Blu-ray playback on PC isn't living up to the hype for my set up, need help!

[willrs]

Alright, so a few months ago, I built myself a new computer with all the new technologies so I wouldn't have to upgrade for a while (specs below). Of course I got a blu-ray drive even though I didn't have any blu-rays at the time. When I got it, I put Vista 64 on it but it didn't play well with my music software and I reformatted and put on XP 32. However the drive was recognized in Vista as a blu-ray drive opposed to it being seen as a dvd-ram drive in XP. So my friend lets me borrow the blu-ray version of Harold & Kumar: Escape From Gitmo and of course it doesn't work. I first tried using powerdvd7 that came with the drive. upon loading the disk (windows detected it in the drive) it would spin up and the powerdvd7 would say i needed an update before i could play it and direct me to the download. upon downloading and installing the patch it would say the same thing. over and over. I probably downloaded and installed the patch 5 times before I gave up and went out and bought Arcsoft TMT 3. This software seemed a lot more polished and i was excited to finally be able to experience the blu-ray glory. sadly that was not the case. tmt3 would recognize the disk and automatically start to play it, however the screen would just be blank and it would be stuck on Title 001 Chapter 004. Someone suggested that my video card and monitor might not be hdcp compliant, but it is (check the specs). At this point, i'm kinda over it and I tell myself that it will work when I upgrade to vista. so life goes on, newegg 30 day return policy expires, i'm sick of only being able to use 3 gigs of ram, and i now have The Dark Knight and Iron Man on blu-ray, it's time to upgrade. to make a long story short i got the same exact problems in vista64, except i am now able to see the contents of the blu-rays when they are in the drive. oh and i also bought powerdvd9 ultra which loads the blu-ray and then tells me "Your disk drive does not support the content of this drive." sweet. so i'm starting to get depressed when one of my buddies tells me about the windows 7 RC trial.
I get that, 64bit version, load up my system with all my music and editing software, everything works flawlessly. at this point i'm stoked and the icing on the cake would be that my blu-rays play. no cigar. here's the breakdown of what each player does in Win7.

Cyberlink Powerdvd7 (disk that came with the drive):
same problem, endless updates that don't accomplish anything

Cyberlink Powerdvd9 Ultra:
same error message "Your disk drive does not support the content of this drive."

Nero Showtime:
error message "This disk type currently is not supported." I heard there's a plugin that gives support but i have a feeling it won't work.

Arcsoft TMT3:
something actually works!...kinda
When I put in The Dark Knight it tells me i need to update my player to support newer blu-ray disk features. i download and install the update, open tmt and it loads instantly and tells me it doesn't support a mouse and to use its little remote thingy, then the special features menu pops up. I use the software remote (keyboard nav doesn't work) to navigate over to play movie and select, the screen goes blank and the little play and pause icons flash a bunch of times in the top left corner then it throws me back into the special features menu. I can also nav over to scene selection and select any scene, but when it tries to play it, the same thing happens, play and pause alternate and it throws me back into the special features menu.
For Iron Man it's completely different, except for the part where the movie doesn't play. When I put the disk in, tmt3 opens and takes forever to load the disk. after about 5 minutes the iron man chest powersupply logo thing comes up and it asks me if i want to download the bd-live content, if i say yes it downloads it and then takes me to the main menu, if i say no it just takes me straight to the main menu. I've never seen Iron Man on blu-ray before but it looks like the main menu didn't load right or it's just very lackluster, anyway i can use to keyboard to navigate, but the only thing i can select is play and scene selection. play goes to a blank black screen and does nothing, except the Title and Chapter numbers change from either T004 to T009 and CH001 to CH612. very strange. when i go to scene selection it freezes. That's where I am now, very confused and frustrated. sorry for length and any spelling or grammar errors, i was just trying to be as detailed as possible. i hope someone on here can help me out, i'm losing faith in blu-ray :[

Specs:
AMD Phenom II 955 Black Edition
ATI Radeon HD4870 1gb (with dvi and hdmi out, tried both)
8gb ddr3 1600
Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P (F3 bios version)
LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray / HD-DVD SATA combo drive with Firmware v1.03
LG Flatron w2353v 1920x1080 with either dvi or hdmi
WD Raptor 150gb SATA
WD Caviar 1TB SATA
550watt psu

[ChoosyLobster]

Dude i don't have a blu-ray player for the PC but i bet the problem you are having is because you have not updated ur blu-ray player firmware. check to see if they came out with an update

[willrs]

everything is fully updated

[syncguy]

Originally Posted by ChoosyLobster

Dude i don't have a blu-ray player for the PC but i bet the problem you are having is because you have not updated ur blu-ray player firmware. check to see if they came out with an update

Yes check for player firmware upgrades. you could be lucky...

You are really experiencing PC system incompatibility issues impacting on blu-ray play back. blu-ray itself is a robust technology. However, when you try to integrate blu-ray on to a PC, blu-ray is at the mercy of the PC architecture and software.

As someone has suggested, it could be a video related issue (may or may not be related to hdcp).

This may not be acceptable to you, however, PS3-slim would fix all your problems and instantly let you enjoy blu-ray.

Sorry, I couldn't really help you.

[ChoosyLobster]

I just read this on newegg.com


Cons: The included software "CyberLink PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra" (part of the LG Hi Def Suite) will not play recent retail BluRay discs. The software will get into an infinite loop of "Update Required", "Update Complete" without actually accomplishing anything on recent BluRay discs. CyberLink PowerDVD Tech support has sent me a specific patch for this drive that failed to resolve the issue, and now they simply say "Sorry".

[Petra_Kalbrain]

I had the same kind of problems when I built my own system for DVD playback when it first came out. I had all kinds of troubles with the DVD format on my "kick ass" system ($4500 at the time). And I continued to have troubles for 3 years on it. That's why I avoided creating an HTPC for Blu-ray and just opted to get the PS3 instead. #1. Didn't want the headache of dealing with the growing pains for a lengthy period of time (computers tend to do that longer than standalone systems with home media playback technology because so many different components need firmware updates and they don't always all get along with one another). #2. Well... the PS3 is a computer system itself. To a degree, yes. But still a lot less than I would have spent on an HTPC that I knew would most likely give me continuous headaches for the first coupld of years.

[willrs]

yea blu-ray was not the first thing i had in mind when i built this comp, and after reading so many success stories and good reviews i figured it would be stupid not to get a blu-ray drive. hopefully once windows7 is actually released things will get a bit more stable.

[scorsetinogilliam]

please don't title the thread blu ray not living up to the hype or whatever it is, if that's not what this is about. this is about you not buying a player and tv, but insisting to stick to your computer. it's quite silly. not blu ray's fault, your's.

[willrs]

Originally Posted by scorsetinogilliam

this is about you not buying a player and tv, but insisting to stick to your computer. it's quite silly. not blu ray's fault, your's.

umm ok... well, i could scroll up and re-read what i said, but i don't really remember there being anything about a decision whether or not to buy either a tv/player or computer to watch blu-rays. and i'm not really pointing the finger at anyone? to me, it hasn't lived up to the hype because everyone i've talked to has told me they loved blu-ray and the quality was "unreal" but when i walk through best buy and see all the demo tv's set up, it doesn't look all that great. now i have sat down and watched a blu-ray (pirates of the carribean at worlds end) in a 6k home theater and that was amazing, besides the fact that the person had to spend 6k in order to achieve it. and i have also watched the dark knight blu-ray on a friends laptop and that was phenomenal as well. i figured that if blu-ray is working flawlessly on laptops then there shouldn't be a problem putting it in my desktop. try to understand my logic.

[scorsetinogilliam]

Originally Posted by willrs

umm ok... well, i could scroll up and re-read what i said, but i don't really remember there being anything about a decision whether or not to buy either a tv/player or computer to watch blu-rays. and i'm not really pointing the finger at anyone? to me, it hasn't lived up to the hype because everyone i've talked to has told me they loved blu-ray and the quality was "unreal" but when i walk through best buy and see all the demo tv's set up, it doesn't look all that great. now i have sat down and watched a blu-ray (pirates of the carribean at worlds end) in a 6k home theater and that was amazing, besides the fact that the person had to spend 6k in order to achieve it. and i have also watched the dark knight blu-ray on a friends laptop and that was phenomenal as well. i figured that if blu-ray is working flawlessly on laptops then there shouldn't be a problem putting it in my desktop. try to understand my logic.

your logic isn't the issue,
it's the offensive and misleading title that is the issue

[RiseDarthVader]

Hmm PowerDVD 9 Ultra should of worked. As long as it isn't the trial version.

[bhampton]

Hey,

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. I built and used HTPC's from 1999 till 2005 but I don't believe in HTPC's anymore particularly if they run some form Microsoft OS.

Just think... for $299 you could have had a fantastic Blu Ray computer if you have bought a PS3.


-Brian

[bhampton]

Quote "Alright, so a few months ago, I built myself a new computer with all the new technologies so I wouldn't have to upgrade for a while (specs below)."

I always thought when I bought the latest gear it was not going to have to upgraded for a while too. I remember when I got that 300MHz monster.

Upgrading never ends with PCs.

-Brian

[prerich]

Originally Posted by scorsetinogilliam

please don't title the thread blu ray not living up to the hype or whatever it is, if that's not what this is about. this is about you not buying a player and tv, but insisting to stick to your computer. it's quite silly. not blu ray's fault, your's.

Sir, it's really no one's "fault". I've used BD in my HTPC for a couple of years now and until my OPPO arrives, it will remain my reference BD and it will always be in my main system. We will try to help the OP with his problem - If he chooses to stay PC, that's his choice.

OP - The Iron Man slow down is due to it recovering extra content from the internet. After it does this it will load fast - (everyone faced this when Iron Man first came out). How fast is your internet connection?

The Black Knight issue I can't really help with because I don't own that movie (didn't want it). However, have you tried rebooting the PC (with the disc still in the PC) and then starting TMT3? I also remember, when I had TMT2 and PowerDVD 7 Ultra load together - they didn't like each other. I got rid of PDVD and just used TMT - I've been a TMT user since (I also had WinDVD 9 Plus BD, but I only used it to upconvert - until the SIM add-on came for TMT).

[prerich]

Originally Posted by willrs

umm ok... well, i could scroll up and re-read what i said, but i don't really remember there being anything about a decision whether or not to buy either a tv/player or computer to watch blu-rays. and i'm not really pointing the finger at anyone? to me, it hasn't lived up to the hype because everyone i've talked to has told me they loved blu-ray and the quality was "unreal" but when i walk through best buy and see all the demo tv's set up, it doesn't look all that great. now i have sat down and watched a blu-ray (pirates of the carribean at worlds end) in a 6k home theater and that was amazing, besides the fact that the person had to spend 6k in order to achieve it. and i have also watched the dark knight blu-ray on a friends laptop and that was phenomenal as well. i figured that if blu-ray is working flawlessly on laptops then there shouldn't be a problem putting it in my desktop. try to understand my logic.

Part of your issue is that laptops are basically proprietary (kinda like a Mac) and they are designed to basically just work. The issue is definately software related - if the other things I suggested didn't work - try updating your video driver or your cataylst dirvers (I know with Nvidia I had to back date a driver when I had a BD problem - solved in seconds). How long have you been working with PC's, would you consider yourself a novice - mediocore, skilled, or an expert?

[prerich]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Quote "Alright, so a few months ago, I built myself a new computer with all the new technologies so I wouldn't have to upgrade for a while (specs below)."

I always thought when I bought the latest gear it was not going to have to upgraded for a while too. I remember when I got that 300MHz monster.

Upgrading never ends with PCs.

-Brian

True - now I find myself using my PC as a fancy BD, multimedia machine - that I use to produce music on. A lot of my old PC work is now done on my netbook. I don't upgrade it as much as I used to though. My last upgrade was my HDAV 1.3 Slim.

[rob.sparrow]

I have an HTPC and i know your troubles. It has been a HUGE learning curve for me. First my gfx card was not compliant, THEN I had to upgrade soundcard to get proper HD sound. I also had issues with software until i got TMT3. THEN I had networking issues when I tried to use media centre to transfer some file types of the network. Along with all the issues I have had with codecs and file types it almost made me weep.

FINALLY, I found that an NVidia card attached to an Asus HDMI v1.3 card using TMT3 and anydvdhd trial works best for me. I connect my gfx card to my soundcard and then my soundcard to my amp. My amp then connects to my TV and everything works.

Try the follwoing:

update ALL drivers and make sure you are using vista or above. If Vista, try 32bit if possible as 64bit is less able to handle blu-ray ( no idea why but wasted HOURS on blogsites and forums and most of these tend to lead to the same conclusions ). Use TMT3. It is by far the best of the bunch as far as I am concerned and I have not had ANY blu-ray, DVD or HD-DVD ( I bought a combo drive ) fail on me yet. Find the program that tweaks your gfx card and make sure it is set to handle HDMI, with a 1080p at 24fps. ( or your DVI cable - although HDMI may be better if you are also using HD Sound ) Also make sure if your soundcard is a regular card and you are using say an optical or analogue signal, that TMT3 and your vista settings all match to give you the right amount of speakers and that the software you use for playing also matches. Also, try playing with the video settings and turning the hardware acceleration on and off.

Sorry if you have tried all these before but as i said, through trial and error, my machine now works great. I have it set up to play all my media types and any disc i throw at it and it works everytime. It just took about 4 months to figure it all out. or sell it and buy a cheaper alternative ( i found the first option the better as i now feel i know a bit more about my machine )

[willrs]

thanks rob, i've updated everything and tried using each program by itself (no other program installed) with still no luck. i don't know if this has anything to do with it, but when i use hdmi the resolution doesn't fill my monitor, even tho in catalyst control center it says 1920x1080 it definitely is not, and everything looks fuzzy, iv tried a monster cable and a cable from radioshack with the same results. iv also tried lowering the refresh rate to 24hz and although my monitor or video card supports it, it looks horrible and flickers.

for my audio i have 3 options, my on board hd sound card which pops in my music software, so i disable it thru the bios and use and external presonus firepod hooked up to my studio monitors over balanced trs cables, and for gaming, watching dvds, everything else i have a creative x-fi extreme gamer which is connected via fiber to my old 7.1 yamaha system which doesn't have hdmi

in terms of software, powerdvd9 ultra has never frozen, it loads fast but as soon as the bar reaches 100% it gives me the error message "your disk drive does not support the playback for this content"

tmt3 just give me glitchy menus and freezes when i hit play.

i'm starting to think that the drive is bad....

[prerich]

Originally Posted by willrs

thanks rob, i've updated everything and tried using each program by itself (no other program installed) with still no luck. i don't know if this has anything to do with it, but when i use hdmi the resolution doesn't fill my monitor, even tho in catalyst control center it says 1920x1080 it definitely is not, and everything looks fuzzy, iv tried a monster cable and a cable from radioshack with the same results. iv also tried lowering the refresh rate to 24hz and although my monitor or video card supports it, it looks horrible and flickers.

for my audio i have 3 options, my on board hd sound card which pops in my music software, so i disable it thru the bios and use and external presonus firepod hooked up to my studio monitors over balanced trs cables, and for gaming, watching dvds, everything else i have a creative x-fi extreme gamer which is connected via fiber to my old 7.1 yamaha system which doesn't have hdmi

in terms of software, powerdvd9 ultra has never frozen, it loads fast but as soon as the bar reaches 100% it gives me the error message "your disk drive does not support the playback for this content"

tmt3 just give me glitchy menus and freezes when i hit play.

i'm starting to think that the drive is bad....

Check your resolution in the diplay area of Control panel - make sure that it reads 1920x1080 also. If you don't mind doing so - you may want to try an inexpensive Nvidia card and see how that works also (especially since you are not using audio over HDMI).

[willrs]

Originally Posted by prerich

Check your resolution in the diplay area of Control panel - make sure that it reads 1920x1080 also. If you don't mind doing so - you may want to try an inexpensive Nvidia card and see how that works also (especially since you are not using audio over HDMI).

yea it says 1920x1080, i only get that problem when using hdmi, if i use dvi its crystal clear.