Blu-ray on Vista x64

[Lee Christie]

I hear that Vista x86 will NOT support playing of Blu-ray (or HD DVD) because they are worried about unsigned drivers, so they will only allow protected HD content on Vista x64.

Does this mean I can play Blu-ray discs on Vista x64 in Media Center and/or Media Player, or do I also need to purchase some software such as CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra?

 

[DJBPace07]

I think you can play Blu-Ray or any other HD movie on Vista, with some catches. You need a card which is HDCP compliant, a drive to run the discs, and a program capable of playing the discs. I'm not sure if WMC can play it, I have heard of a third-party program that can.

 

[City Slicker]

The HDCP restrictions will bite you in the butt if you are not careful. To play Blu Ray, you need to have a HDCP compliant video card AND monitor. I didn't know about the monitor requirements when I built my system, so I was unable to view my Blu Ray disks with my LG drive. What I did find is that a DVD ripping program will install software on your system to defeat the asinine HDCP requirements. It cost $79 for the HD version and the program is called AnyDVD. You can try it for free for a trial period if you want. I don't have any connection with AnyDVD; I'm just a happy customer of theirs. Why should I have to go out and buy a HDCP monitor when I have a good one already. I think the recording industry took things too far when they did that and I am happy I can share an alternative with everyone.

 

[zeromaster]

I have a HDCP Compliant video card and monitor but it will be a cold day in hell before a pay 500 bucks for a drive just to watch movies that arent really all that much better than dvd's when they drop to under 99 bucks for a burner I might consider it. I think its funny the hd-dvd/Blue ray battle reminds me of the old vhs vs Beta battle. The lengths theyve gone to for copy protection is just ridiculous are they too stupid to realize nomatter what technology they come out with there will always be somone behind the scenes creating ways around it

 

[Maxighb]

I can watch Blu-ray movies without any problem (Motherboard Asus MV-M HDMI - Asus B/R burner reader and Benq 24'' HDMI HDCP compliant monitor)
I can play it in my Vista Ultimate 64 bit and in a VMware Vista Business 32bit
The picture quality is amazing. I did not tried the Media Center