Windows 7 Does Windows 7 Media Center Support BluRay Playback?

[ldoodle]

Hiya

Currently using Vista Ultimate, but frustrated at lack of native BluRay playback in Media Center (got a BluRay drive and films but can't actually do anything with them!). Will Media Center in Windows 7 natively support playback of BluRay films?

If not why not, and what alternate OS can I use that will.

Thanks

 

[Radenight]

Hey Idoodle welcome to the forum!

As far as I know Media Center in Windows 7 will support playback of BluRay natively.. It's had quite an overhaul for Windows 7! The first major overhaul in quite some time too. So far it seems to work alot better.. though I don't currently have a bluray drive so I can't say for sure that it supports the bluray but I'm 99% sure it does/will..

 

[ldoodle]

Thanks for the quick reply.

The reason I asked is that some members on another forum who have the pre-beta say it doesn't work, and that the final release won't be much different.

Thanks

 

[Matt]

I'm pretty sure it will be in the beta. I also think I read somewhere that Vista SP2 adds Blu-Ray support to vista.

 

[ldoodle]

Vista SP2 beta did originally have BluRay support, but they pulled it at the last minute.

Any guesses as to why they would have done this?

 

[Radenight]

Vista SP2 beta did originally have BluRay support, but they pulled it at the last minute.

Any guesses as to why they would have done this?

If I had to guess I'd say it's probably because MS is going to want people to buy Windows 7 when it comes out rather than Vista... and not including Bluray support in Vista is a good way to accomplish that...

 

[orlbuckeye]

The best way to handle that is get a third party Blu-Ray media player. It will probably be better then Microsoft's anyways. Power DVD Ultra is not just player but a tool that you can remix movies. CNET gives it a 5 star rating for Best DVD playback. The Ultra version sells for around 75 and the regular version around 50-55.

 

[ldoodle]

The best way to handle that is get a third party Blu-Ray media player. It will probably be better then Microsoft's anyways. Power DVD Ultra is not just player but a tool that you can remix movies. CNET gives it a 5 star rating for Best DVD playback. The Ultra version sells for around 75 and the regular version around 50-55.

But I don't want to do that. I want to be able to load Media Center and play all my media, including DVD and BluRay, from any source, without having a seperate application for 1 type of source. It's a joke!

It's not really a 'Media Center' if it doesn't support the latest developments. It should be called 'Windows Media Center Minus BluRay'.

 

[orlbuckeye]

Well my laptop has Vista with HD which is now extinct. Blu-Ray has won the format battle. I really don't like the media center and prefer 3rd party application because they can concentrate on one thing a media player and not an operating system with a media center.

 

[jimbo45]

I bought an LG HD/BLU RAY drive (multi-format). No problem with formatting / using BD-R or the RW (25 GB) media. There's a whole lot of DVD authoring software on the install disc which came with the hardware and is Vista Compatable.

Cyberlink Power DVD on the install disk plays HD (High definition) and works on W7 (both X32 and X64).

I don't like Windows Media anyway - the DVD authoring software on the LG install disk is miles better (so is the whole DVD playing and Audio output).

I never tried this on Vista -- and I couldn't get a Blu Ray DVD to produce HD output (1080p) on XP but works a treat on Windows 7. On XP video output is standard mode (but at least the disc played -- and I hadn't updated any video drivers on XP as I've now "Frozen" my XP system until the end of the Windows 7 Beta period). One thing for sure I am NOT going back EVER to VISTA. If there is a gap I'll either reset the date in the BIOS to give me a few more months of Windows 7 (will need to re-install again of course) or go back to windows XP.

As far as Windows Media is concerened it's a joke.

Programs like Winamp / Media Monkey / 2000-foobar etc are so superior to windows media centre anyway and can handle loads more codecs such as OGG, FLAC (My favourite as it's uncompressed but still saves space compared with WAV) , etc

Cheers
jimbo

 

[orlbuckeye]

Power DVD is the product i have for HD DVD's. You have to realize that when Vista came out the HD DVD format war was still going on.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there -- you *might* be able to find something from the LG site -. Incidentally if you DO get a Blu Ray player / writer you'll certainly get a DVD with it which will enable the device for Blu Ray operations probably a version of PowerDVD with some DVD authoring software -- whether or not your graphics card is up to it is another question.

You shouldn't have to buy a 3rd party application.

For archival purposes 25 GB (and soon 50 GB) BD-R / BD-RW discs are fine (when you can find them)

Cheers
-Jimbo