I have a question. If I get a blu ray drive for my laptop, will it be able to display blu ray quality resolution?
I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 (somewhat old at this point) with 15.6 screen and 1366X768 resolution. I don’t expect it to be able to play 1080p but will it at least be alot better than 480?
Thanks.
720p is only 1280x720 so yeah it should play it at that (not sure but I guess it would play at 1080p but just downscaled). But just make sure the processor of the laptop is fast enough for 1080p content (or alternatively if the graphics card can process the video).
But then there is HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection). Blu-Ray discs simply won’t play unless all the pieces in the chain support HDCP. If the laptop is old it might not work, if it has HDMI output it probably does work, and… yeah… I think the graphics card and monitor need to be HDCP compliant. I don’t know how exactly this stuff works on laptops.
And then you also need a software like WinDVD or PowerDVD HD.
OR, you can use something like AnyDVD HD (which costs) to bypass all those protections including region coding (and so you can use any software you want that can play HD video). 
I remember when I got my Blu-Ray drive back in 2008 and I had HDCP compliant graphics card and monitor but it didn’t help because I also needed to send the signal from computer to monitor with HDMI cable (which if I remember correctly my graphics card didn’t even support!!!). So in order to view my original discs I had to bypass the protections… which is illegal here now.
OK, off-topic question (sorry about that), but does somebody know if I buy a Region 1 DVD, I’ll be able to play on my PC or I just have to buy a Region 1 DVD-player?
Thanks in advance.
With Any DVD, which you can download for free, you should be able to watch every DVD on your PC. Or to make a region free copy which then will play on your DVD Player.
With Any DVD, which you can download for free, you should be able to watch every DVD on your PC. Or to make a region free copy which then will play on your DVD Player.
Didn’t know the program. Does it apply also to DVD or only Blu-ray?
I already said that it works for DVD. Never tried it with a Blu so far. Only bought some recently. And don’t have a Blu Player yet. But I will have one until next week.
Any DVD checks a DVD, tells you if it is Pal or NTSC, tells you if it is region locked, tells you how many layers it has, tells you the size of each layer, tells you several more things I know nothing about, removes copy protection, removes region locking.
For Blu Ray you may need a newer Version than I have.
Somewhat related… I don’t know about your laptop, 'cause I’m ignor… ignoren… not sure about such things, but I would say that to get the best out of your Blu-rays, you need to see it at 1080p, otherwise you might be disappointed.
I don’t watch films on my PC. Only if it is the only way to watch it. Which rarely happens. And then it was no HD material.
The only films I have seen on my laptop were a few Spaghetti Westerns that I didn’t particularly want to buy, e.g. The Belle Starr Story (which isn’t all that bad).
You need AnyDVD HD for Blu-Ray discs. The install file probably has both AnyDVD and AnyDVD HD but the license you buy and use will determine which one you will have. The program is not free but the trial version can be used for 21 days.
Or you can download a pirated copy. 
With DVDs it probably doesn’t matter what version you use but Blu-Rays update their copy protections (decryption keys I think) constantly. AnyDVD HD does keep up with those updates but only paid users have access to the updated keys before next version of the program itself is released (which can sometimes take a couple of months).
There is also a program called MakeMKV which should very easily make a MKV copy (with no quality loss) of the movie and with newer TVs you could just play that file from a usb stick without even needing an actual blu-ray player.
That’s nice. The Criterion is releasing Masaki Kobayashi Box Set soon and I’m desperate to have it (particularly The Thick-Walled Room which was politically very incorrect at the time it was made).
I like watching movies on my PC, I’ve recently bought a nice, large screen and it works good.
Thanks for all the info sundance. Much appreciated.
Also, I noticed that Blu Ray players can only be hacked to become region free for dvds only, but the region coding for blu rays remains unchanged. Is this true? If so, I might have to order a UK player and an adapter.
Also, I noticed that Blu Ray players can only be hacked to become region free for dvds only, but the region coding for blu rays remains unchanged. Is this true? If so, I might have to order a UK player and an adapter.
Some of the Toshiba ones can be made multi-region for blu-rays with the aid of the Australian firmware. Mine can, I believe (although I’ve never tested it with a different region disk). Mine’s a BDX1250, which is now out of production I believe, but you might investigate along those lines.
Thanks commish. Until I can get this sorted out, I’m gonna have to hold out on getting all them great UK region locked releases.