Help! I need opinions: Blu Ray, BD-ROM

[H2omg]

I recently bought a Lite-On (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106227) drive for Blu Ray playback on my PC. I use a 40'' 1080p Samsung LCD as my monitor, so it's a truly all-purpose gaming/movie computer. However, I quickly found that this Lite-On drive doesn't play all discs!! This seems to be a common trend in BD-ROM's.

I am returning the drive to newegg, because it doesn't play what I primarily purchased it for: Planet Earth on BD. I'm thinking of replacing it with a Sony branded drive, since I hear they are keeping all the diodes they make for use in their own products. As I look at reviews and other threads online, it doesn't look like the situation is any better on the Sony side. So, now I'm torn. I don't know what to do. I waited over a year to adopt Blu Ray to avoid price gouging and incompatibility, but it seems things still haven't been ironed out yet. I'm willing to spend the money for a nice drive up to a point. I don't want to spend more than $200, as I will feel silly having paid that much in a couple years when they drop to $50.

So, I'm sorry if this isn't the right forum but I turn to you guys for my hardware and overclocking needs and figured you might know a thing or two. Help!

[H2omg]

Bump. Has nobody made the venture into BD land?

[xMrBunglex]

i considered buying a Blu-Ray burner until i saw that even dual layer blank BD discs cost $15 each. EACH!! i decided it was a ripoff and that i can wait until they seriously lower prices.

[H2omg]

I agree with you there, and don't really think I'll ever need a BD burner. However, Blu Ray movies are something I would like to enjoy. I'd personally rather spend <$200 for an internal drive rather than >$200 for a stand alone player, so to save both money and space.

[BobyTT]

I have BR burner LG GBW-H20L i got it from ebay for 140$ AFTER M$ cashback, i have no problems playing any BR movies. And i have few Discovery movies as Planeth Earth , When we left earth and few more and they look awesome. No problems playing any BR media so far.

Rgarding Burning , yes it is expensive.

[H2omg]

I have BR burner LG GBW-H20L i got it from ebay for 140$ AFTER M$ cashback, i have no problems playing any BR movies. And i have few Discovery movies as Planeth Earth , When we left earth and few more and they look awesome. No problems playing any BR media so far.

Rgarding Burning , yes it is expensive.

Hey man, thanks a lot for your input. Would you be willing to tell me approximately how many movies you have tried with success, and possibly which ones? Additionally, I know you said it but I just like to be clear. You have had all movies you've tried work with no problem? So I am to understand that your LG played Planet Earth on BD no problems? That's good news. I may have to go with an LG now.

[H2omg]

Still hoping for a few more opinions before I pull the trigger here...

[twilyth]

When you say you can't play the disks on the lite-on drive, what happens exactly? It doesn't recognize the disk, it freezes, etc. I'm asking because I was under the impression that BR was a standard (ISO std?). If so, anything pressed after the date of the standard should play in any drive. If it doesn't, my first guess would be a problem with the drivers. Second guess would be a bad drive although Lite-on seems to get decent ratings and I'm pretty sure they are the manufacturer for a lot of the big consumer names.

The cheapest thing to do would be to dl things you already own from usenet - if you have the storage space for multiple BR rips. Pretty much anything release on whatever medium will show up on usenet almost immediately. Of course dl'ing things you don't own would be illegal (they make me say that, but it is technically true). Then you can wait until player prices drop and still enjoy your movies in the meantime.

[M31]

I love movies and bought a PS3 for Blu Ray DVD playback, after a bit of research I discovered it was a very good stand alone Blu Ray DVD player and since it can be Hooked up to the net you get constant firmware revisions, some movies need the Blu ray 2 standard to play, the PS3 is that standard, also Sony are committed to making it one of the best Blu Ray players available and will keep offering firmware upgrades ... something that is much harder harder to do with a stand alone PC drive if its possible at all.

Even though I bought the PS3 for Blu ray DVD's only, I've since buckled and bought a couple of the better PS3 games and also even now am discovering what a versatile machine it is.

I guess the only issue is its more expensive than a stand alone Blu ray 5.25 drive for a PC, but since you are not concerned with burning, maybe this is an option for you? certainly I've had no issues playing any of the many Blu ray movies I've bought for it yet, or any of my large collection of regular DVD's ... apart from the non UK specific region ones of course, but I've got my old HDMI DVD player for that.

[NapalmV5]

ive watched hundreds of BD/HD/DVD movies @ couple of LG H20Ls.. as long as the software player is up to date no issues

[M31]

ive watched hundreds of BD/HD/DVD movies @ couple of LG H20Ls.. as long as the software player is up to date no issues

Its the firmware standards and if you can upgrade a drives firmware or not that could be the issue, my PS3 is rev 2.0 ... some of the newer Blu ray films warn your player may need the the latest standard to play, maybe that's why the OP's drive does not play some discs?

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/11/06/blu-ray-standards-profile-1-0-vs-1-1-vs-2-0/

[YukonTrooper]

There is a dual HD DVD/Blu-ray drive available. LG I think.

[H2omg]

As far as what it's doing, powerdvd or whatever it's called opens, then it throws up an "unsupported disc format" or something to that effect. The first time I got this error, I flashed the drive to the latest firmware, which seemed to not help at all.

Regarding the PS3, I will eventually get one. Once Resident Evil 5 comes out, I'm buying one. However, I would still like a BD-rom for the purposes of ripping.

From what I'm hearing, I think LG may be the route to go.

[saki_bomber]

There is a dual HD DVD/Blu-ray drive available. LG I think.

yes, i have it.

the LG drive i have reads HDDVD and blu ray and is a blu ray burner.

its had no problem reading any blu ray or HD movies.

$15 isnt that much considering that media you burn on will most likely outlast the hard disk your data is on. hard drives have motors and moving parts which mean at any time they can fail without warning, and do. personal experience on that one;)

[YukonTrooper]

I rent the movies using Zip.ca (Canadian Netflix equivalent) and copy them to my hard drive. Then I convert them, stream them wirelessly from my computer upstairs to my router downstairs, and run a cable from my router to my 360. I can access all the media on my computer from the 360 using Tversity. I'm only using my 360's HD DVD drive connected to my computer to copy discs at this time, but I'll move onto Blu-ray once I'm done with all the HD DVD's I want and have viewed at least once. Lots of movies I have never seen over the years. I'm just going in alphabetical order and getting all the good ones. :D

[Think]

blu is also an issue with me as well. It forces you to look into ripping blue ray dvd on your harddrive since it's rather cost prohibited anyway - not a good format and would like them to stop whining and give us a reasonably/upgradeable blu-ray burner for the PC.

[twilyth]

I rent the movies using Zip.ca (Canadian Netflix equivalent) and copy them to my hard drive. Then I convert them, stream them wirelessly from my computer upstairs to my router downstairs, and run a cable from my router to my 360. I can access all the media on my computer from the 360 using Tversity. I'm only using my 360's HD DVD drive connected to my computer to copy discs at this time, but I'll move onto Blu-ray once I'm done with all the HD DVD's I want and have viewed at least once. Lots of movies I have never seen over the years. I'm just going in alphabetical order and getting all the good ones. :D
What do you use to convert the BR hard disk files? The version of FabDVD doesn't seem to recognize them. :shrug:

[B.E.E.F.]

Better go to a Blu-Ray forum and figure out what the problem is.

You might need to buy a new revision drive. Blu-Ray went through so many profiles already. 1.0, 1.1, I think its now at 2.0.

[YukonTrooper]

What do you use to convert the BR hard disk files? The version of FabDVD doesn't seem to recognize them. :shrug:
Blu-ray in da future, I said. I'm only using my 360 add-on for now. Need to cover the HD DVD library before I move on.

I convert to WMV HD, though, if that helps any. That's the only streaming format that the 360 will accept with 5.1 surround.

Good luck, Mr. Twilyth!

[saki_bomber]

oh, and if you have a pc blu-ray player/burner then forget about playing the hulk movie.

incompatibility with powerdvd software, with no fix yet. well there IS a supposed fix but it really doesnt fix anything at least with me, because it REMOVES HD DVD support from the player and makes it so my blu ray drive doesnt see ANY disks not to mention blu-ray.

ugh

thanks, cyberlink, you officially suck bawls you fcking worthless money grubbing hacks:down::down::down:

[YukonTrooper]

Use PowerDVD 7 for HD DVD support. I suggest you try using AnyDVD HD to rip the movie first, then play it from the folder structure or image; try both methods. If that doesn't work, rip it to your drive and demux/remux it into a container that one of your media players will recognize.