Can't get Blu-Ray to play. Tried everything.

[Encoder888]

I'm sure I'm not the first one with this issue... I can't get either PowerDVD or WinDVD to play Blu-Ray movies... I recently got a Lite-On BD-ROM drive, fully upgraded with the latest drivers from Lite-On, I have a 8600GTS with latest nVidia Forceware drivers installed, I'm using AnyDVD HD in the background. I tried the latest PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra Deluxe with full BD support and it simply will not work. I even found the XBOX 360 HD drivers for Windows XP and installed those, so now my Windows XP recognizes UDF 2.50 and Blu-Ray content.

I tried it with and without AnyDVD HD running. When AnyDVD HD is running, I select the BD drive in PowerDVD and, it seems like it starts loading something for a second, but then it stops, the screen stays blank and the drive isn't reading, and no matter how many times I click on Play it doesn't do anything, it just stays blank. If I don't have AnyDVD HD running, PowerDVD 7.3 simply crashes when I select the BD drive, so I have to terminate the process... I tried letting it stay crashed for half an hour - nothing, it never recovered. Oh, and I installed the CyberLink Advisor application and I get all green lights on all indicators that my machine is BD playback capable.

Nothing seems to help. So, ANYONE, PLEASE, help me out! I've tried everything and I'm completely desperate.

[setarip_old]

Hi!

Are you saying that you cannot play original, commercial BluRay DVDs?

[Encoder888]

Yes, that's what I'm saying.

[setarip_old]

1) There should be no reason or need to use AnyDVD HD to play an original, commercial Bluray DVD.

2) Which specific BluRay DVDs have you tried playing?

3) Are you certain that your Lite-On drive is capable of playing the specific BluRay DVDs you've tried - or are they possibly of more recent vintage with newer capabilities and/or protections than your player is capable of processing?

[Encoder888]

Oh my God, I finally figured it out after 12 hours... I thought I had the latest PowerDVD 7.3 version, but as it turns out there was an update I didn't have (3730) and after installing that, I was able to play almost all Blu-Ray discs I could get my hands on (I work in a video store, so I can get my hands on a lot :-)), except for a few, such as Superbad... But after running AnyDVD HD in the background, I was able to view even those few. AnyDVD HD shouldn't be needed, like you said, but it is needed to unlock certain features of the disc, whenever PowerDVD's own decrypters fail. And that's not a hardware issue.

I'm so happy... To all of you out there who may be experiencing similar problems - I read a lot of forum posts out there - you DON'T have to have Vista or even a video card that natively supports PureVideo HD (even though I have one), but you do want at least a 7600 - all you need is a BD disk drive, preferably one that is actively supported by their manufacturer by regularly issuing firmware updates, and I do recommend Lite-On DH-4O1S, latest firmware upgrades are on Lite-On's site and the cost is very low - $125 from Newegg. Also make sure you have the LATEST PowerDVD, and I mean PowerDVD 7.3 3730 and the latest nVidia Forceware drivers (or the latest ATi Catalyst) drivers. And you wanna make sure you're running AnyDVD HD 6.3.1.5. (latest) in the background, just in case - also it's very useful to back up BD discs, if you have a huge HDD, or several of them. Oh, and you need to have at least 1GB of RAM and a dual-core at least 4000+, but I'm assuming since you're into encoding, you probably do.

Phhew, that was such a long post, I'm just really happy that I finally got it to work, so now I got all this energy :) Take care. Oh and thank you for your help and quick replies :-)

[setarip_old]

thank you for your help and quick replies :-) Glad to hear you've resolved your dilemma;>}

Hopefully, the information you've provided will help others who run into similar difficulties...

[Sharktooth]

correction: AnyDVD HD is able to make working backup of blu-rays without BD+ protection scheme only.
BD+ is still unbeaten and even if AnyDVD can copy the BD+ protected disc it wont work on any player except a particular flawed build of powerdvd... and as you can see, the latest titles require upgrading. that, means... the backup wont work.

[Encoder888]

Actually, it has been, for the purpose of backing it up (and possibly, ripping it...), the only thing you can't do is record it on a BD-RE and play it in another BR player... Which doesn't make any sense anyway, since BD media is currently very expensive.

Read about it on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BD%2B

[Peer van Heuen]

Actually, it has been, for the purpose of backing it up (and possibly, ripping it...), the only thing you can't do is record it on a BD-RE and play it in another BR player... Which doesn't make any sense anyway, since BD media is currently very expensive.

Read about it on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BD%2B

Well, if it's in Wikipedia, it's got to be true, right? :)

I'd just like to put this straight: SlySoft never announced, that BD+ was completely broken.

[iliasstr]

you DON'T have to have Vista or even a video card that natively supports PureVideo HD

What connections do you use for picture and sound? Can you get full HD resolution if you use DVI? As for sound I believe every disc has an "old fashioned" Dolby Digital sound, so that won't be a problem I think...