How to play Blue-ray movies ripped to HDD?

[slow-t]

Sharp learning curve but it comes with the territory....

Can someone explain or point me (and I think a lot of people) the latest intructions on how to play a Blue-Ray movie using PowerDVD Ultra (Series 7) after you have ripped it to the hard drive?

That is one ugly looking set of directories , none of which are recognized by PowerDVD Ultra as containing a movie. I have found that if you search for media files from the PowerDVD menu you can select all the .m2ts files from the BDMV\STREAM folder and play them back for a "quasi" movie experience but that is a pain.

Finally, is HD DVD format a simliar experience or easier?

System:

AMD 4800+, 2G RAM
2 nVidia 7600GS cards linked through SLi

Windows XP, MCE
PowerDVD Ultra 7.3
AnyDVD HD 6.3.3.0

Thanks,

Slow-T

[SamuriHL]

Playback from the hard drive has been removed in the lastest PowerDVD Ultra versions. Either go back to a known good version or rip your movies into ISOs and mount them with Daemon Tools from now on.

[slow-t]

Well, that bites. Any idea why they would have a selection "Open movie file on hard disc drive" under the Select Source drop down menu?

[SamuriHL]

For DVD's. They removed the functionality for blu-ray and HD DVD.

[slow-t]

thanks. Can you tell me which PDVD version still had the functionality?

[SamuriHL]

Build 3319a seems to be the current favorite. That's what I'm now using and haven't had any difficulties. Before you ask, no, no one here can tell you where to get it.

[slow-t]

Thanks SamuriHL. ISO it is.

[SamuriHL]

No problem. That should work out fine for you.

[Rathbone80]

This whole HDD playback thing is a circle. Instead of worshipping AnyDVD every day you should for once think about it realistically.

It is likely that without AnyDVD HD we would have much less problems with PowerDVD and probably also could still play unprotected or backed up (with "non mainstream tools") movies from HDD. I do not need (but use it nevertheless cause I bought it a while ago) AnyDVD HD anymore, cause my equipment is HDCP-compliant for a while now. So for me, AnyDVD HD more and more becomes a pain in the a$$, cause it leads to AACS restrainig more and more PowerDVD functions and I am very afraid that some day, AACS won't distribute new keys to Cyberlink and other companies. And then we have to rely on Slysoft and that I do not want. I do not want to wait over a month before I can play my discs with the latest key generation that's the reason why I decided to buy a new HDCP-compliant graphics card. Cause that's what happened when the 4th generation of keys were released.

Basically what I want to say is: AnyDVD HD is nice for protecting fair use rights, but there is a point where this tool causes more damage than it has advantages for me as a HD consumer who plays by the rules. Cause c'mon: Most people who buy AnyDVD use it for pirating movies and NOT HDD backups, as I can see and read everyday.

[SamuriHL]

I couldn't disagree with you more on this one. Yes, it's likely that Cyberlink is "reacting" to AnyDVD HD and are being forced to by the AACS LA. However, up until MKB v4, AnyDVD HD wasn't the only solution for ripping movies. And at some point in the future, it's likely that the OSS community will figure out the MKB v4 situation and AnyDVD HD won't be the only solution yet again. I truly believe you're placing blame on the wrong party here.

I'm also having trouble figuring out your argument here. If you don't need AnyDVD HD and you only want to play discs, then what's the problem? You claim some theoretical situation where the AACS LA may not give Cyberlink keys in the future, but, I find that extremely unlikely. If that were to happen, then every PowerDVD Ultra user would be able to sue them and/or get a refund. It's just not a very likely scenario. As for your "most people pirate movies" comment, I STRONGLY disagree with that. I use AnyDVD HD to play Blu-ray ISO images I've ripped using my PS3 on my HTPC. I don't have a Blu-ray drive in my HTPC yet, so, that is the only way I can watch Blu-rays on it.