The Ultimate BLU-RAY player software faceoff (4 different computer software packages)

[HDTV1080P]

The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor on BLU-RAY is not 100% compatible with Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra Version 8.0. Everything works on the BLU-RAY disc accept the BD-LIVE feature. When attempting to play BD-LIVE with the latest firmware update from Cyberlink it just displays the Universal message that mentions something like a firmware update might be needed since the BD-LIVE function is not compatible with the player. Hopefully Cyberlink will release a firmware update to correct this issue.

ArSoft TotalMedia Theater played the BD-LIVE bonus material just fine on the Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. I am glad I have 3 separate BLU-RAY players on my computer since it really is necessary to have more then one BLU-RAY player in order to play all the movies.

Off topic comment
It is great that the Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor comes with a 480I dual layer bonus DVD but hopefully Universal Studios will start including a dual layer 1080P BLU-RAY bonus disc on future movies instead of a dual layer 480I DVD. Of course when 1080P bonus material is not available the 480I DVD is better then nothing.

[HDTV1080P]

Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra Version 8.0 and Corel WinDVD Plus 9.0 will not play "The Final Countdown" on BLU-RAY at all with the latest firmware updates. After the opening logo screen both Cyberlink and Corel PC BLU-RAY players crash and are incompatible with the graphics driver. ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater plays "The Final Countdown" on BLU-RAY with no problems on the exact same PC using the same graphics driver. Also for a Warner BLU-RAY movie the other day I had problems with Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra Version 8.0 with BD-LIVE.
I have now made ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater my default player since I have been experiencing less problems with that player lately. ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater also is the fastest in loading speed, menu navigation, and BD-LIVE download compared to any other player I have seen.

[GundamWingEW]

So you're saying that all these programs disable Aero when you use them to play Bluray movies? And there's no way to stop that? Why does it even happen to begin with? I like the Aero interface.

Also I am debating between Arcsoft and Cyberlinks programs and I noticed on Arcsoft's webpage at the bottom of the comparision page that it talks about "Output". It says that Theater version does not have those featurers while the Extreme version does?

Do I really need those features if all I'm going to be doing is watching the movies on my laptop?

[reiella]

Originally Posted by GundamWingEW

So you're saying that all these programs disable Aero when you use them to play Bluray movies? And there's no way to stop that? Why does it even happen to begin with? I like the Aero interface.

Also I am debating between Arcsoft and Cyberlinks programs and I noticed on Arcsoft's webpage at the bottom of the comparision page that it talks about "Output". It says that Theater version does not have those featurers while the Extreme version does?

Do I really need those features if all I'm going to be doing is watching the movies on my laptop?

Aero being disabled is intentional on part of the software developers. Perhaps in a few more hardware generations it'll go away, simple reason is that it's a precaution to assure good playback of the BD, which is presumably more important than the OS's UI looking glossy. Aero utilizes 3d graphics acceleration for it's appearance is the longer of it. I believe 3d flip is also disabled when using bd playback.

[GundamWingEW]

Originally Posted by reiella

Aero being disabled is intentional on part of the software developers. Perhaps in a few more hardware generations it'll go away, simple reason is that it's a precaution to assure good playback of the BD, which is presumably more important than the OS's UI looking glossy. Aero utilizes 3d graphics acceleration for it's appearance is the longer of it. I believe 3d flip is also disabled when using bd playback.

Oh okay. And do they offer free trials for any of these things. The reason I'm interested in them is because I got a brand new HP laptop which I love overall. The only thing I'm concerned about is BD playback. The program that it uses to play Bluray movies is OKAY. But for some reason it doesn't look as sharp or as good as I thought it would.

The screen's resolution is set to 1920 x 1080p I believe and it should be giving Full HD...or so I thought.

[dadkins]

Originally Posted by GundamWingEW

Oh okay. And do they offer free trials for any of these things. The reason I'm interested in them is because I got a brand new HP laptop which I love overall. The only thing I'm concerned about is BD playback. The program that it uses to play Bluray movies is OKAY. But for some reason it doesn't look as sharp or as good as I thought it would.

The screen's resolution is set to 1920 x 1080p I believe and it should be giving Full HD...or so I thought.

It matters on the Blu-ray disc being played as well.
Some are reference material, some look less impressive.

Get a Disney, Pixar, or a Disney/Pixar release.

PowerDVD 8 Ultra or my favorite - ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre, either one is a good choice.

[HDTV1080P]

ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater and Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra Version 8.0 will not play the "Alliance Database" under the extra section of the BLU-RAY movie "Serenity". Using the exact same PC only the Corel Win DVD Plus 9.0 was able to play Serenity "Alliance Database" under the extra section. Of course I can not use Corel Win DVD Plus 9.0 for BD-LIVE so I need at least two players to see everything on the disc. I am glad I have three different software BLU-RAY players for a PC since I need all 3 to make sure I can play all the movies with bonus features. So far, at least one out of the three players will play any movie I throw at my PC.
Nothing beats my standalone BLU-RAY player in terms of compatibility with discs and true 1080P/24 mode. Now when it comes to BD-LIVE a computer using DDR3 memory is a lot faster than any standalone player.

[hendra]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

All the computer BLU-RAY software programs add a 3:2 pulldown process and only support 1080P at 60HZ refresh rate instead of native 24fps (Even though ones graphics card may support multiplies of 24fps it makes no difference since the BLU-RAY software has added 3:2 pulldown before arriving at the graphics card).

The latest patches for PowerDVD 8 and 7 Ultra support 24fps but only if you connect it to an HDTV.

Patch for PowerDVD 8 Ultra
Patch for PowerDVD 7 Ultra

Hover you mouse over the "i" icon to see what's new with the patches.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by hendra

The latest patches for PowerDVD 8 and 7 Ultra support 24fps but only if you connect it to an HDTV.

Patch for PowerDVD 8 Ultra
Patch for PowerDVD 7 Ultra

Hover you mouse over the "i" icon to see what's new with the patches.

That is good to know, thanks for the info. I have the latest update but I do not see any where in the PowerDVD menu an option to turn on 1080P/24. All the standalone players that offer 1080P/24 have an option to turn 1080P/24 on or off. Perhaps the Cyberlink PowerDVD will not give one the option and will only automatically activate 1080P/24 if the graphics card supports it. Before this update all the computer software players added 3:2 pulldown and outputed 1080P/60 and then some graphics cards had to do a reverse 3:2 pulldown to output 1080P/24.
Now the question comes how does one know if PowerDVD is really outputting 1080P/24 to the graphics card without adding 3:2 pulldown first? It would have been nice to have the 1080P/24 feature in a menu option to tell if it is on or off just like all 1080P/24 standalone players do. I have no way of telling if PowerDVD is outputting 60HZ or 24HZ to my graphics card. Hopefully in the future some company will make a desktop computer monitor that supports 1080P/24 at multiplies of the original frame rate. When using a HDTV I always connect a standalone BLU-RAY player since I know for sure it outputs 1080P/24 and standalone players are much more reliable when it comes to compatibility with BLU-RAY movie discs.

[hendra]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

That is good to know, thanks for the info. I have the latest update

Are you sure that you have the latest update? The automatic update of PowerDVD does not download the very latest update. You have to download it manually from the link above. To check whether or not you have the latest update, press Ctrl-A, you will see "This product is licensed to 'your name' ", click on 'your name', it should say DVD Version: 7.3.4617a.0
If you have 4617 without the 'a' or earlier, you don't have the latest version.

but I do not see any where in the PowerDVD menu an option to turn on 1080P/24. All the standalone players that offer 1080P/24 have an option to turn 1080P/24 on or off. Perhaps the Cyberlink PowerDVD will not give one the option and will only automatically activate 1080P/24 if the graphics card supports it. Before this update all the computer software players added 3:2 pulldown and outputed 1080P/60 and then some graphics cards had to do a reverse 3:2 pulldown to output 1080P/24.

Now the question comes how does one know if PowerDVD is really outputting 1080P/24 to the graphics card without adding 3:2 pulldown first? It would have been nice to have the 1080P/24 feature in a menu option to tell if it is on or off just like all 1080P/24 standalone players do. I have no way of telling if PowerDVD is outputting 60HZ or 24HZ to my graphics card. Hopefully in the future some company will make a desktop computer monitor that supports 1080P/24 at multiplies of the original frame rate. When using a HDTV I always connect a standalone BLU-RAY player since I know for sure it outputs 1080P/24 and standalone players are much more reliable when it comes to compatibility with BLU-RAY movie discs.

Just a thought, press Ctrl-C, click Information tab. You will see information about the source video. Do this while the disc is playing and the computer is connected to your HDTV. Perhaps you will find out whether or not the movie is playing in 24fps.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by hendra

Are you sure that you have the latest update? The automatic update of PowerDVD does not download the very latest update. You have to download it manually from the link above. To check whether or not you have the latest update, press Ctrl-A, you will see "This product is licensed to 'your name' ", click on 'your name', it should say DVD Version: 7.3.4617a.0
If you have 4617 without the 'a' or earlier, you don't have the latest version.



Just a thought, press Ctrl-C, click Information tab. You will see information about the source video. Do this while the disc is playing and the computer is connected to your HDTV. Perhaps you will find out whether or not the movie is playing in 24fps.

Build v4617a is for PowerDVD 7.3. I am using PowerDVD 8 Ultra. So far the automatic update has been working ok for me but has only offered one update so far. It says I am using "PowerDVD 8 Version 8.0.2217.50". The source video just shows 1920 X 1080 and does not show frame rate.
ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater has had two automatic updates so far. I am currently using Ver. 2.1.6.128 for TotalMedia Theater which only supports 1080P at 60HZ. Corel Win DVD Plus 9.0 automatic update does not work at all and just supports 1080P at 60HZ.

[hendra]

Build v4617a is for PowerDVD 7.3. I am using PowerDVD 8 Ultra. So far the automatic update has been working ok for me but has only offered one update so far. It says I am using "PowerDVD 8 Version 8.0.2217.50".

The latest update for PowerDVD 8 is 2217a. 2217 is one patch behind. Click here for direct download for the patch.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by hendra

The latest update for PowerDVD 8 is 2217a. 2217 is one patch behind. Click here for direct download for the patch.

I just installed the patch manually and it says I now have "PowerDVD 8 Version 8.0.2217a.00." Even with the updated patch I still see no option that shows 24fps versus 60fps. All current in production standalone BLU-RAY players have this option to turn 24fps on and off but no computer software BLU-RAY programs have this option in the menu.

[HDTV1080P]

Standalone BLU-RAY players are much better compared to PC software BLU-RAY players

With a modern 2008-2009 Sony and Panasonic standalone BLU-RAY player as soon as you turn the player on it will automatically check for firmware updates and plays all the discs just fine so far. Corel WinDVD Plus 9.0 automatic updates never works and now Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra Version 8.0 latest patch had to be installed manually with no automatic installation option. ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater and HP Quickplay has not required any manual software updates so far, TotalMedia Theater has always provided working automatic software updates.
I have not seen any problems playing BLU-RAY's on the latest Sony and Panasonic BLU-RAY players but I have seen several playback issues when it comes to all the PC BLU-RAY software players.
The only advantage of PC BLU-RAY players over standalone BLU-RAY players is in faster disc load times, faster menu navigation, and a lot faster BD-LIVE downloads. The PC BLU-RAY players are the best in area of speed only.

[hendra]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

I just installed the patch manually and it says I now have "PowerDVD 8 Version 8.0.2217a.00." Even with the updated patch I still see no option that shows 24fps versus 60fps. All current in production standalone BLU-RAY players have this option to turn 24fps on and off but no computer software BLU-RAY programs have this option in the menu.

Is there anyway that you can tell from your HDTV itself?

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by hendra

Is there anyway that you can tell from your HDTV itself?

The info screen on the HDTV will report 60HZ or 24HZ being received but I am not able to tell if the graphics card received native 24fps from the player or just performed a reverse 3:2 pulldown after receiving 3:2 pulldown from the player without spending hours disassembling the programming code in the BLU-RAY program and graphics card driver. The ideal setup would be for a option in the BLU-RAY software player to turn on 24fps in order to bypass 3:2 pulldown, I do not see that option unless Cyberlink automatically turns it on for some brands and models of graphics cards.

[hendra]

How do they shoot Made for TV movies, like Lost Season 4? Are TV Series usually shot with 24 fps?

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by hendra

How do they shoot Made for TV movies, like Lost Season 4? Are TV Series usually shot with 24 fps?

Some older TV series was shot on 35mm film which is 24fps. Newer TV series with a lower budget is shot on a digital 1080P/24 videotape format. In the future more higher budget TV series might be shot on a 4K digital videotape format instead of film. Not sure how Lost was shot, I am guessing HD 1080P/24 videotape. 24fps is a standard for film and 1080P HD videotape. Perhaps in the far future when storage capacity is increased that a new standard will offer higher frame rates like 60fps or more.

[hendra]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

Some older TV series was shot on 35mm film which is 24fps. Newer TV series with a lower budget is shot on a digital 1080P/24 videotape format. In the future more higher budget TV series might be shot on a 4K digital videotape format instead of film. Not sure how Lost was shot, I am guessing HD 1080P/24 videotape. 24fps is a standard for film and 1080P HD videotape. Perhaps in the far future when storage capacity is increased that a new standard will offer higher frame rates like 60fps or more.

What I don't understand is if the movie is made solely for TV, why don't they make the frame rate 100% compatible with TV? Why don't they make all TV series 30 fps? Is it because 30fps is much more expensive than 24fps?

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by hendra

What I don't understand is if the movie is made solely for TV, why don't they make the frame rate 100% compatible with TV? Why don't they make all TV series 30 fps? Is it because 30fps is much more expensive than 24fps?

For several decades film was used for TV series. Just recently during the last decade TV series has been shot on digital HD videotape. Digital HD video tape uses 1080P/24 since that has been set as a standard. One can shoot film or video at 30fps but it will require 20% or more film stock to handle 30fps. Increasing the frame rate will greatly increase the bandwidth required. It is cheaper to film at 24fps then 30fps. In the future maybe 4K IMAX digital tape formats will support higher frame rates.
Hopefully in the future native 60fps and 120fps film or videotape formats will be released.