4K UHD Blu-ray Playback on PC Desktop is officially dead in 2021?

[LexInHD]

Originally Posted by Lum

Um, can I have this in noob speak? What would I need to buy if I want fully BDA licensed and approved native 4K UHD BD playback on a desktop PC?

You'd buy or build a Tiger Lake system, when available. It checks all the boxes for compatibility and has HDR hardware support in the GPU and native HDMI 2.X output.

[LexInHD]

I've discovered that the BDA now has a license program for UHD PCs and it looks like ASUS is cooking something up or perhaps if offering something just for the Asian market. Their Vivo MiniPC line has had offerings that could be upgraded with UHD-BD drives - or can use external ASUS drives - and would be ideal matches for their HDR-capable premium monitor offerings.

[nick4Knight]

My answer to this is what goody-two-shoes really cares about having a DRM-compliant PC solution? I'm not advocating for piracy, in saying that. Simply stating anyone with a HTPC/media server solution who remuxes *their legitimately bought collection* from a NAS to their home cinema etc is doing so by circumventing these archaic practices of content protection.

[MelonGx]

Originally Posted by nick4Knight

My answer to this is what goody-two-shoes really cares about having a DRM-compliant PC solution? I'm not advocating for piracy, in saying that. Simply stating anyone with a HTPC/media server solution who remuxes *their legitimately bought collection* from a NAS to their home cinema etc is doing so by circumventing these archaic practices of content protection.

Not all the countries allow illegal steps even for limited personal usage.

[HDTV1080P]

There are 1.5 billion Windows devices in the world. However less than 1% of those Windows devices can play native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs because of the requirement to have a CPU/motherboard that requires Intel based SGX security technology. In the ideal world the Blu-ray Disc Association should develop a secure software solution so that anyone with a Windows 10 operating system can play native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. In the ideal world anyone that purchases a external or internal 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray BD-ROM drive should be able to connect that device to any Windows 10 operating system to play their 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray collection.

We do not live in a ideal world, and the Blu-ray Disc Association is missing out on the 1.5 billion Windows devices that have the potential to play 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs with a simple external USB 4K BD-ROM that attaches to the portable Windows device. All that needs to be done is to mandate a secure 4K Blu-ray software solution and drop the SGX hardware security requirement that limits the market to under 1% of Windows consumers. Then with a software solution programs like PowerDVD Ultra would output 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs at 2160P resolution for 5 year old PC's, and 1080P resolution for 10 year old PC's (Some 15-20 year old PC's would have 720P resolution when playing 4K Blu-ray). Also with a USB 4K BD-ROM drive connected to a modern Windows tablet PC consumers could see 4K Blu-rays on their large screen 4K quality tablets while traveling.

[nick4Knight]

Originally Posted by MelonGx

Not all the countries allow illegal steps even for limited personal usage.

You don't say. My point was that millions, perhaps even 1 billion these days are "technically" breaking some degree of law by ripping their own DVD, BD or 4K stuff or pirating from online. Both bypassing DRM.

You can't lock up hundreds of millions of people for this. And so that's not a thing law enforcement even cares to follow up. You have to be doing something else in 2022 in order to be found out you're breaking this law on personal usage. So thats the thing you should be worried about. Doing other illegal activities that would even lead you to be investigated hah

Or you're some weird goody-two-shoes type.

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by nick4Knight

You don't say. My point was that millions, perhaps even 1 billion these days are "technically" breaking some degree of law by ripping their own DVD, BD or 4K stuff or pirating from online. Both bypassing DRM.

You can't lock up hundreds of millions of people for this. And so that's not a thing law enforcement even cares to follow up. You have to be doing something else in 2022 in order to be found out you're breaking this law on personal usage. So thats the thing you should be worried about. Doing other illegal activities that would even lead you to be investigated hah

Or you're some weird goody-two-shoes type.

You don't want to have illegally ripped contents of discs on your computer as they can land you in federal prison if found.

[MelonGx]

Originally Posted by nick4Knight

You don't say. My point was that millions, perhaps even 1 billion these days are "technically" breaking some degree of law by ripping their own DVD, BD or 4K stuff or pirating from online. Both bypassing DRM.

You can't lock up hundreds of millions of people for this. And so that's not a thing law enforcement even cares to follow up. You have to be doing something else in 2022 in order to be found out you're breaking this law on personal usage. So thats the thing you should be worried about. Doing other illegal activities that would even lead you to be investigated hah

Or you're some weird goody-two-shoes type.

What I exactly meant is that if you want to discuss any unoffical method (including play with DVDFab Player, play the ripped files, etc.), please go to a forum where allows talking piracy but not here.

You're trying to break this forum's regulation. We won't let you do that.

[FionaLamoreaux]

Probably every user of messengers came up with the idea of ​​the possibility of hacking. Some were simply tormented by banal interest and curiosity, some tried to convict their chosen one of lies, others wanted to know the secrets of competitors or the thoughts of business partners. The reasons can be any, but one way or another hacking Whatsapp correspondence is a fix idea for many users.

[rayeknor]

Any hard news on 4k uhd DISC, not iso playback support in future intel cpus? SGX support is confirmed dead so is this it? If not, any sources on Tiger/Rocket lake continuing support? I can't find anything but have not had much time to dig thanks to #2020

[Fjodor2000]

Is there no way to workaround this problem? No non-kosher hacks? No AMD based solution in sight either?

Will it mean 4K BD drives will be completely useless on non-compliant PCs, or only for playing back DRM protected discs? Ripped 4K BDs can still be played and burned I assume.

[HDTV1080P]

Everyone looking for a new BD-ROM drive, should purchase a 4K BD-ROM drive since the drive is 100% compatible with all computers when playing back standard Blu-ray discs (including Blu-ray 3D if one has a 3D display), DVD discs, and audio CD’s. The only issue people are going to run into when inserting a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in a windows PC is that 99% of the time the 4K movie will not play because of no SGX technology. However if the BDA approves a SGX software solution then 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray playback will work with any Windows 10 PC.

[rayeknor]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

However if the BDA approves a SGX software solution then 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray playback will work with any Windows 10 PC.

Not counting on it, it's like expecting gravity to start working in reverse seeing what time has passed. Unbelievable they don't see that this hurts them more then it benefits. There's quite a few pc's out there and 4k/hdr display options are only getting more numerous and cheaper.

[FionaLamoreaux]

Inflation, deficits, falling incomes, unemployment, a large number of deaths. These are not all the consequences that the coronavirus epidemic has already brought. Now many states establish total surveillance of their citizens. This is done in order to quickly recreate the chain of contacts between patients and healthy people and control those who are in quarantine. This is how parental control apps https://celltrackingapps.com/iphone-...al-monitoring/ work. Moreover, if in Western Europe they try to do this in a democratic way, then in some Asian countries the rights and freedoms of citizens are directly violated. This is not surprising. Because I increasingly see these states admit it themselves.

[mande2013]

I was just wondering. Would having PowerDVD 20 and an external UHD drive nullify the need for a set-top box UHD player if I could just connect my laptop to a 4K television and watch discs that way? Besides, PowerDVD is de facto region free since one can reset the number of allowed region code changes for 'regular' blu-ray very easily. I'd need to spend about 350 bucks for a set-top box UHD player that allows region free 1080p blu-ray playback whereas an external UHD drive along with PowerDVD 20 would altogether cost about 250. For the record, I currently have a mid-2015, 15 inch MacBook Pro retina and would be using PowerDVD 20 via Windows. It doesn't have a native 4K display but is compatible with external 4K displays as far as I'm aware.

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by mande2013

I was just wondering. Would having PowerDVD 20 and an external UHD drive nullify the need for a set-top box UHD player if I could just connect my laptop to a 4K television and watch discs that way? Besides, PowerDVD is de facto region free since one can reset the number of allowed region code changes for 'regular' blu-ray very easily. I'd need to spend about 350 bucks for a set-top box UHD player that allows region free 1080p blu-ray playback whereas an external UHD drive along with PowerDVD 20 would altogether cost about 250. For the record, I currently have a mid-2015, 15 inch MacBook Pro retina and would be using PowerDVD 20 via Windows. It doesn't have a native 4K display but is compatible with external 4K displays as far as I'm aware.

Ultra HD Blu-ray requires a 7th generation or later Intel Core i5/i7/i9 processor and currently requires SGX. Apple's hardware doesn't support SGX so you can't even watch Ultra HD Blu-rays on a 2020 Mac until the Blu-ray Disc Association and the player software companies figure out a solution. Besides, I doubt that it would output HDR10+ or Dolby Vision, or even output at 24Hz. Oh, and Apple is transitioning to their own ARM-based Apple Silicon, so the companies will have to figure out a way to make it work on an ARM machine (maybe using the Apple Secure Enclave?)

[HDTV1080P]

Yes so far Apple and AMD CPU’s are not supported for 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray playback since no SGX security technology. One has to own a certain brand and model of motherboard that supports SGX in the BIOS and a compatible INTEL CPU with SGX security technology. Then one also needs to use Windows 10 with PowerDVD Ultra version 17, 18, 19, or 20. However at this time only HDR10 is supported with PowerDVD Ultra. Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10+ is not supported.

Until the BDA comes out with a software solution for SGX, less then 1% of the population that owns a Windows 10 PC can playback native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. Buying a standalone Sony or Panasonic 4K Blu-ray player is the best way to watch 4K Ultra HD optical discs.

[MelonGx]

Besides the things mentioned above, OEM UHD drives such as HP BU40N are unable to play legitimate UHD discs (because PowerDVD doesn't accept it).
If you unfortunately bought such a drive, you may need to force-flash it with a modified flasher plus a regular LG BU40N FW.

[mande2013]

Fair enough. Thanks for the responses. As far as I know, the only Apple device that even supports Dolby Vision is the 4K Apple TV, but needless to say, that's simply a streaming box. I think the newest laptops can, as well, when connected to an external display that supports Dolby Vision, but again, only for streaming.

[JEArgumedo]

Originally Posted by mande2013

Fair enough. Thanks for the responses. As far as I know, the only Apple device that even supports Dolby Vision is the 4K Apple TV, but needless to say, that's simply a streaming box. I think the newest laptops can, as well, when connected to an external display that supports Dolby Vision, but again, only for streaming.

As of 2017, the flagship iPhones and iPad Pros support Dolby Vision + HDR10. The Mac can also playback Dolby Vision content on newer models through the TV app. It's also supported on Apple's Pro Display XDR monitor.

As for UHD Blu-ray, the Mac can playback the content in at least HDR10, but you'll need to rip the disc.