Help a noob buy a Blu Ray

[timothy2180]

I want an all purpose blu ray/dvd/cd burning drive.

I found this for $130 but found this for $80 but it doesn't advertise "3d playback".

Will the $80 drive really not play movies in 3D if I were to buy the required monitor, etc.? I still don't think that is worth the $50 as I am not making an HTPC, but a gaming PC and I only want utility out of my optical drive.

Are there any other stats/perks I should look for?

Thanks.

 

[Mike Mills]

Be careful. In order to play Bluray disks, your entire chain needs to be HDCP compliant. That includes the monitor/display.

In my case, my 22" LCD monitor is a few years old and is not HDCP compliant. As a result, I have beautiful new Bluray drive, two awesome HD6870 video cards but cannot watch ANY of my Blurays disks. The HDCP prevents playback because of the non-compliant monitor. As a consequence, if I want to watch movies on my PC, I need to shell out $200-300 for a new monitor.

I cannot tell whether the audio chain will function because I have not been able to make it that far. The monitor problem prevents any playback, including audio.

 

[timothy2180]

Be careful. In order to play Bluray disks, your entire chain needs to be HDCP compliant. That includes the monitor/display.

In my case, my 22" LCD monitor is a few years old and is not HDCP compliant. As a result, I have beautiful new Bluray drive, two awesome HD6870 video cards but cannot watch ANY of my Blurays disks. The HDCP prevents playback because of the non-compliant monitor. As a consequence, if I want to watch movies on my PC, I need to shell out $200-300 for a new monitor.

I cannot tell whether the audio chain will function because I have not been able to make it that far. The monitor problem prevents any playback, including audio.

Are most newer video cards compatible?(I'm getting 6950s) And what "stat" do you need on a monitor? HDCP?

Do you know what 3d playback is? Is it just the ability to watch a movie in 3d?

And is that what you are referring to? Can your monitor play blu ray that is not in 3d?

Thanks

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

All 2X times and faster BD-ROM computer drives will handle 3-D Blu-rays just fine with the proper computer software (72Mb per second speed for 2X drives). Mainly it’s just marketing to label a BD-ROM drive or BD burner as 3-D since any 2X and faster Blu-ray drive can play 3-D movies. The difference in drives are mainly in the reading and writing speed. Some new drives use the BDXL format that allows one to write data and video on 100GB and 128GB Blu-ray media. Only 25GB and 50GB discs will playback in standard Blu-ray video players. The maximum video bit rate for 2-D Blu-ray is 40Mb per second (48Mb per second for video and audio). 3-D Blu-ray has a maximum video transfer rate of 60Mb per second (68Mb per second for video and audio). The maximum data transfer speed for standard Blu-ray 2-D is 54Mb per second. I think the maximum data transfer speed for Blu-ray 3-D is 72Mb per second but I would need to verify that information, they might have allowed a higher speed in the Blu-ray specs. But 72Mb per second is most likely correct since that is the maximum speed of 2X BD-ROM drives. A 1X BD-R writer can write 3-D Blu-ray home made video's but in order to playback the video you need at least a 2X BD-ROM drive.



A 3-D movie can hold both a 2-D and 3-D version of the movie but a dedicated 2-D disc and 3-D disc at high bit rates can offer a better picture quality over a single disc that contains both a 2-D and 3-D data stream. That is why many of the new releases have one disc for Blu-ray 3-D and one for 2-D, in order to offer the best picture quality possible. It would be cheaper to just package the movie with a 3-D movie instead of two separate discs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106348
I have this one^

In order to play Bluray disks, your entire chain needs to be HDCP compliant. That includes the Monitor/Graphics card
Don't forget what Mike stated above ^

 

[timothy2180]

Best answer selected by timothy2180.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

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