HD 300/200 & Blu Ray

[gerberdude]

After looking at all of the Blu-Ray discussions I am thoroughly confused.

Basically I want to add Blu-Ray support to my setup and I'm confused on where to start.

I don't want to rip Blu-Rays, just watch discs (rented and my own) from a BluRay drive.

I have a Sage Server running XP and Sage v. 6.6 (I think) I also have another XP box on my network that I just use as a desktop.

The Sage Server has no available SATA plugs, so I am thinking of installing the BluRay drive on the other XP box and just sharing it over the network.

The network also connects to my HD200 and a future HD 300 (christmas gift) in the bedroom.

Do I need any special software to do this, or can I just plug it in and get it to work with my current setup?

Any reason that this drive wouldn't work?

Or should I get a drive that comes with a DVD program?

[DMT]

Yes, you could install a blu-ray drive in your desktop and share it. You could also use an external USB drive on your SageTV server. In any case you will have to purchase AnyDVD HD in order to decrypt rental discs. In SageTV you add the drive / share as a video import directory.

Your HD 200 and HD 300 will play back blu-ray very nicely, albeit without menus etc. One thing to keep in mind is many (most) blu-ray main audio tracks are DTS MA. The HD 300 can decode these but the HD 200 cannot so that means an external AVR.

The blu-ray drive you are looking at appears to be 4x BD read. No problem for playback however in the future, if you want to rip, you would benefit (shorter rip time) from a faster drive. You should easily be able to find 8x BD read for the same money.

[gerberdude]

Thanks for the fast reply.

Originally Posted by DMT

The HD 300 can decode these but the HD 200 cannot so that means an external AVR.

I guess that's not as big of a deal. I still have a standalone Blu-Ray player under my TV next to the HD200, so if I can't use that for Blu-Ray no big deal.

Originally Posted by DMT

In any case you will have to purchase AnyDVD HD in order to decrypt rental discs.

So AnyDVD does what exactly?? Since I am playing the discs via the HD 300, I still need this software? I won't be viewing these on the actual server, just over the network on the HD300. Please elaborate.

Thanks again!

[DMT]

Originally Posted by gerberdude

So AnyDVD does what exactly?? Since I am playing the discs via the HD 300, I still need this software? I won't be viewing these on the actual server, just over the network on the HD300. Please elaborate.

Commercial DVD and blu-ray have copy protection. You can't just stream on the fly over the network. AnyDVD HD makes this possible.

[gerberdude]

Originally Posted by DMT

Commercial DVD and blu-ray have copy protection. You can't just stream on the fly over the network. AnyDVD HD makes this possible.

So even though I don't plan on ripping these Blu-Rays, I still need to have AnyDVD installed?

Bsically I'm trying to make this as "end-user transparent" as possible, you know, for WAF. I don't want her to have to rip or decrypt or anything, just put it in and play.

Also, is sage v.7 any better at Blu-Ray? (Not that I have anything to compare it to, I'm just always looking for a reason to upgrade)

[stanger89]

Buy a Blu-ray player (standalone, and maybe a good remote) if you want Blu-ray "end-user transparent".

V7 is a little better in with BD, but doesn't get around the fundamental problem that small outfits like Sage effectively can't license BD support for their products.

[DMT]

Agree 100% with stanger89. You can buy a blu-ray player for less than 1/2 the cost of the AnyDVD HD lifetime lic. alone.

SageTV v7 is well worth the upgrade. A steal actually. Not so much for blu-ray playback but so many other things; the UI, plug in manager, no pause live TV etc.

[gerberdude]

Originally Posted by DMT

Agree 100% with stanger89. You can buy a blu-ray player for less than 1/2 the cost of the AnyDVD HD lifetime lic. alone.

At this point I guess I am over-thinking things. (who knew?!) I suppose that if I can get a blu-ray player with netflix support for around $100 it will still be less than the cost of a Blu-Ray drive and AnyDVD, plus I'll get the netflix. Since I don't really have any interest in ripping a bunch of content to my network, I guess I'll just go that route.

Thanks for the advice to you both!

[stanger89]

FWIW, you can play DVDs direct off a drive, but it's not a "plug and play" process shall we say. For those who have everything they need and don't want a BD player, it makes some sense, but if all you want to do is pop a disc in and watch, you're better off with a BD player and a good remote to handle the source switching.

[Serra]

In addition, some BD make it almost impossible to play the BD. Inception is one that I'm having a huge issue with. There are about 30 playable files in the stream directory and none of them appear to be the movie in English, except the really big one which turns out to the the extended version with breaks for commentary.

After messing with it for about 30 minutes, I just put the dang BD in my player and watched it that way.

My wife was able to watch the final season of LOST on Sage, even going in to the stream directory and finding the correct file to play. However, I suspect if it wasn't LOST, that would have been beyond the call of duty.

Overall, BD are a pain to work with. Player is the easy solution.

[stanger89]

You shouldn't need to be browsing the stream directory, Sage should just play the longest playlist by default. And if that's not right, you just pick a different one. Yeah it can be a bit of a pain if there's tons of playlists, but usually it's pretty good.

[MrD]

Clown BD and AnyDVD is the way to go... just pick the largest / first stream...

Also I have yet to see Netflix stream high def audio -- stereo is what I get.