Yet another hp laptop problem

[DaveC]

Hi all,

I just discovered this forum while searching for an answer to my problem. I seem to have the exact same problem with my 8710W as Stu had with his hp. Blu-ray discs do not play correctly. What I found as a partial answer is in Stu's thread from 10/17/08. In that thread, Cyber Visions suggested a method for updating Quick Play, but says that standard versions of PowerDVD and WinDVD won't play.
This is nearly the same problem except that in using hp support, the techs have long since had me remove Quick play and replace it with PowerDVD and WinDVD. The hp techs had me download PowerDVD from wherever I could find it. So I downloaded the trial version of PowerDVD. I was in a hurry with the tech on the line so I did not notice that the trial version will not play Blu-ray, and the real version is $100.
Is there any way to get something to work without spending $100? After reading Cyber Visions comments, I don't have any faith that even that will work. I looked around on the hp site and only found links to WinDVD8 downloads and patches (which don't seem to work anymore). hp sent another player to try. The new player works slightly better because it can navigate to the movie (Pirates III) using WinDVD8. However, when the movie reaches some intensity while playing, the stutter shows up.
Any constructive help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Dave