A surprising discovery

[venkatcr]

While I was fooling around with my HTPC I came across a strange fact.

I have digital copies (see post no 19 and 20 below) of a few Blu-Ray movies such a I-Robot, SpiderMan 3, Zorro, etc. The Spiderman 3 was giving me trouble in the sense that both Dune and PowerDVD refused to play the movie. For a lark, I right clicked on the Sub_Directory and chose 'Play with VLC'. Lo and behold, I had VLC playing a Blu-Ray!! Thinking I had made a mistake or that maybe Spiderman3 was actually a DVD version, I tried the same trick on I-Robot, Zorro and a few other BR movies. VLC played all of them faithfully. And oh, VLC does not understand nor play Blu-Ray stored as an ISO file.

If you visit VideoLAN - VLC - Features, it does say VLC supports MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, the encoding that is used in Blu-Ray. But, I have not read anywhere about VLC being capable of playing Blu-Ray.

I think some programmer has quietly introduced this capability and is chuckling away somewhere.

Other members who have HTPC, please do try this out and share your experience. The VLC version is 1.1.5.

Cheers

 

[theironhorse]

vlc is capable of playing almost every format known. i have been using vlc for almost 2 years.. and almost all the HD movies.. however above 720p i would prefer media player classic with k-lite as vlc gets stuck once you select audio device as digital spdif.. it will however work fine with stereo audio out..

 

[roseboy24]

Agreed mee too using VLC and runing almost all movies any format ...

 

[vardu]

While I was fooling around with my HTPC is came across a strange fact.

I have digital copies of a few Blu-Ray movies such a I-Robot, SpiderMan 3, Zorro, etc. The Spiderman 3 was giving me trouble in the sense that both Dune and PowerDVD refused to play the movie. For a lark, I right click on the Sub_Directory and chose 'Play with VLC'. Lo and behold, I had VLC playing a Blu-Ray!! Thinking I had made a mistake or that maybe Spiderman3 was actually a DVD version, I tried the same trick on I-Robot, Zorro and a few other BR movies. VLC played all of the faithfully. And oh, VLC does not understand nor play Blu-Ray stored as an ISO file.

If you visit VideoLAN - VLC - Features, it does say VLC support MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, the encoding that is used in Blu-Ray. But, I have not read anywhere about VLC being capable of playing Blu-Ray.

I think some programmer has quietly introduced this capability and is chuckling away somewhere.

Other members who have HTPC, please do try this out and share your experience. The VLC version is 1.1.5.

Cheers

They have been trying it in the dev builds on and off for the past year and a half. In fact, about a year back, MakeMKV enabled a way to play BD on linux using VLC.

There still is a problem with a lot of BD-J and the menu support is iffy for some discs apparently.

 

[venkatcr]

I know VLC is capable of playing many formats. My point is that if it is capable of playing Blu-Rays, they would have made a big hue and cry about it. So this particular capability is un-official.

And oh, at least with ATI 5xxx series of cards and version 10.11 Catalyst installed, VLC bit-streams audio for DTS and Dolby codecs. And VLC also supports hardware acceleration with ATI cards.

Cheers

 

[spirovious]

Venkat,vlc supports HD-audio since long(1.1) & can play DD-HD & mentioned before-
http://www.hifivision.com/home-theater-pc-htpc-media-pc/4521-best-media-player-2.html

But I am surprised that powerDVD refused.PDVD10 can play almost all formats.
VLC can play few of Dts master tracks(some Hindi samples)

 

[spirovious]

with ATI 5xxx series of cards and version 10.11 Catalyst installed, VLC bit-streams audio for DTS and Dolby codecs. And VLC also supports hardware acceleration with ATI cards.

Cheers

I have done regular setting for HDW acc,any special for ATI?

 

[ontherocks]

But I am surprised that powerDVD refused.PDVD10 can play almost all formats.

But not iso directly I guess.

 

[venkatcr]

I have done regular setting for HDW acc,any special for ATI?

In the video part of VLC 'Preferences', just tick hardware acceleration. That is all.

Cheers

 

[venkatcr]

But not iso directly I guess.

You have to mount the ISO as a drive. Then PowerDVD plays it well.

Cheers

 

[venkatcr]

Maybe I am missing something here. If VLC is capable of playing Blu-Ray (and I am talking about both audio and video) why has there been no mention of it anywhere on the Net? It seems to be some sort of a open secret.

And Spiro, Catalysts 10.11 onwards creates a new audio player (device) called AMD HD Audio. That is what you must select. Also remember, one can set off Realtek audio in the BIOS. If you do that, PowerDVD will not even start.

Cheers

 

[venkatcr]

however above 720p i would prefer media player classic with k-lite as vlc gets stuck once you select audio device as digital spdif.. it will however work fine with stereo audio out..

You should try MPC with FFDShow. I believe that is the best option. Check this link.

Cheers

 

[ontherocks]

But not iso directly I guess.

You have to mount the ISO as a drive. Then PowerDVD plays it well.

Cheers

Didn't I say "directly"?

 

[deba]

Of all the software players I have used so far I have found the VLC to be the best with maximum media support..........

 

[spirovious]

In the video part of VLC 'Preferences', just tick hardware acceleration. That is all.

Cheers

So I have been doing correct here(similar)...

 

[spirovious]

Spiro, Catalysts 10.11 onwards creates a new audio player (device) called AMD HD Audio. That is what you must select. Also remember, one can set off Realtek audio in the BIOS. If you do that, PowerDVD will not even start.

Cheers

I need to know more this/audio player device?I tried new driver & cldnt see any new.
http://www.hifivision.com/home-thea...31-finally-built-my-budget-bluray-htpc-2.html

Couldnt get realtek one.I know that one has to select a default audio device as ATI to get HD audio out.I select xonar & get 5.1out of my card.

 

[abhifusion]

Even stock media player can play bluray , u just need to install k lite codec pack n it plays every format known

 

[spirovious]

Many times external codecs do the job like in early days of Divx/Xvid.

 

[sam9s]

While I was fooling around with my HTPC I came across a strange fact.

I have digital copies of a few Blu-Ray movies such a I-Robot, SpiderMan 3, Zorro, etc. The Spiderman 3 was giving me trouble in the sense that both Dune and PowerDVD refused to play the movie. For a lark, I right clicked on the Sub_Directory and chose 'Play with VLC'. Lo and behold, I had VLC playing a Blu-Ray!! Thinking I had made a mistake or that maybe Spiderman3 was actually a DVD version, I tried the same trick on I-Robot, Zorro and a few other BR movies. VLC played all of them faithfully. And oh, VLC does not understand nor play Blu-Ray stored as an ISO file.

If you visit VideoLAN - VLC - Features, it does say VLC supports MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, the encoding that is used in Blu-Ray. But, I have not read anywhere about VLC being capable of playing Blu-Ray.

I think some programmer has quietly introduced this capability and is chuckling away somewhere.

Other members who have HTPC, please do try this out and share your experience. The VLC version is 1.1.5.

Cheers

You are all confused, if I am not wrong you played a "digital copy" (digital disc) of a Bluray which now a days is provided with the actual Bluray disc of the movie ........

The reason VLC was able to play the disc was because a "digital copy" is meant to be played on media players specially WMP, itunes and Apple associated media playes, VLC being the most versatile player no wonder was able to play the disc. Infact when we talk about Digital Copy we should not even be calling them "Disc" .....Digital copies have a "file" structure for devices capable of operating with a file in contrast to a DVD/Bluray structure, which can not be played on the fly (unless you unlock a copy protection)

That is the reason VLC even refused to play a Bluray ISO ..... as to play ISO Bluray, VLC should know how to read the Bluary structure, which in turn means to read the AACS copy protection. This however can easily be done by installing an apps called AnyDVD HD whcih removes AACS when the disc is inserted. VLC then plays the ISO without any hitch.

Providing digital copies is a meek attempt of the industry to crub piracy............you bought a BluRay movie so you should be able to play it with your Bluray player PLUS your PC as well, instead of finding ways to copy the same disc on your PC. Digital Copy does the same just allows you to view your Bluray on your PC without actually ripping it or using any copy protection application ......

However even to make a digital copy work on a PC a 12-16 digit code needs to be placed that comes with the digit copy. You must have placed that code if its the "digital copy" you played as mentioned by you in your post ......

 

[venkatcr]

You are all confused, if I am not wrong you played a "digital copy" (digital disc) of a Bluray which now a days is provided with the actual Bluray disc of the movie ........

I made an error in my initial post. These are not true Digital Copies as you explained. What I did was copy the entire directory and files into the hard disk. So in essence, it is an exact duplicate of the original Blu-Ray disc.

That is the reason I was surprised.

I will experiment more tonight including seeing if VLC can play ISO files, and also seeing if it can play the original discs on the drive. I also need to see if I can get full menu structure.

Cheers