Solved What to get to play BDs on PC: VLC doesn't work, PowerDVD didn't help

[BinkerNate]

Since I bought my BD player (external), I got Cyberlink PowerDVD 10 with it (didn't buy it, so it was probably suggested) and that stayed with me until I noticed later on that it wouldn't play and said it didn't work after I paused a movie for more than 10 minutes. Then an update came, and it uninstalled PowerDVD in the process. I tried getting a free trial of PowerDVD 12 but nothing happened when I tried to play it, so its uninstalled too. And I wanted to see if VLC could do it, and found instructions, but...well, nothing.

I need a new player to dl so I can play BDs. It has to be good (to the point where if any problems surface, it's easy to fix), and be free to dl. If its a free trial, then it has to be something that I can still use very well even after the trial expires.

I've heard Arcsoft, even WinDVD; how bout it, guys: what should I get?

 

[MilesAhead]

You could try a program like DVDFab Passkey. If it works, you can use any HD player, like SPlayer, Splash, VLC. I would try VLC since it has PGS subtitle support, if you like foreign films. Splash supports PGS subs too. But only in the paid version. The new releases of VLC do both PGS and XSUBS.

 

[Wordsworth]

I came across this thread the other day on getting VLC to work for bluray. Look for the post about half way down the page that begins with "I finally got it to work!" You begin by downloading VLC for Windows X64 Experimental Version on the download page.

Thread

Download

 

[MilesAhead]

I came across this thread the other day on getting VLC to work for bluray. Look for the post about half way down the page that begins with "I finally got it to work!" You begin by downloading VLC for Windows X64 Experimental Version on the download page.

Thread

Download

I didn't think of dealing with the menus etc..
For movies usually the "Main movie" is the largest .m2ts file on the disc. Episodic, such as episodes of a TV show can be more problematic. If you get stuck and have the HD space you can always use MakeMKV to rip the titles to mkv files. Then you can easily play them with VLC.

 

[BinkerNate]

VLC is just not going to do it. I dl-ed 2.0.4, the 64 version, and the same problem occured: it won't play. And where could I get DVDFab Passkey?

Keep in mind, I have an external bd player that I connect to the desktop. Then, its up to whatever player I have chosen to play the movie. WMP doesn't, and again, VLC can't. Before it was Cyberlink, but now with 12, that won't play either.

 

[MilesAhead]

People pay for players that can play encrypted discs. Afaik, none of the free players will. So that's why your alternatives are, rip the movie to your HD using something like MakeMKV or DVDFab Passkey. VLC will play .mkv and .m2ts files. I've been playing those files with it for years. So will SPlayer, WMP Home Cinema etc..

If you want to play directly off the optical drive with menus etc., I doubt you'll have much luck. If you have a paid player that's supposed to be able to do that, but doesn't, I'd say post on their publisher's support forum or create a support ticket since you've paid for something it's not delivering.


For the rest google should suffice.

 

[MilesAhead]

I would try this solution first:
MakeMKV - Make MKV from Blu-ray and DVD

since you don't have to pay for it. When a new beta is released, you have to update with the new key. Otherwise to use whatever version you want, you need to buy a license. But the author has been putting out beta releases for years. I bought it because I like it. Also if the new version has a bug you're stuck if you don't have a licensed copy. You can't go back to an older version unless you're a paid user. But if it's that bad a bug it's usually fixed very quickly.

I've never owned an external optical drive. Without the hardware to play with there's no way to gain experience.

 

[jumanji]

I would suggest that you download the 15day trial version of TotalMedia Theatre 5 and check. However there is no way of using the trial version after 15 days. If you are happy with it, you have to buy. This is the most legal way without any controversy

World's Leading Blu-ray 3D Player Software - ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 5

 

[MilesAhead]

I would suggest that you download the 15day trial version of TotalMedia Theatre 5 and check. However there is no way of using the trial version after 15 days. If you are happy with it, you have to buy. This is the most legal way without any controversy

World's Leading Blu-ray 3D Player Software - ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 5

I don't see that it's any less controversial or more "legal" than trying DVDFab Passkey or DVDFab HD Decrypter. They are all commercial products that decrypt the disc contents.

 

[Dwarf]

Try DAPlayer - Free HD Bluray Video Multimedia Player Software

I have this installed in Windows 8 x64 and it's working fine. I don't see any reason why it won't work with W7 or Vista. It may not have the looks or the same extent of settings/controls as the likes of paid solutions such as Cyberlink, WinDVD, and TotalMedia Theatre 5, but it works and, unlike the others, is able to output its video over a VGA/analogue connection (TotalMedia Theatre 5 starts to play, but then stops and I suspect the reason is because it needs a digital connection to the monitor).

 

[MilesAhead]

I think I tried DaPlayer some months ago. I'm looking on the page and on downloads sites. I see no mention of the dreaded PGS word. Does it support PGS subs?

I don't watch movies off the optical drive on the PC anyway. But it's always nice to have more players with PGS support since I mainly watch foreign films. (Not to hijack the thread.)

 

[jumanji]

......I don't see that it's any less controversial or more "legal" than trying DVDFab Passkey or DVDFab HD Decrypter. They are all commercial products that decrypt the disc contents.

All "authorised" bluray software players like Power DVD, WinDVD, TMT, Nero Player etc., pay a licence fee to Bluray Disc Association or some such competent entity and obtain the rights to decrypt and play the contents in the encrypted media. It is absolutely legal to play such encrypted discs with these players and the use unconditional.

As for DVDFab, it operates from an alien territory beyond the jurisdiction of the competent entities and copyright holders. Its website somewhere clearly states " The user of the software bears sole responsibility for its use in compliance with local laws." That is what counts finally, not the fact that that is commercially available or it is a free utility freely downloadable.

Now the laws vary or are interpreted in many ways from country to country. In Germany personal use of AnyDVD is declared legal by its top judiciary. In UK, I understand that a personal copy from owned media has been made legal. In U.S.A atleast one district court had pronounced that copying one's own DVD is illegal - in variance with the "fair use doctrine" . In many other countries, it is ambiguous.

In a nutshell, bypassing any DRM technologies or systems by any software that have not the licence to do so or declared legal from the competent entity, is illegal, whether one buys it or it is a freeware.

 

[BinkerNate]

So is DAPlayer okay to dl? I don't want to get myself invovled with illegial stuff, you know

 

[jumanji]

Please do a google search on the vendor's location, DA player reviews, user experiences, problems etc., and you can find everything yourself.

Some drawbacks as I read about: Does not play all bluray discs, does not uninstall clean (changes file associations to itself that do not revert after an uninstall), calls home frequently and that can't be stopped. Some have even reported that it contains trojan horse: DLoader.ANCHY

Absolutely nothing wrong if you want to try it but make a system restore point before install and also a full registry backup.

Having said that, even the authorised software players have problems playing some recent bluray disks - because of their very nature viz continuously evolving protection algorithms - but you have access to technical support and official forums where it can be discussed and vendors release patches to overcome any problems.

 

[MilesAhead]

A lot of these paid decryption and player software aren't satisfied with you just buying the software. Many have a "subscription" model. Like, if you want to update for one year, two years, etc. it's costs $$$ per year. Or they might sell you a "lifetime license" but the "lifetime" might only last as long as the major version number. Oh yes, you have a lifetime license to 5.x but we just upgraded the software to 6.x. So pay up again dude!!

It's a risky business no matter how straight you try to shoot. Nobody has all the answers. Courts change their minds as they go along.

 

[jumanji]

As far as I know, none of the software players (atleast Power DVD and TMT which I have) use the subscription model. These are always version based. The update/upgrade policies are mentioned clearly - updates free till next version, upgrade to next version payable.

The problem with the software players is that the older version will cease to play recently released BDs without the update and one will be forced to upgrade to the newer version. The vendors know this and that is why they dole out the older versions ( and never the newest version) free with the optical drives.

Most decryption software is of course subscription-based but they keep their word on lifetime subscription - atleast it has been so till now in my experience.

(Starting from DVDFab Decryptor v5, I have been getting regular updates/upgrade to version 6, 7, and 8. Now v9 has come up but that involves only a facelift to the GUI. The basic modules remain the same and I continue to get updates to version 8. People have also been getting regular updates to anyDVD/anyDvDHD for more than 7 years now.)

EDIT: Just now I read in DVDFab Forum that registered users of DVDFab8, can upgrade to DVDFab9 without further charge. There was a little confusion on it till now.

 

[MilesAhead]

@jumanji thanks for the info.

 

[Mark Phelps]

Try DAPlayer - Free HD Bluray Video Multimedia Player Software

Tried this -- didn't work. Got audio but no video. Disk played fine in PowerDVD.

Also, you need to be careful installing this as it automatically grabs ALL your video file extensions and, apparently, does not reset them when you uninstall it.

I say apparently, because that's what I read in another thread -- so I disabled them all when I installed this.

 

[MilesAhead]

Also I tried some of the encoders from that same publisher because they were on GAOTD. Some encodes worked. But anything that didn't just happen to fit in the usual aspect ratio came out distorted.. squashed/stretched. I use better freeware encoders. I took them off even though they were a give-away.

 

[BinkerNate]

I got PowerDVD back, didn't bother even installing DAPlayer or whatever. It works fine, with the exception that it doesn't if you paused a movie for around 10 minutes then have to wait a while, or play the DVD drive, until you use it again. Sucks, but okay. I"ll mark this a solved, but that doesn't mean this thread can't be used for something else.