HTPC w/ BluRay - Thoughts?

[castun]

So, I was looking into the idea of building an HTPC out of my old parts. How are BluRay drives these days for the PC? Will it be able to play BD movies right out of the box? Or would it be better to just get a set-top player?

Was talking this over with my one buddy and he said he looked into it a little while ago and it seemed like a bit of a hassle, what with having to purchase or subscribe to a decrypter codec or whatever to be able to play BD movies, and said something about you may not have full surround sound available without the proper equipment.

 

[King of Heroes]

I think the general consensus is to still to buy a dedicated Blu-ray player if you only want to play BD movies (it'd probably be cheaper too). An HTPC should be good for anything else though.

 

[Zepher]

Standalone seems to work better for me.
I have sound issues on my main rig when using PowerDVD, Sounds work in the Menus and then when the film plays there is no sound. This is a sound card/program error that I haven't tried to fix yet.

my HTPC works most of the time playing BD's with onboard HDMI to my plasma but sometimes PowerDVD will just get stuck and lock up when trying to read the disc.

I currently use a standalone Panasonic BD Player that I got for xmas in 09 from my brother and sister.
Haven't had an issue with any disc yet with the Panasonic.

 

[patric]

Bluray in an HTPC will cost you $40 - $50 for a cheap BD-Rom drive and $80 for good software (ie not made by Cyberlink).

You're much better off just getting a $100 Sony stand alone player.

However if you go with the HTPC route, Arcsoft Total Media Theater integrates well with Windows Media Center and I highly recommend it. I ended up moving my Bluray drive into my main desktop and bought a standalone player for my home theater setup.