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

[deatheats]

No, I’d never expect a company like Cyberlink to do this. Rather what I’m suggesting is that if a 3rd party developed or an individual used software which supports 4k UHD playback on a PC the BDA would have a very hard time enforcing law in a market they unapologetically abandoned. It would be interesting to see if their claims about illegal decoding (when no legal consumer method exists) hold up in court.

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by apollo828

Pretty much. Also, most laptops don't have 4K resolution, and last I checked, very few bothered with any sort of HDR. What's the point, especially for such small screens? Throw in the fact that 4K discs are a bit fragile and subject to subpar QC, and the idea of running around with a laptop, an external drive (hardly any laptops bother with built-in drives anymore), and a pile of discs, and I just don't get it. Sure, if some business wants to pursue that market, good luck to them. (Acer tried with their UHD-BD playback laptops. I'm pretty sure they stopped making such laptops long ago. You don't stop making things that make you money!) I'm just saying that, if I'm on the road and need movies, I'd rather bring an SSD with a bunch of regular HD files - or if the connection is strong enough, use a Plex server set up at home - and not a bunch of fragile media that's best left at home.


It's one thing to advocate for people to be able to write/use software that can do 4K playback. (Such software is out there already, although it's incredibly buggy.) It's another to expect, say, Cyberlink to support such playback, which you kinda need if you want playback to be feasible, as their software isn't nearly as buggy as the free options out there. Getting Cyberlink to do it would presumably require some sort of legal action against the BDA. Good luck getting anybody to finance that one!

My computer has HDR. I know because when I watch YouTube videos with HDR they are often brighter than everything else on the screen.

[apollo828]

Originally Posted by deatheats

No, I’d never expect a company like Cyberlink to do this. Rather what I’m suggesting is that if a 3rd party developed or an individual used software which supports 4k UHD playback on a PC the BDA would have a very hard time enforcing law in a market they unapologetically abandoned. It would be interesting to see if their claims about illegal decoding (when no legal consumer method exists) hold up in court.

You can already do that, including with encrypted discs. It's just really buggy and requires technical know-how. If somebody truly wants to hack away at support for these discs, it's possible to take most of that work and start today. Alas, it's 2023, and the relevant software, other than the encryption portions, hasn't been significantly touched in years due to lack of interest by developers. (Even the encryption portion costs money, not to mention BD+, where money is required for all but the most basic discs.)

[HDTV1080P]

Maybe in 2026+ we will see an 8K optical disc format that uses secure 256 bit or 512 bit military encryption for the movie studios.

[JEArgumedo]

Originally Posted by BijouMan

My computer has HDR. I know because when I watch YouTube videos with HDR they are often brighter than everything else on the screen.

Well, that and it should say HDR on the cogwheel.

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by apollo828

You can already do that, including with encrypted discs. It's just really buggy and requires technical know-how. If somebody truly wants to hack away at support for these discs, it's possible to take most of that work and start today. Alas, it's 2023, and the relevant software, other than the encryption portions, hasn't been significantly touched in years due to lack of interest by developers. (Even the encryption portion costs money, not to mention BD+, where money is required for all but the most basic discs.)

They may be able to, but they would need the BDA's permission before the software is released. Also they would have to figure out how to make the drive use its own AACS keys. Every single legal (UHD) Blu-ray playback device and program, in the small print, acknowledges Blu-ray Disc among other things as trademarks of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

[BijouMan]

At least Pioneer is still committed to making drives. It recently released the BDR-XD08MB and BDR-XS08MB. They no longer advertise the UHD Blu-ray support, but the specifications acknowledge that it is still there. Not sure when the BDR-XS08MB will be available in North America.

[usually_quiet]

Originally Posted by apollo828

Pretty much. Also, most laptops don't have 4K resolution, and last I checked, very few bothered with any sort of HDR. What's the point, especially for such small screens?

Although one is limited to streaming 4K HDR movies with a Mac, speaking from personal experience, as long as a desktop's/laptop's 1080p display supports HDR there is a point to using one if someone is starting to buy movies in 4K HDR format but can't use or can't afford a better display yet.

My 1080p desktop PC monitor with an 8-bit panel, which I purchased in 2017, accepts 4K HDR10 input and has 2 HDR modes that allowed it to display HDR10 video with something close to the correct colors after I attached it to a 4K-HDR-capable Coffee Lake desktop in 2019.

That PC system enabled me to watch the UHD Blu-ray discs that I bought in anticipation of having a UHD Blu-ray player and a 4K TV someday. (I have a UHD Blu-ray player but still don't have a 4K TV. I hope to have enough money saved to change that later this year.)

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by usually_quiet

Although one is limited to streaming 4K HDR movies with a Mac, speaking from personal experience, as long as a desktop's/laptop's 1080p display supports HDR there is a point to using one if someone is starting to buy movies in 4K HDR format but can't use or can't afford a better display yet.

My 1080p desktop PC monitor with an 8-bit panel, which I purchased in 2017, accepts 4K HDR10 input and has 2 HDR modes that allowed it to display HDR10 video with something close to the correct colors after I attached it to a 4K-HDR-capable Coffee Lake desktop in 2019.

That PC system enabled me to watch the UHD Blu-ray discs that I bought in anticipation of having a UHD Blu-ray player and a 4K TV someday. (I have a UHD Blu-ray player but still don't have a 4K TV. I hope to have enough money saved to change that later this year.)

Third party applications can trigger HDR in macOS.

[apollo828]

Originally Posted by usually_quiet

Although one is limited to streaming 4K HDR movies with a Mac, speaking from personal experience, as long as a desktop's/laptop's 1080p display supports HDR there is a point to using one if someone is starting to buy movies in 4K HDR format but can't use or can't afford a better display yet.

Sorry, I should've clarified. For me, there's home viewing on my HT setup, and there's laptop viewing when it's nighttime and I'm on the road in some city where everything closes at 9. Guess what I think is appropriate in each case.

[HDTV1080P]

I do like all the new high-end internal and external BD-ROM drives that Pioneer launched in NOV of 2022 for the USA market.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=358498

[halohalo]

Xeon E-2300 processors support SGX with SPS, but SPS does not provide PAVP. Tiger Lake B processors may support SGX with ME, but the BIOS for 500 series chipsets does not support SGX. Lacking of Advanced PAVP is another problem that remains unsolved.

Besides, BIOS for 500 series chipsets or later no longer supports IGD Aperture Size 2048MB. When I play UHD Blu-ray discs on my Intel NUC 10, I need to set IGD Aperture Size to 2048MB to avoid choppy playback.

[HDTV1080P]

Hopefully the BDA might approve other hardware/software security in the future beyond SGX when it comes to playing back native 4K Blu-ray discs on a PC. This should have been made a priority with the over 2 billion PC users in the world running Intel, AMD, and MAC OS PC’s.

[BijouMan]

PowerDVD 23 just got delayed for a second time, now due out on May 14.

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by BijouMan

PowerDVD 23 just got delayed for a second time, now due out on May 14.

Now May 21

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by BijouMan

Now May 21

Now May 29

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by BijouMan

Now May 29

Now June 4

[HDTV1080P]

PowerDVD has been around for 27 years, and almost every single year a new version is released. It would not be a good sign for physical optical media playback if Cyberlink for some reason does not release PowerDVD Ultra 23 sometime this year. One has to go back to June 2003 to see a POWERDVD release in June. Most releases every year are between Jan to May. I purchase from them every year and it costs around $99.99+ for the software package in a retail box with optical disc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerDVD

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

PowerDVD has been around for 27 years, and almost every single year a new version is released. It would not be a good sign for physical optical media playback if Cyberlink for some reason does not release PowerDVD Ultra 23 sometime this year. One has to go back to June 2003 to see a POWERDVD release in June. Most releases every year are between Jan to May. I purchase from them every year and it costs around $99.99+ for the software package in a retail box with optical disc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerDVD

The website always says they have a "limited time offer" when the new version is nearing. Usually, this "limited time offer" ends when the new version is due out. This year, however, the end date for the "limited time offer" keeps being pushed back. This indicates that the new version just keeps being delayed.

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by BijouMan

Now June 4

Now June 11