OK, so I just finished building a new computer, and plan on putting a blu-ray drive into it. I have a few questions!

First of all, let me tell you what I got running:

So, heres what I plan on doing! I'd like to get two 8800 GT (SLI'd), Sony Blu-Ray burner, mayb 2 more GB of ram, and last... a nice audio card (x-fi probably).

Right now I have my computer hooked to my:
Sony 26" KDL-26S2010 LCD via VGA.

Heres the question... Im not really sure what HDCP does (i know it has to do with protecting material, and blu-ray), but the 8800GT is HDCP capable, but I dont think my TV is (not sure tho). The sound card will be last, and will run into my receiver.

1. Does my TV need to be HDCP compatible to watch a blu-ray in hd (720p)?
2. Do i need any software to watch a blu-ray dvd?
3. What output should I use? (VGA, Component (from videocard), DVI > HDMI convert > HDMI on TV)
4. Do i need a sound card? my mobo has an optical out.
5. My tv supports 16:9 (1366:768) and my monitor is set to 1360:768. Will this deliver the picture in HD?

Im sure I may have some more questions, but thats all I can think of now. All help is appricated!

1) No, your graphics card will take care of the HDCP decoding.
2) Probably (not sure about this one).
3) HDMI to HDMI if possible, if not then DVI to HDMI.
4) No, but a good soundcard will give out higher quality audio (if you can tell the difference.. I know I can't). If you connect the card through HDMI you won't need to connect the audio by itself, as HDMI carries video as well as audio.
5) You may need to make a custom resolution to fit the screen on your TV.
I never used my PC on an HDTV, so someone who has will give you a better answer.

Don't know if this interests you, but there is a good LG Blu-Ray and HD-DVD player going on newegg for $300. Personally I think it's better than getting a Blu-Ray player only.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827136133

For number four, HDMI will not carry over sound on a Nvidia card using a HDMI to DVI cable. You will need to have some sort of sound card in your computer, whether it be onboard or a stand-alone card is up to you. As far as software is concerned, they come with OEM PowerDVD HD.

Also, depending on your TV, hooking up an 8800GT or any Nvidia card might result in an overscan issue. If this is the case, you'll have to use the "Resize my Desktop" feature found in Nview or adjust your v and h size if available.

If you have any more questions just ask, I've had my HDTV as my primary display for about 1.5 years, with both Nvidia and ATI cards.

An 8800GT would be just find for what your doing. Only downside is there isn't an 8800GT with HDMI but that can easily be fixed with an DVI-HDMI connection, you just wouldnt get the sound portion of it.

Also software absolutely matters. Not all versions of WinDVD and PowerDVD will give you proper playback and Dolby Digital options. People have complained about the LG drive that it wont play newer bluray movies but this could also be because of software and improper use of the drives. Sound card may also be advantageous as well. Auzentech X-Fi Prelude would probably be a good choice for it also offers optical outputs as well as digital coax.

Use DVI-HDMI for best possible picture, if it works.
monoprice.com sells those cables.


If you use (15pin) Analog VGA port, HDCP capable screen/TV is not needed yet.
But the 'flag' on the dics could be turned on a near future.

Your TV "WILL" need to be HDCP compliant to watch HD. Only one work around for it is to use Any DVD HD if your monitor isnt compliant. So either way no worrys. I would go with the LG combo drive as well.

One important point is that HDCP won't work with crossfire/SLI enabled. You'll have to drop to single card mode, but either output on either card will then work for Blu-ray playback to a compliant monitor.

Only ATI cards, such as the HD3870, have audio included with the HDMI output, and they're better multimedia cards than the 8x00's anyway since they support output mirroring, which the Nvidias don't.

That LG HD player can be had much cheaper than $300, more like $239, such as at Ncix. Also the Pioneer player, while only doing Blu-ray, in my experience is a better DVD burner than the LG.

Not really.

If you want to watch through a digital connection - HDMI or DVI - then BOTH the TV and videocard must be HDCP compliant.

If you use analog to output the signal - such as component video - then HDCP compliance doesn't matter.

Hmmm... I was under the (apparently wrong) impression that as long as you had something to take care of HDCP, it didn't matter whether your monitor was HDCP compliant or not.

Well, thanks for correcting me.

*edited to reflect intent of OP*

1. You may eventually need an HDCP compatible HDTV. This means either DVI or HDMI. VGA cannot support HDCP. Some future Blu-Ray disks may require a complete end-to-end HDCP connection (incl. a compatible GPU, connection and display) or will not play. Bash007, this is what you need to keep in mind. Specific disks may require analog output to be downgraded to 540p, or not shown at all, at the whim of the publisher.
2. Yes, but it might come with the BR drive. Check out Cyberlink PowerDVD HD. Note that none are perfect w.r.t. interactive material, and they do not integrate all that well with MCE features.
3. DVI(-D, not -A) or HDMI if at all possible. Electrically these are the same and therefore neither will cause signal degradation when transferring to the other, but DVI will have issues with the audio (if you care - if you send your HDMI cable thru a decoding receiver), and will likely not include HDCP support unless explicitly indicated with your product. (the 8800s do support it; the 6800 probably does not)

4. The latest-and-greatest HD audio formats for movies (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio) don't appear to be supported by much if any audio cards yet - or receivers, for that matter. If anyone knows otherwise, I'd be happy to hear of it! Furthermore, HDMI is and HDCP may be required for these so you may need either the up-and-coming HDMI sound integrator card (by audigy? not sure) that has an HDMI in and an HDMI out with the sound getting "injected" into the signal in the middle, or an integrated audio/video card such as the ATi HD2600 (though currently none of the ATi HD cards support either of the two full HD audio formats anyway). ATi GPU cards e.g. HD2600XT support mid-grade digital audio in the HDCP-protected signal so shd be able to play those. Anything coming out of your SP/DIF connector is considered unprotected and might get blocked by the BR drive's drivers; if not blocked, they can usually provide a down-sampled Dolby Digital EX or DTS-ES version of the HD sound. Analog, however, shd be allowed to pass so you might be able to use the analog L/R/C/S/SL/SR/SBL/SBR connectors on your Mobo to connect to your receiver to at least deliver 6.1 Dolby Digital EX or DTS-ES. Check your Mobo's audio output support for more info.

5. Your GPU should automatically scale the video image to the monitor resolution (1360x768). It sounds like your TV will then need to scale or pad that out to 1366 columns. If your TV has a "dot-by-dot" mode or some other means to display the image as-is without scaling, use that. You'll have blank lines 3-pixels wide on each side of your image, which is too narrow to even see. If your TV stretches the image, it will blur all of the vertical lines slightly, which you don't want.

The scaler in your GPU (even the 6800 series) is probably better than most scalers in your A/V hardware, including cable boxes, the TV itself, and your receiver. So the fact that you'll be scaling from 1080p to 768p in your GPU should be much better than doing the same in a standalone Blu-Ray player or your TV.

Note: I do not have a HD disk player yet. The info above is based on my research of the subject only.

These days almost all TVs and Video cards support HDCP. If your worried about it just check your TV manual.

Yes you need 3rd software to play BluRay content.

Honestly I would stay away from BlurRay, Its the most anticonsumer format that has been released in a while.

For the price it will cost you to buy soundcard, drive, software etc it is actually cheaper to just buy a standalone player which has none of the above issues. Also factor in the time it will take to get everything working. You will also get better picture quality from a standalone player.

You won't get better IQ quality from a stand-alone player and he also has the ability to burn Blu-ray discs with the LG combo.

The only issue with standalone players is that the BR spec isnt finished yet. So your brand new standalone profile 2.0 player wont play newer movies that have a spec revision. This is already the case with 1.0 and 1.1 devices not being able to play newer 2.0 movies.