Which Blu Ray drive to get?

[Kit]

I'm after a blu ray drive and I DO NOT want to be arsing about with region locking and not being able to rip my films to my drive - big thanks for those that helped me with handbrake stuff!

Which is the best one to go for?

[Lyris]

I use Pioneer drives mainly because the brand hasn't let me down in the past. (Not the best researched answer, I know).

As for Region Locking, the program which allows you to sidestep that works with any drive, as far as I'm aware.

[sj33]

Blu-Ray region locking is a bit tricky, unfortunately. You need to use a program called AnyDVD HD, which has to be constantly updated with the newest protections.

Still, less Blu-Rays seem to actually use region locking than DVDs.

[charlesr]

AnyDVD HD is worth the money - very good software. I got the lifetime updates one. Seems a bit steep, but if you want to rip without tearing your hair out, it's the main option.

[Kit]

This one ok, gents?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/IHOS104-Internal-Including-CyberLink-Software/dp/B0079GI0OQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1382210523&sr=8-3&keywords=blu+ray+oem

?30?

Read only though. I'll still be able to use MakeMKV and handbrake etc... to stick them on my hdd, right?

[smouty]

I still use an LG GGW-H20L. Works great on PC/Mac.

[Lyris]

This one ok, gents?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/IHOS104-Internal-Including-CyberLink-Software/dp/B0079GI0OQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1382210523&sr=8-3&keywords=blu+ray+oem

?30?

Read only though. I'll still be able to use MakeMKV and handbrake etc... to stick them on my hdd, right?

Yes.

I forgot how cheap BD-ROM drives are. BD-R single layer disks are actually a nice cheap alternative to hard disk storage if you want to stash stuff away and forget about it.

[Kit]

Installed, shows as a cd drive, won't play blu rays.

Checked device manager and it's not set to any region.

What needs to be done here?

It's a Pioneer BD-RW BDR-208D

[Baseley09]

What software are you using to try and play the discs?

[Kit]

VLC and windows media player.

[Baseley09]

Not convinced those are the best ways to go, afaik media player doesnt run blurays and VLC only plays the feature part, which may be split into bits anyway - would recommend (though not very highly) PowerDVD + AnyDVD combo.

[charlesr]

Does it play anything? DVDs?

[charlesr]

Also, try Media Player classic Home Cinema Edition - that should play Blurays

http://mpc-hc.org/

[sj33]

PowerDVD HD and other commercial players really are the only way to go for a fully-featured Blu-Ray player, unfortunately.

The likes of Media Player Classic: Home Cinema and VLC have partial support for Blu-Rays. The movie files themselves play fine, and they contain support for basic features such as subtitles. However, menus are unsupported, as are any advanced features such as picture-in-picture etc. These players also cannot decrypt the content protection by , so they have to be used in tandem with AnyDVD HD or similar. Open source support for Blu-Ray films is still very early.

[briareos_kerensky]

Open source support for Blu-Ray films is still very early.

Will it ever get up to commercial products or there are things that you have to pay license fees, like HDCP?