fujitsu555 Posted May 2, 2013 Posted May 2, 2013 Hi, Recently I set up an HTPC with blu-ray combo drive. I have two blu-ray disc: The Dark Knight and Sodagreen's "Walk Together Live" Concert Blu-ray (http://www.eslite.com/product.aspx?pgid=1004187042221016). I can play The Dark Knight without any problem. However, The concert blu-ray cannot be played using Window Media Player, Windows Media Center and XBMC. After searching around, I found the Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre 6 able to play the disc. However, the full version costs USD100. What is the reason that normal softwares cannot play the blu-ray disc? And is there other free software that can play it? Thanks in advance! :)
jimi1624705950 Posted May 2, 2013 Posted May 2, 2013 Try VLC. Think it's the only BR capable free software. If all can play then total Media would be out of a job right :) If buying, Power DVD is probably better esp if your PC not v advanced. Total Media looks v nice though.
fujitsu555 Posted May 2, 2013 Author Posted May 2, 2013 Sorry I missed it out. I tried VLC and it also cannot play :(
Doggie Howser Posted May 2, 2013 Posted May 2, 2013 I tried VLC once on a Mac. It doesn't support menus and on a number of occasions, it played the "wrong" file (some special feature instead of the actual movie)
francis wu Posted May 2, 2013 Posted May 2, 2013 Could your concert disc got problem in the first place!!
Norman_Chan Posted May 2, 2013 Posted May 2, 2013 What blu ray drive are you using ? Can your blu ray drive detect the Sodagreen's "Walk Together Live" Concert Blu-ray disc ? My HP blu ray writer drive always got problem in detecting blu ray disc but my LG blu writer drive 100% no such problem.
fujitsu555 Posted May 2, 2013 Author Posted May 2, 2013 Could your concert disc got problem in the first place!! I thought so too.. until I read a thread on another forum (cannot find the page anymore) that the TS also encountered problems playing a specific blu-ray disc, and after many tries he solved it using Arcsoft Totalmedia. That was where I got to know about this software. What blu ray drive are you using ? Can your blu ray drive detect the Sodagreen's "Walk Together Live" Concert Blu-ray disc ? My HP blu ray writer drive always got problem in detecting blu ray disc but my LG blu writer drive 100% no such problem. Mine is LG 12X Blu-Ray Combo. It can detect the disc and shows the title. XBMC can show the folder contents but cannot play the disc. Windows Media Player says the disc is empty..
desray Posted May 2, 2013 Posted May 2, 2013 There is currently only 2 software-based bluray players that is worth investing on...one is Arcsoft TotalMedia Theater (latest version is TMT 6.0) and the other one is Cyberlink PowerDVD (latest version is 13 Ultra) IIRC. I am using both and TMT 6.0 is less fussy when it comes to playback of BD ISO and Bluray 3D ISO. PowerDVD loading time is a little faster than TMT 6.0 but when comparing the resource utilization, I discovered that PowerDVD is much more efficient than TMT. TMT is a better one IMO.
jimi1624705950 Posted May 3, 2013 Posted May 3, 2013 I tried VLC once on a Mac. It doesn't support menus and on a number of occasions, it played the "wrong" file (some special feature instead of the actual movie) Yeah. Think its not ideal for BR ISO. Can't remember whether the menus worked for normal BRs- the last update helped. I don't use it much cos I have a BR player for the HT, just for occasional use on the PC if I can't use the PJ.
matthewt Posted May 6, 2013 Posted May 6, 2013 Any recommendations for free software? ;D Try potplayer. It however does not support bluray menus but can play blurays or blurays ISO just fine. Just need to browse to the index.bdmv file in the BDMV folder.
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