. Im rocking a 1.4ghz dual core celeron. Cyberlink has a bluray advisory tool that will check for hdpc and run a benchmark on your system. If it says you can play bluray then youre golden.

> but I’m leaning towards Ubuntu (an adventure in itself for me).

The poltics of linux means it will never ever support hdpc. This stuff is currently windows only.