Bluray player software?

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Supreme [H]ardness
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Nov 17, 2000
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Are there any free Bluray player software? If not then which one is worth buying?
 
cyberlink software use to be pretty buggy so for the last few years i've been using arcsoft. this year i switched back to cyberlink for more reliable 4k playback. been pretty happy. with either arcsoft or cyberlink you'll be paying $100 for their playback software.
 
I'd say stay off of Cyberlink still.

The software is STILL buggy as shit.

I've been faithful about staying up to date since Version 10.

After a year, it stops updating and being able to play new disks.
The sound inexplicably stops working.

Just, in general, a joke. An expensive fucking joke at that.
 
Considering Arcsoft has pulled TMT from the market, I think you're stuck with the Cyberlink stuff.
 
every retail playback software stops updating within the first year. heck they usually stop updating within the first 6 months. the no sound issue is something i too have experienced with cyberlink ultra. its the reason i switched to arcsoft in 2010. arcsoft total media theatre 3 still works for me in spite of not being updated in a long time. since april, cyberlink powerdvd ultra 14 has worked flawlessly. the previous versions of power dvd ultra were consistently hit and miss right from the beginning, so to me that's a big improvement. vlc players blu ray support has been in beta forever.
 
All the issues I had in the past made want a SA bluray player,so my sister and brother got me one a few years back for xmas.
I've got a bluray reader and a writer just sitting around with no real desire to put them in anything.
 
its BS that you need special software to playback bluray on the PC. I recall using Arcsoft back when I first got my BR drive and got so frustrated with it that I just stopped buying blurays (or just rip them). I reminds me a lot of when DVD first hit PC. IIRC, you also needed special software to play them.
 
i wonder which player was better back then. i bought my blu ray/hd dvd drive when they first hit the market in 06. powerdvd ultra 7 was the pack in. 7 actually worked better than 8 better than half of the time. i installed both on my htpc back then. if 7 didn't work, i'd switch to 8. honestly though, blu ray playback was more troublesome than hd dvd simply because the platform was still evolving. hd dvd launched as a finalized product. i have an near complete hd dvd collection today. i'm a big blu ray supporter and i've never watched a blu ray on anything but a pc. the first few years were such a headache, but since 2010 its been trouble free.
 
It shouldn't be easier to use make mkv to rip a bluray than to buy working software... But it is definitely easier to rip
 
I tried both the major players software years ago and came away disappointed. If you don't need menus get Anydvd HD and browse the folder structures for the main film. Mediaplayer Classic is my choice in players once the encryption is defeated, but there are many alternatives. Anydvd HD continually updates and I haven't found a movie it won't decrypt.
 
anydvd hd isn't always jonny on the spot for every blu ray release but they're usually pretty reliable. off the top of my head, both the wolverine and pacific rim were months late. sometimes anydvd hd renders some movies unplayable. expendables 3 comes to mind.
 
Arcsoft TotalMedia Theater was the best playback software until development ceased. Cyberlink is better than WInDVD, but they are both bloated messes. There aren't really any native playback options outside of that. PowerDVD 7 was bearable when it was around, but that was several versions ago...
 
The unfortunately true answer right now is that there isn't a reliable BluRay player for computers.

The only reliable option right now is piracy. You need to rip the movie using something like MakeMKV, then watch the produced file.
 
I rip all my blu-rays with Makemkv and play them back in XBMC/Kodi. 3D moives I play back with my xbox. Not a good solution for 3D play back at the moment for PC other then Powerdvd. Never liked power dvd. Didn't know Arcsoft TotalMedia Theater wasn't around any more that was hands down the best one for a while. Now that my son is getting into 3d movies more I'm going to have to figure something out with them I hate having to put a disk in and watch all the stupid previews and crap . I bought the movie I shouldn't have to wait 15 minutes to watch it in my own home. I have close to 300 blu-rays and like 200 dvd's I really don't have time to go looking for a disk lol
 
Sorry to rehash a rather old thread - but for any of you PowerDVD 14 users out there, do you know if they still have a Media Center plug-in available for it?
 
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