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Dumb Questions Time! PC as Bluray Player?

artooartoo Registered User regular
edited June 2008 in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
So I bought a new rig recently, however this means I'm not getting a PS3 now. But then I thought, hey maybe I could buy a Bluray PC drive and hook up my PC to the good old boob tube.

PC Specs:

nForce790i
Intel Core 2 Duo
2 gigs of DDR3
8600GT Video Card

However, I don't know what kinda cables I need to hook her up. My tv is a Panasonic Viera 720p with HDMI inputs. Would I get the same picture that a PS3/Bluray Player would give me? Is this a really stupid idea?

Thanks much.

artoo on

Posts

  • RookRook Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    If you've got HDMI out on the card, you'll need an HDMI cable, and if you've got DVI out, you'll need a DVI-HDMI cable :) Quality should be pretty much the same.

    Rook on
  • Nakatomi2010Nakatomi2010 Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    As the fella above me said, you'll need wither an HDMI or DVI-HDMI cable depending on the output of your computer...

    I myself use the LG HDDVD/BluRay player that I bought for 300 back in December (Now sells for about 150-200), I'm satisfied with it, the only thing I'm going to say is that playing stuff back in HD is a real resource hog, I had a Core 2 Duo E6300 and it was borderline doing it properly, I got my hands on a quad core to do it instead and 2GB of RAM, I'm going to put in another 2GB when I get back home again, check my sig to see my rig.... It plays back in glorious 1080p... Seriously, Golden Compass was pure awesome in terms of digital effects..

    Nakatomi2010 on
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  • artooartoo Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Yeah, I got DVI out on the Card, thanks man. :)

    artoo on
  • artooartoo Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    OH GOD, those cables are expensive. Haha, TV and Computer are on other sides of the room.

    artoo on
  • DehumanizedDehumanized Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Make sure to check out www.monoprice.com for cables. It's pretty well recommended around these forums.

    Dehumanized on
  • artooartoo Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    One last thing, anyone seen a good deal on a read only bluray drive?

    artoo on
  • Nakatomi2010Nakatomi2010 Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Newegg has a liteon for about 130, not bad, though the LG HDDVD.BluRay combo drive is only 50 dollars more.... Granted, HDDVD is dead now there's still alot of good movies on HDDVD for cheap out there... Only going to get cheaper too...

    Nakatomi2010 on
    Check out me building my HTPC (NSF56K) (Updated 1-10-08)
    Movie Collection
    Foody Things
    Holy shit! Sony's new techno toy!
    Wii Friend code: 1445 3205 3057 5295
  • Monkey Ball WarriorMonkey Ball Warrior A collection of mediocre hats Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited May 2008
    I'll only get a bluray drive when I can properly backup/reencode them. I can't imagine it will take more than a year or two for the OSS community to catch up...

    Monkey Ball Warrior on
    "I resent the entire notion of a body as an ante and then raise you a generalized dissatisfaction with physicality itself" -- Tycho
  • artooartoo Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Oh hey! The 8600 came with some component cables, I can use those right?

    artoo on
  • RookRook Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Maybe... I'm not entirely sure how HDCP is being implemented at the moment. I don't think any bluray's actually use it, but I remember that some software players were really picky about playback on anything that wasn't HDCP'd

    Rook on
  • Satan.Satan. __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2008
    Rook wrote: »
    Maybe... I'm not entirely sure how HDCP is being implemented at the moment. I don't think any bluray's actually use it, but I remember that some software players were really picky about playback on anything that wasn't HDCP'd

    HDCP isn't enabled on any BluRay films... yet. Some software wants it so it would do good to run HDCP connections wherever possible.

    Satan. on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • Nakatomi2010Nakatomi2010 Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    HDMI is still preferred, go see Monprice, its where I got my cables...

    Nakatomi2010 on
    Check out me building my HTPC (NSF56K) (Updated 1-10-08)
    Movie Collection
    Foody Things
    Holy shit! Sony's new techno toy!
    Wii Friend code: 1445 3205 3057 5295
  • UpfishUpfish Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    I'm planning to get a bluray drive for my desktop, along with new speakers and a bigger monitor. I've already decided on buying one, but I had some questions.
    -Bluray standalone players upscale normal DVDs to 720p. Will the drive and the appropriate software do the same?
    -Also, are there any open source bluray programs? PowerDVD has a ridiculous price point.

    Upfish on
  • Nakatomi2010Nakatomi2010 Registered User regular
    edited June 2008
    The software will upscale for you, as for the second question, that's a good one... Right now I'm going to say no, however when you buy the player you should get an OEM version of the software...

    when I got my LG drive I got a version of PowerDVD that plays both BluRay and HDDVD... The newer ones only seemt o do BluRay :(

    Nakatomi2010 on
    Check out me building my HTPC (NSF56K) (Updated 1-10-08)
    Movie Collection
    Foody Things
    Holy shit! Sony's new techno toy!
    Wii Friend code: 1445 3205 3057 5295
  • Monkey Ball WarriorMonkey Ball Warrior A collection of mediocre hats Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited June 2008
    There are no OSS players yet because the method to break the encryption hasn't been quite worked out. There are some proprietary apps that will break it and back up the disk... but until there's widely available algorithms to break the encryption (a la DeCSS), it won't be possible to write a free OSS bluray player. And even when it does, the legality is questionable because of the DMCA (though it should be considered Fair Use to just playback a legal, purchased copy, or to reencode it for personal use ex. iPod).

    Meanwhile, piracy of bluray disks goes completely unabated. Ironic, isn't it...

    Monkey Ball Warrior on
    "I resent the entire notion of a body as an ante and then raise you a generalized dissatisfaction with physicality itself" -- Tycho
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