a few questions regarding Blu-Ray support (1 Viewer)

[MaKin]

Hey guys,

first of all I'd like to thank you for the great support here. Also I should mention that I have read the Wiki, especially the native bd support part. And now I know that there is BD support in MePo 1.3 as long as it's not commercial discs. For playback of commercial blu ray discs there has to software installed that takes over the on-the-fly decription. Exmamples are PowerDVD or AnyDVD HD. So far so good but there are still some question marks above my head...

• how can I set up the playback inside MePo (with the software mentioned above running in the background) without having to switch the software (respectively use mouse/keyboard)
• will I have full-menu support in MePo or only when running the PowerDVD HD itself (as AnyDVD is no player right?) or won't I have the original menus at all?
• will I be able to play every BluRay disc with that set up just as if I was using a stand alone player?
• are there any know issues or bugs when using that constellation?

I would also like to apologize for asking questions that might have been answered already but as a htpc-beginner there are so many things not quite clear and I am looking forward to any information I receive that way while doing further research on my own.

As I do not own a htpc yet, I had no chance to test it myself yet.

If you could also give me a short "OK" whether the BD-playback will be fine with the following planned config:

• AMD A8-5500 4x 3.20GHz
• ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M A75
• Kingston HyperX XMP Kit 4GB PC3-14900U
• Samsung SSD 840 Series 120GB
• LiteOn iHOS104 BluRay

Thanks in advance.

Best regards,

Martin

 

[jameson_uk]

At the moment menus are problematic (those that use BD-J will not work).
You will always get a list of titles to play (there are normally a few on a disc) and you can select the one that looks right.

For internal playback you need decryption software (Any DVD / DVDFab) and this will then play just like a local video file.
You can use something like PowerDVD / TMT to handle the actual playback and launch this from MP but whilst you will get full meny support, integration is not always brilliant.

 

[MaKin]

Thank you very much!

To make sure I understand correctly:

If my BD uses BD-J there will be a list of titles instead of the menu.
If my BD does not use BD-J there will be the original menu I used to see when playing it on my stand alone player?

In both cases I have to use a decryption software (AnyDVD, DVDFab) for internal playback.

When I instead use something like PowerDVD/TMT there will be full menu support but I might have to struggle with integration.

If I buy PowerDVD instead of AnyDVD, will I be able to somehow use internal playback and only switch to external playback when BD-J is used?

In both cases: Will I be able to play every (!) Original BD-Disc? This is important to me as I do not want to parallel use a stand alone player.

Can you tell me what software you would choose/have chosen?

Are there any know bugs like 24p stutter / freezes / lagging etc.?

EDIT: Which solution brings full 3d-bluray-playback support?

 

[HomeY]

Thank you very much!

To make sure I understand correctly:

If my BD uses BD-J there will be a list of titles instead of the menu.
If my BD does not use BD-J there will be the original menu I used to see when playing it on my stand alone player?

Correct

In both cases I have to use a decryption software (AnyDVD, DVDFab) for internal playback.

Correct

When I instead use something like PowerDVD/TMT there will be full menu support but I might have to struggle with integration.

Yes, you need to set up some stuff so your remote can close the external player again, it's not the ideal situation

If I buy PowerDVD instead of AnyDVD, will I be able to somehow use internal playback and only switch to external playback when BD-J is used?

Nope, with PowerDVD you don't have on-the-fly decryption, so commercial discs won't play with the internal player. you need AnyDVD or DVDFab as decrypter, and then you can play any disc with the internal player, but BD-J discs won't have menus (but you can play the movie).
More info on BD-J Title playback on the bottom of the Wiki:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/0_What's_New/1.3.x/Native_Blu-ray_Support

So, to sum it all up: Just start playback, select Menu (unless you have a BD-J disc, then you select the Title) and enjoy the highest quality of Video & Audio on your MediaPortal system!

In both cases: Will I be able to play every (!) Original BD-Disc? This is important to me as I do not want to parallel use a stand alone player.

See above answer, you really need a decrypter with the internal player.

Can you tell me what software you would choose/have chosen?

I would start to give it a try with the DVDFab Passkey Lite (free!):
http://www.dvdfab.com/passkey-lite.htm

Are there any know bugs like 24p stutter / freezes / lagging etc.?

Not if the system is set up correctly

EDIT: Which solution brings full 3d-bluray-playback support?

for that we need the libbluray.dll to support 3D playback. Same goes for BD-J support.

 

[MaKin]

Thank you!

Ok, I guess I've got that right then! But with the on-the-fly-decryption (anyDVD) I will be able to play every original movie disc except for 3D and the BD-J movie thing?

Are there any issues with HD-Audio?

A possible solution for 3D playback is PowerDVD as from what I've read.

2D-Bluray: MePo with internal playback (AnyDVD), perfectly integrated
3D-Bluray: external playback (PowerDVD), not integrated

 

[HomeY]

But with the on-the-fly-decryption (anyDVD) I will be able to play every original movie disc except for 3D and the BD-J movie thing?

Should be possible, but I can't make any promisses. If you encounter a disc that won't play, feel free to supply the team with a sample and we'll look into it.

Are there any issues with HD-Audio?

Not that i know of

A possible solution for 3D playback is PowerDVD as from what I've read.

2D-Bluray: MePo with internal playback (AnyDVD), perfectly integrated
3D-Bluray: external playback (PowerDVD), not integrated

That's correct, but you have to keep in mind that MediaPortal doesn't now if a BD is 2D or 3D. We have multiple plugins that can handle video (like MyVideos & MovingPictures for example), so what you could do is set up 1 of the above for only 3D Movies + set an external player, and use the other plugin for the rest of your movies

 

[MaKin]

You just made my day HomeY! Thank you very much. In a few short sentences you solved every possible problem that came into my mind.
As soon as I receive the hardware parts I am going to try it out! ;-)

Would you recommend Win7 or Win8 as a basis for MediaPortal? As a student I have access to both of them.

 

[HomeY]

I'm running with Win 8 and happy with it
And you'll get a free Start button to go with that in a couple of months, so i'd say: Win 8

 

[MaKin]

Haha, with Windows Blue you mean?

 

[kiwijunglist]

If you could also give me a short "OK" whether the BD-playback will be fine with the following planned config:

• AMD A8-5500 4x 3.20GHz
• ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M A75
• Kingston HyperX XMP Kit 4GB PC3-14900U
• Samsung SSD 840 Series 120GB
• LiteOn iHOS104 BluRay

Very good choice of hardware. I like that you went with 2x2gb 1866 that will help that onboard gpu a lot. If you were intending to run tv-server for live tv on this pc, then I would add an additional 2-4gb for timeshifting, so the SSD isn't used for timeshifting. But if you didn't do that your setup would still be fine. You are missing remote control,case,psu,tv card(if needed). If you want to save money you can downgrade to the A6-5XXX cpu. The cpu fan is likely to be the loudest part of your htpc, unless your case/psu has exceptionally loud fans.

For operating system, if I owned both I'd use Win7, if I was buying one or the other, I'd get Win8.