Blu-ray options?
Discussion
I am thinking about getting a 'reading and writing' blu-ray player for my PC (which runs through the telly) rather than getting a stand alone Blu-ray DVD player in the 'rack'.
I have already ditched my 'upscaling' DVD player (entry level Onkyo) as the quality of DVD playback doesn't seem any better than my PC so why have the extra remote control?
So, will a blu ray player in my PC (sending 1920 x 1080 to the TV) give me as good image quality as a middle of the range Blu ray player?
I have already ditched my 'upscaling' DVD player (entry level Onkyo) as the quality of DVD playback doesn't seem any better than my PC so why have the extra remote control?
So, will a blu ray player in my PC (sending 1920 x 1080 to the TV) give me as good image quality as a middle of the range Blu ray player?
It was cheaper to buy from ebay.com but don't know how it stacks up now. I bought mine two years ago and including shipping from the US it only came to £225 whereas over here they were trying to rip me off for £440 for the same player 
Buy a licensed copy of ANYDVD HD (tis about £30) and it makes your player region free so you dont have to set it ever.. although you get 5 changes. Also you can drag your films to your harddrive too apparently
although with the average Blu Ray film taking between 25 and 45GIG you will need a lot of TB drives 
Buy a licensed copy of ANYDVD HD (tis about £30) and it makes your player region free so you dont have to set it ever.. although you get 5 changes. Also you can drag your films to your harddrive too apparently
although with the average Blu Ray film taking between 25 and 45GIG you will need a lot of TB drives Are blu-ray writers/rewriters and blank media now available, then?
Once they are, BR will take off big style, i.e. when people can get their hands on decent quality copies without spanking 15 or 20 quid on one movie. DVD players only became truly ubiquitous when pirate copies became widely available...
Once they are, BR will take off big style, i.e. when people can get their hands on decent quality copies without spanking 15 or 20 quid on one movie. DVD players only became truly ubiquitous when pirate copies became widely available...
Jonny_ said:
Are blu-ray writers/rewriters and blank media now available, then?
It seems so, quite a few places selling them eg - http://www.dvdshoponline.co.uk/25GB_Recordable.htm...Badgerboy said:
THe overhead will be done in software, so providing you have a decent spec PC, it will be fine. Ensure your video card(s) are HDCP compliant.
I run a Blueray drive in my Media centre. Works very nicely with the optical out to the Amp.
Is optical that much better? I have an optical cable but i can't do a side by side comparison to see if it is better than my fairly substantial interconnects.I run a Blueray drive in my Media centre. Works very nicely with the optical out to the Amp.
Badgerboy said:
THe overhead will be done in software, so providing you have a decent spec PC, it will be fine. Ensure your video card(s) are HDCP compliant.
I run a Blueray drive in my Media centre. Works very nicely with the optical out to the Amp.
Anyone making a decent hardware decoder card?I run a Blueray drive in my Media centre. Works very nicely with the optical out to the Amp.
I thought that a lot of decoding was done on the video card for DVD. Vaguely remember when I was 15, that my Matrox G400 was one of the 1st to offer some hardware decoding?
Actually I think I remember reading that much of the HD decoding was added with the Geforce 8 series, don't know when with ATI cards. Any Ideas?
ETA:
Wikipedia on Geforce 8 Series said:
NVIDIA's PureVideo HD video rendering technology is an improved version of the original PureVideo introduced with GeForce 6. It now includes GPU-based hardware acceleration for decoding HD movie formats, post-processing of HD video for enhanced images, and optional High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) support at the card level.
Edited by rabw on Monday 1st December 21:27
Hedders said:
Badgerboy said:
THe overhead will be done in software, so providing you have a decent spec PC, it will be fine. Ensure your video card(s) are HDCP compliant.
I run a Blueray drive in my Media centre. Works very nicely with the optical out to the Amp.
Is optical that much better? I have an optical cable but i can't do a side by side comparison to see if it is better than my fairly substantial interconnects.I run a Blueray drive in my Media centre. Works very nicely with the optical out to the Amp.
I guess you must be plugging these into your receiver, since an amplifier is on the whole an analogue only device?
Edited for typos
Edited by rabw on Monday 1st December 21:31
rabw said:
In audio, it is well known that electrical digital connects are far superior to optical ones.
I guess you must be plugging these into your receiver, since an amplifier is on the whole an analogue only device?
Electrical digital connects? I am pretty sure i don't have those!I guess you must be plugging these into your receiver, since an amplifier is on the whole an analogue only device?
My amp does have 3 optical inputs. Infact my sky box , PC and TV all put an optical signal out so if optical was a big improvement over 'monster' (analogue?) interconnects i would use it.
rabw said:
Hedders said:
Badgerboy said:
THe overhead will be done in software, so providing you have a decent spec PC, it will be fine. Ensure your video card(s) are HDCP compliant.
I run a Blueray drive in my Media centre. Works very nicely with the optical out to the Amp.
Is optical that much better? I have an optical cable but i can't do a side by side comparison to see if it is better than my fairly substantial interconnects.I run a Blueray drive in my Media centre. Works very nicely with the optical out to the Amp.
I guess you must be plugging these into your receiver, since an amplifier is on the whole an analogue only device?
Edited for typos
Edited by rabw on Monday 1st December 21:31
Hedders said:
rabw said:
In audio, it is well known that electrical digital connects are far superior to optical ones.
I guess you must be plugging these into your receiver, since an amplifier is on the whole an analogue only device?
Electrical digital connects? I am pretty sure i don't have those!I guess you must be plugging these into your receiver, since an amplifier is on the whole an analogue only device?
My amp does have 3 optical inputs. Infact my sky box , PC and TV all put an optical signal out so if optical was a big improvement over 'monster' (analogue?) interconnects i would use it.
The advantage that you get over normal analogue RCAs with suitable content, decoders and hardware, is that a digital connection will output multichannel audio whereas analogue RCAs will only allow the transmission of matrix encoded 'surround' in the form of Pro-Logic.
Plotloss said:
Its true that Coaxial (SPDIF) is superior to Optical (TOSLink) when it comes to digital outputs. If you have the choice (admittedly you dont with the SkyHD box) then always choose coaxial.
The advantage that you get over normal analogue RCAs with suitable content, decoders and hardware, is that a digital connection will output multichannel audio whereas analogue RCAs will only allow the transmission of matrix encoded 'surround' in the form of Pro-Logic.
Evening Plotty The advantage that you get over normal analogue RCAs with suitable content, decoders and hardware, is that a digital connection will output multichannel audio whereas analogue RCAs will only allow the transmission of matrix encoded 'surround' in the form of Pro-Logic.
Are you saying that MY RCA cables are perfectly suitable for Pro-logic then, or I would be better off going optical?
I have just ordered a new media pc from these people with one of those in,
http://www.pcoption.co.uk/mediacentre/index3.htm
http://www.pcoption.co.uk/mediacentre/index3.htm
pmanson said:
I've just purchased one of these to go in my media centre.
Once Ebuyer deliver the processor so that I can actually boot the PC i'll let you know what it's like.
The plan is to send video to the TV via HDMI then sound to my Onkyo 605 by SPDIF
Cool, i am using DVI-HDMi to the TV and it looks great! I just had to look up what SPDIF was...when did we start using the term SPDIF in favour of 'optical' ??Once Ebuyer deliver the processor so that I can actually boot the PC i'll let you know what it's like.
The plan is to send video to the TV via HDMI then sound to my Onkyo 605 by SPDIF
Edited by Hedders on Monday 1st December 22:33
pmanson said:
I've just purchased one of these to go in my media centre.
Once Ebuyer deliver the processor so that I can actually boot the PC i'll let you know what it's like.
The plan is to send video to the TV via HDMI then sound to my Onkyo 605 by SPDIF
Thats what I have in mine, no complaints here.Once Ebuyer deliver the processor so that I can actually boot the PC i'll let you know what it's like.
The plan is to send video to the TV via HDMI then sound to my Onkyo 605 by SPDIF
Badgerboy said:
I run a Blueray drive in my Media centre. Works very nicely with the optical out to the Amp.
As do I, and it usually works very well. Be aware however that if you don't get playback software bundled with the drive, it's not cheap to buy.Also, be aware that Media Centre doesn't know how to play blu-rays, hence the need for 3rd party software.
And, as discussed, your screen and PC (gfx card) along with anything else in the path need to be compliant otherwise you'll get much reduced resolution.
rabw said:
Anyone making a decent hardware decoder card?
I thought that a lot of decoding was done on the video card for DVD. Vaguely remember when I was 15, that my Matrox G400 was one of the 1st to offer some hardware decoding?
As you later edited, most of the work is done by the graphics card. When playing BluRay my CPU is pretty much idle.I thought that a lot of decoding was done on the video card for DVD. Vaguely remember when I was 15, that my Matrox G400 was one of the 1st to offer some hardware decoding?
Hedders said:
pmanson said:
I've just purchased one of these to go in my media centre.
Once Ebuyer deliver the processor so that I can actually boot the PC i'll let you know what it's like.
The plan is to send video to the TV via HDMI then sound to my Onkyo 605 by SPDIF
Cool, i am using DVI-HDMi to the TV and it looks great! I just had to look up what SPDIF was...when did we start using the term SPDIF in favour of 'optical' ??Once Ebuyer deliver the processor so that I can actually boot the PC i'll let you know what it's like.
The plan is to send video to the TV via HDMI then sound to my Onkyo 605 by SPDIF
Edited by Hedders on Monday 1st December 22:33
The motherboard i've gone for (spec on a thread in the computers forum) has an HDMI port built in but i've added a dual output graphics card as i'm planning on using a second small touch screen in the kitchen.
I'm looking forward to viewing a couple of Blu Ray films to see if you can really "see" the difference....
Hedders - I'm in LB if you want to stop by and have a look at my set up when it's up and running please feel free.
Edited by pmanson on Monday 1st December 22:45
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