Blu Ray Playback on HTPC

[dlp710]

I just recently added a blu ray drive to my home theater pc, model SONY BD-ROM BDU-X10S. For software players, I've tried WinDVD, PowerDVD Ultra, and ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater....so far I like TotalMedia theater the best.

One of the things I've been noticing is the playback of different blu ray dvd's. During playback, totalmedia theater has a information tab which displays the Mbps that your dvd is demanding during playback; which varies greatly depending on the BR dvd. I've noticed that some hover around 10Mbps while others go up to 40Mbps!! This tells me that not all BR dvd's have the same quality; 10Mbps are probably running at a 720p resolution while the 30Mbps and above are full 1080p resolution - a difference that you may not be able to catch with your eyes, but your CPU can sure tell the difference! With my setup, my dual core 3.4ghz cpu runs averages 20% while processing the 10Mbps and 69%+ while working with the 40Mbps and up. BR playback is super smooth below 20Mbps, but when it gets in the 30Mbps range and up my cpu starts to peg which leads to dropped frames and overall poor playback.

Reason for this post is to ask for advice on what I can do to ensure smooth playback during higher Mbps dvd's. My HTPC meets all the specs....but can't handle the 1080p dvd's....someone should through those specs away!

Following is my setup:
Pentium 4 dual core 3.4ghz cpu
ATI Radeon HD3870 using H/W acceleration
SONY BD-ROM BDU-X10S (via SATA 133 connection)
4GB Ram
Windows Vista Ultimate

I've also recently made a change to use the CoreAVC codec, which reduces the 1080p stutter, but it is still unacceptable - perhaps there is a faster codec out there that may help me??

The bottom line is I think I need to upgrade my cpu to improve playback at 1080p, but from what I've read is that the HD3870 should do most or all of the video processing (with H/W acceleration) - apparently it can't keep up with 1080p so it offloads some of it to my cpu's which can't keep up either.

If anyone wants to test out playing a demanding BR dvd rent "Africa The Serhenghetti" http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Africa_...=442243676_7_0. If this plays smoothly, I'd be interested in hearing your setup and also confirm the Mbps for the dvd. Just make sure you rent the BR version .

Moral of the story is....just because your HTPC can play 1 BR dvd well does not mean it can play all of them well....although blu ray implies high definition, HD ranges from 720p to 1080p and up, which is like comparing apples to oranges, especially on large displays.