Do I need Vista? or new Graphics card?

[Daymo]

If I wanted to play a Blu-Ray film on my PC, does anyone know if
I'd need to "upgrade" to Vista, buy a new graphics card or
should I be able to play them as the system is.

Any help would be appreciated.

Kind regards

[arush5268d]

What is your current graphic card setup?

And it would be nice if you'd post the specs on your current hardware, so we all don't have to search for it ourselves.

[un4gvn94538]

cyberlinks website has a free program that scans your computer and tells you if your computer is blu ray ready.

[jw]

Originally Posted by Daymo

If I wanted to play a Blu-Ray film on my PC, does anyone know if
I'd need to "upgrade" to Vista, buy a new graphics card or
should I be able to play them as the system is.

Any help would be appreciated.

Kind regards

Vista is flawed, XP is much better and will play the BD software.
Vista requires 1GB just to operate, so updating to Vista will also require a substantial upgrade in RAM.

The processor and graphics card along with the RAM are the components needed to be up to date in order to perform your desired operation.

Do you have any specifics on your computer?
i.e RAM? Processor

[Daymo]

Hi Thanks, and sorry!

And it would be nice if you'd post the specs on your current hardware, so we all don't have to search for it ourselves.

Intel® G33 Express Chipset
1 x PCI Express x16 slot supporting PCI Express x4 mode
On board HDMI supporting HDCP
Intel GMA 3100
Intel® Clear Video Technology

I assume you're using integrated video? You don't need a new graphics card, you need a graphics card. One with HDCP. Your cpu can handle the decoding.

Shouldn't the on board graphics be able to play Blu-ray, If not what card would you suggest?

cyberlinks website has a free program that scans your computer and tells you if your computer is blu ray ready.

I downloaded the cyberlink advisor, and it told me that the graphics driver wasn't BD ready, after some looking about it appears that the G33 chipset driver won't be supporting PowerDVD under XP but it will in Vista. I'm fairly keen to avoid Vista though so would like a solution under XP. Would a Graphics card deal with that?

Do you have any specifics on your computer?
i.e RAM? Processor

Sure, I have an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 240MHz, 2 x 2048 DDR2-SDRAM (4096 MB)

Thanks I really appreciate your help

[j3ff86]

Originally Posted by Daymo

Hi Thanks, and sorry!


Intel® G33 Express Chipset
1 x PCI Express x16 slot supporting PCI Express x4 mode
On board HDMI supporting HDCP
Intel GMA 3100
Intel® Clear Video Technology



Shouldn't the on board graphics be able to play Blu-ray, If not what card would you suggest?



I downloaded the cyberlink advisor, and it told me that the graphics driver wasn't BD ready, after some looking about it appears that the G33 chipset driver won't be supporting PowerDVD under XP but it will in Vista. I'm fairly keen to avoid Vista though so would like a solution under XP. Would a Graphics card deal with that?



Sure, I have an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 240MHz, 2 x 2048 DDR2-SDRAM (4096 MB)

Thanks I really appreciate your help

That sucks about the chipset drivers.. it's designed to connect to an HDTV! Anyways you can buy a cheap HDCP video card and it will work:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...k=&srchInDesc=

Any of those will do. Btw your cpu speed is 2400mhz

[Daymo]

Strangely enough this evening, both my DVI and my HDMI have stopped working, I had a load of lines come across one of my monitors and now neither work. Maybe is't bust, that would be nice.
I can probably return my motherboard so maybe I'll look at a different chipset, any ideas with the core 2 quad 775? I wondered about the G35 and maybe the Asus P5E-VM HDMI. Does anyone have any thoughts?

If I can't I'll have a look at a graphics card

Thanks again.

@ j3ff86 Thanks Ive fixed my signature now! !!

[supersix4]

yeah I really dont think onboard can play blu-ray looks like you have enough you could go get a decent card and slip it in cards are so cheap now, just make sure you have a big enough power supply, so you dont fry your card id go with this unless your power supply cant take it

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-XLR8-8800G...3806378&sr=8-1

239.99 dx10 512mb should be plenty for video/ games w/e but if your running just the integraded video card thats probly the problem..

[xtop]

well from your specs you have a blu-ray drive right. does that mean you can't play the video's or what? check out the min specs. your cpu and 4gb of ram is more than enough, just need a video card

[j3ff86]

Originally Posted by supersix14

yeah I really dont think onboard can play blu-ray

It can if you have a quad core cpu; it does all of the workload. The only problem is his chipset can't use dhcp in windows XP.

[Branden]

Originally Posted by Daymo

If I wanted to play a Blu-Ray film on my PC, does anyone know if
I'd need to "upgrade" to Vista, buy a new graphics card or
should I be able to play them as the system is.

Any help would be appreciated.

Kind regards

vista supposedly handles media more efficiently than XP, but it's also a resource hog in itself so there's no need or benefit to upgrade to vista. 4G ram and quad core is more than plenty, hardwarewise seems it's just a graphics card you need. i would suggest an nvidia 8800GT, just make sure it supports HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) and purevideoHD, and of course a PCI-E slot to put it.

[j3ff86]

Originally Posted by Branden

vista supposedly handles media more efficiently than XP, but it's also a resource hog in itself so there's no need or benefit to upgrade to vista. 4G ram and quad core is more than plenty, hardwarewise seems it's just a graphics card you need. i would suggest an nvidia 8800GT, just make sure it supports HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) and purevideoHD, and of course a PCI-E slot to put it.

There's no reason to spend $200. A $40 8400 will do fine.

[un4gvn94538]

check the nvidia site. it will tell you which cards support blu. i believe the bottom of the barrel card is the 8500 which i have. sorry im wrong. 8400 it is

[dadkins]

Originally Posted by un4gvn94538

check the nvidia site. it will tell you which cards support blu. i believe the bottom of the barrel card is the 8500 which i have. sorry im wrong. 8400 it is

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_family.html

[Avishkar]

OK, I have a Dell XPS Laptop with a built in blu ray player. The thing is that when I try to play a blu ray movie, it says 'incompatible graphics driver'. I tried the test from Cyberlink and it shows a red sign beside the graphic card driver.

I am using an 8600M Graphic Card with Forceware 169 installed. I have an Intel Core 2 Duo processor (2.4 GHZ) and 3.5 GB RAM.

Can someone please help me out...

[wuhan_clan]

Originally Posted by Avishkar

I am using an 8600M Graphic Card with Forceware 169 installed. I have an Intel Core 2 Duo processor (2.4 GHZ) and 3.5 GB RAM.

Can someone please help me out...

There are many 169.xx drivers out there. Which one are you using? Most likely you used a modded inf to install that driver since 169 drivers are originally meant for desktop graphics cards. Sometimes, depending on the method you installed the drivers, you don't see the drivers as being digitally signed and for reasons unknown to me, you can't play protected BD content.

I used to think that drivers had to be WHQL signed to work with blu-ray movies but recently I can play BD fine using drivers that are not digitally signed at all. (Someone correct me here)
BTW, I use 174.74 for Vista 32bit, (the non-WHQL version; besides the WHQL version didn't even cover all the supported cards). No modded inf needed. Depending on where you download the driver, make sure you use the nvdm.inf file, which is nVidia's notation for mobile graphics cards for Dell laptops.

You could try 174.74, which many people have found to improve quality of both hi-def playback and games. You could also just install the stock drivers that came with your computer.

[Avishkar]

I am using Forceware 169.09 with modded INF. Someone please help me out with this. Also, I coudn't find any driver update Forceware 174 for my 8600M GT. So I will be glad if someone can help me out.

And in the Test, beside my graphics driver it shows ... 6.14.11.6909

Okay guys I found this in one of the threads...

Their 15" series have a blu-ray option but no Graphics Card upgrades at the moment

I am using the 15" series only and so does this mean that I can't play any blu ray movie until Dell gets a driver upgrade for this model?

[DimebagCFH]

I suggest an 8800 GT or a 9600 GT or 8600 GT

[Obiit]

If you want to play just blu-ray then get an ATI HD 34XX series card. If you want to play games and Blu-ray then get a Nvidia 9600 (or whichever one does HD acceleration from the list dadkins put the link to).

Choice is yours but it will be way better than the Intel GMA 3100.

HTH

[X400]

ati 3850/70 is more than enough not only that it rocks