Blu-ray Woes: Youth without Youth

[Sirandar]

Blu-ray definately isn't there yet, at least for the PC. It seems like russian roulette.

Bought a Pioneer Blu-ray player 2 months ago when it dipped below 200$CDN

PowerDVD Utra (full version) resolutely refused to install on my system. After alot of pain I got it working with WinDVD+BR but every single title I tried and my standard DVDs took forever to load. The lag on my standard DVDs was unacceptable. Pioneer blamed the software devs and the software dev blamed Pioneer. I just took my drive back to Futureshop.

When the LG H20L dipped below 200$ I decided to give it a try buying from Futureshop so I could take it back. No lag on my standard DVDs and an acceptable start lag on Blu-Ray. At the same time I bought the Planet Earth series but before I cracked it open I rented "Youth Without Youth" to test the drive and software.

Again PowerDVD (OEM this time) refused to install. The option to start a movie was missing and the LG key didn't work for PowerDVD. I will never buy anything from Cyberlink again.

Installed WinDVD+BR and it went OK but "Youth without Youth" just crashed in as the menu was loading. Did all the standard stuff to try to get it to work but no success. At this point I was agonizing about cracking my Planet Earth series to see if they worked. They all played flawlessly so my system is fully capable of playing BD.

Took my "Youth without Youth" back to to Rogers Video and complained and they said they would give me a free BR DVD rental (but they lied). Rented the same movie from another Rogers, paid again as they had no record of my free rental and it crashed in the same manner. I will be getting cash back for both or I will cancel.

Tried disabling everything, even DEP and still won't work.


Blu-ray is still a nightmare. I am sure almost all older BD will play on my system as "Planet Earth" plays perfectly and other titles worked when I had the Pioneer player.

Blu-ray is still like Russian roulette and I wouldn't consider buying a BD DVD at this time because it may not play. Then what do you do, beg to return it? I bought Planet Earth because for me it was a must have and for it alone it was worth the trouble but I will not be buying any more for quite a while until the studios and software devs get their act together.

There was no start lag on my standard DVDs and an acceptable start lag on Blu-Ray for the LG drive so I will keep it.

[Riff Magnum]

that was weird.

[theprophecy247]

weird indeed

[Sirandar]

Weird yes, cranky yes ....... and perhaps a few other things.

Paying to be a beta tester does that for me. Now is not the time to be buying a BD player for the PC. I had to watch "Planet Earth" in HD and suffered for it (but it was worth it). Eventually things will get right but that isn't here yet.

IMO, it will be at least 6 months before it is safe to buy a BD player for the PC if you want to watch new movie releases. Older releases will probably work. If you have to have a new release rent movies first and ask for your money back if they don't play. Buying new BD titles is a risky proposal.

Be warned.

[fdm]

So, if YWY wouldn't play and PE would... not much of a sample. Sounds like it died doing the java stuff (either while it was loading or when it started running). Wonder if one of the Pirates films would have worked... (If not, then the software you used on the PC isn't quite on the ball yet... (actually, either way sounds like the software you used on the PC isn't quite on the ball yet...))

[Sirandar]

Originally Posted by fdm

So, if YWY wouldn't play and PE would... not much of a sample. Sounds like it died doing the java stuff (either while it was loading or when it started running). Wonder if one of the Pirates films would have worked... (If not, then the software you used on the PC isn't quite on the ball yet... (actually, either way sounds like the software you used on the PC isn't quite on the ball yet...))

I would be the first to agree ..... 2 isn't a large sample size BUT when your success rate is hovering at 50%, it really isn't much incentive to buy more product you can't take back and will maybe work some time in the future.

I will use my free rental to get Pirates to see if that works.

[wostertag]

Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra installed fine and has played everything I've thrown at it without problem on 2 different systems. What is your system setup?

[Sirandar]

Originally Posted by fdm

So, if YWY wouldn't play and PE would... not much of a sample. Sounds like it died doing the java stuff (either while it was loading or when it started running). Wonder if one of the Pirates films would have worked... (If not, then the software you used on the PC isn't quite on the ball yet... (actually, either way sounds like the software you used on the PC isn't quite on the ball yet...))

Well I went to Rogers and swapped "Youth without Youth" for "Pirates of Caribbean III". Much to my genuine surprise it played absolutely flawlessly.

"Youth without Youth" is a Sony title ...... maybe it is something to do with that.

I am still at a 33% failure rate but I will requalify my above statements to:


"With the LG H20L and WinDVD+BR and a well built recent computer you will have a very good chance of playing non-new release Blu-ray disks. These disks will play well and load decently quickly and standard DVDs will not have an abnormal start lag time. NEW releases will be quite risky to buy but safe enough to rent, as they may or may not play. In my limited experence new release Sony disks may (or may not) have issues with this configuration"

[pseudomaniac]

The load/lag time drives me nuts too. It's a fast machine, and it kind of hangs out in limbo (no status indicators) of - "Hey this is actually loading!" Until it's been idle looking for 10 seconds or so - and then a brief "loading" indicator might come up....

Odd That Sony discs have issues.....who backed this whole BD Thing again?

[Sirandar]

Blu-ray for PC still has issues.

After almost half a year ..... things are just as bad.

Rented "The Other Boleyn Girl" and suprise suprise it didn't play. Chugged away for 30 seconds and then stopped, no crash, just stopped.

Did the whole update reinstall song and dance and still no play.

Probably something to do with WinDVD "AACS update" and revoked keys .... a window is supposed to pop up and it doesn't.

Take home message: recently pressed BD still may or may not play and spending 4 hours updating to try to get it to work may or may not be successful.

As of Oct 2008, Buying or renting <6 month old titles is still a gamble

Sirandar

[arush5268d]

Originally Posted by Sirandar

After almost half a year ..... things are just as bad.

Rented "The Other Boleyn Girl" and suprise suprise it didn't play. Chugged away for 30 seconds and then stopped, no crash, just stopped.

Probably something to do with WinDVD "WCC update" .... a window is supposed to pop up and it doesn't.


Blue-ray on the PC is dead as far as I am concerned and I will never by a standalone player.

Sirandar

I think I remember your thread from a while back. I understand that you might be fed up by now - I would be too if I encountered all of the problems that you have.

Blu-ray isn't dead on the PC though - it works great for us.

What's wrong with standalone players???

[Sirandar]

Originally Posted by arush5268d

I think I remember your thread from a while back. I understand that you might be fed up by now - I would be too if I encountered all of the problems that you have.

Blu-ray isn't dead on the PC though - it works great for us.

What's wrong with standalone players???

Actually nothing ....... if I can connect it to a DVI port. And I would guess standalone players have issues too that may (or may not) be even harder to address.

I am not saying Blu-ray DVD drives can't play movies well. They obviously can. My >6 month old Blu-Rays play absolutely flawlessly and I ca't remember the last time WinDVD crashed playing a DVD that actually works.

The problem it with the entities that control the Blu-Ray format - they can't get it right almost every time I want to play a new Blu-ray .. it doesn't play

Also, Corel just informed me that my AAC key needs to be updated at least every 18 months ..... which sounds like an ON/OFF switch to me although I don't have a great deal of info on this and neither does the Corel web site.

This is just way to much trouble. Yes Blu-ray looks much better but .....

Sirandar

[dadkins]

Originally Posted by arush5268d

I think I remember your thread from a while back. I understand that you might be fed up by now - I would be too if I encountered all of the problems that you have.

Blu-ray isn't dead on the PC though - it works great for us.

Works great on two PCs here...
Newest BD I have is Speed Racer...



Yeah, it plays...

[Sirandar]

Thanks for deleting my post ...... it served no productive purpose anyway. The issues are real and aren't going away but this forum is not going to have any effect on any outcome anyway.

[Restricted]

Wow, I suppose I missed this. Oh well, apology accepted? Haha...

[raven1138]

You shot who in the what now?

[rubberghost]

your post had no purpose, or the deleting of the post had no purpose?

[Blu Titan]

What is going on?

[I Bleed Blu]

I love a good rant... booo!

[xtop]

i think this was the guy going on about how we shouldn't buy pc blu-ray drives