INTERACT FORUM

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?  (Read 5665 times)

jmone

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 14497
  • I won! I won!
Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« on: July 13, 2009, 10:08:21 pm »

Last year Matt had a "C-" (his words) PowerDVD plug-in for playing Blu-ray inside MC http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=45334.0 .  Since then I see that both TMT (my personal fav) and PDVD all have plug ins working with MS MC and Team Media Portals offering.  I also notice that there have been an increase on "Does MC Play Blu-ray" post on the boards that I've been responding to with the current (poor) workarounds.

Just my usual - any further thoughts on priority on this?  FYI - I don't see MC supporting native playback but the plug in route would be the go as with the other front ends and from the TMT site... "The plug-in provides a "10 foot" user experience: big buttons and compatibility with your remote control mean you can use TotalMedia Theatre to watch your Blu-ray movies from the comfort of your couch." sound and looks good to me!



And the latest TMT plug-in from Media Portal if it helps is at http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/mediaportal-plugins-47/blu-ray-hd-dvd-plugin-arcsoft-player-49357/index20.html#post388902
Thanks
Nathan
Logged
JRiver CEO Elect

fitbrit

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 4889
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2009, 01:03:58 am »

Does that original plug-in still work with PDVD 7? That would be something!
Logged

Matt

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 42442
  • Shoes gone again!
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2009, 10:31:42 am »

All I really have to add is that I'd like to get nice Blu-ray support, but it's still messy.

My hope is that someone will make filters that can just play the darn things.  JRiver doesn't have the resources to wrestle with all the HDCP, licensing, etc. silliness on its own.

If a third-party Blu-ray player provided an SDK for controlling their player, we'd consider adding a nice hook that way as well.  Brute force hooking (the C- approach) felt fragile and prone to customer support problems.  Notice that the thread you linked to is 30 pages, with lots of users struggling to get it working.

The current plug-ins for other Media Centers basically just launch another program (I think), which you can already do reasonably well with Theater View.
Logged
Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

fitbrit

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 4889
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #3 on: July 14, 2009, 10:38:15 am »

Matt, even to play legit BluRays in existing players often requires the use of AnyDVD-HD. I don't expect MC to bypass HDCP etc. Rather, could MC play BLuRay with the proviso that you need AnyDVD-HD?
Logged

Matt

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 42442
  • Shoes gone again!
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #4 on: July 14, 2009, 10:44:47 am »

Matt, even to play legit BluRays in existing players often requires the use of AnyDVD-HD. I don't expect MC to bypass HDCP etc. Rather, could MC play BLuRay with the proviso that you need AnyDVD-HD?

If you use AnyDVD-HD, I think there are filters that will just play the disc now.  They don't support hardware acceleration last I tried, which was a huge problem.

For JRiver, it's tricky to require the expensive, questionably legal, AnyDVD-HD.

It's too bad the big companies involved in making the Blu-ray format worked so hard to make it difficult to use with a computer.
Logged
Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

fitbrit

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 4889
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #5 on: July 14, 2009, 10:51:31 am »

It's too bad the big companies involved in making the Blu-ray format worked so hard to make it difficult to use with a computer.

So say we all.
Logged

glynor

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 19608
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #6 on: July 14, 2009, 12:56:07 pm »

It's too bad the big companies involved in making the Blu-ray format worked so hard to make it difficult to use with a computer.

But yet they wonder why uptake on their fancy drives and media hasn't been anywhere near projections or expectations (likely blaming the issue on piracy internally).  I bought my LG combo drive over a month ago now and still haven't had any reason to use it.  Even when I do, I bet that I'll end up using AnyDVD-HD and ripping the disc and just transcoding it over to a MKV, and not actually ever playing discs directly.

That said... I do really, really wish someone like CoreAVC would just put together a full BluRay decode DirectShow pack and put it for sale.  I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
Logged
"Some cultures are defined by their relationship to cheese."

Visit me on the Interweb Thingie: http://glynor.com/

jmone

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 14497
  • I won! I won!
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #7 on: July 14, 2009, 05:18:29 pm »

My hope is that someone will make filters that can just play the darn things.  JRiver doesn't have the resources to wrestle with all the HDCP, licensing, etc. silliness on its own.

Unfortunatly, there are NO navigation filters available else we would all be able to "fix" the HDCP stuff (with AnyDVD HD) and away we would go.  Who knows if the upcoming "SlyPlayer" will have filters that can be used....  Anyway, I certainly don't expect JR to go down the Blu-ray player path as would be big $$$$ and the market is really at present between ArcSoft and PowerDVD, most of which is bundled with HW Players.

Quote
If a third-party Blu-ray player provided an SDK for controlling their player, we'd consider adding a nice hook that way as well.  Brute force hooking (the C- approach) felt fragile and prone to customer support problems.  Notice that the thread you linked to is 30 pages, with lots of users struggling to get it working.

The current plug-ins for other Media Centers basically just launch another program (I think), which you can already do reasonably well with Theater View.

Given all the above I think this "plug-in" is the best approach for now - and it is offered by both Arcsoft and PowerDVD for MS MC now and as you have seen the Team MP community have built their own for both progs.  The big advantage to the "plug-in" approach is that these engines appear as part of the TheaterView IF.  The method I'm using to manage, and launch is ugly and while it works (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=43879.0), it is too much to ask for your average JR MC users.
Logged
JRiver CEO Elect

jmone

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 14497
  • I won! I won!
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #8 on: July 14, 2009, 05:33:11 pm »

FYI - I've asked the question on supporting apps other than MS over at Arcsoft... - http://www.arcsoft.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3029&PID=15157#15157 - add your support!
Logged
JRiver CEO Elect

jmone

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 14497
  • I won! I won!
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #9 on: April 22, 2010, 09:09:21 pm »

Another Oldie but Goodie.....With all the excitement of new features coming our in MC - any movement on the Blu-ray front.

I still see the following options and I vote for #2 as a good balance of work, cost, and result:
1) Full Native Blu-ray support
2) Support 3rd party players as a plug in (This is what MS does and even Media Portal that is up to their 8th version on the plug in - http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/mediaportal-plugins-47/blu-ray-hd-dvd-plugin-arcsoft-player-49357/index41.html)
3) Basic Blu-ray Playlist support (this is what MPC-HC does but you need decrypted content)
4) Nathan's bodgy script thingie

Thanks
Nathan
Logged
JRiver CEO Elect

rpalmer68

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2639
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #10 on: April 22, 2010, 11:50:16 pm »

Another Oldie but Goodie.....With all the excitement of new features coming our in MC - any movement on the Blu-ray front.

I still see the following options and I vote for #2 as a good balance of work, cost, and result:
1) Full Native Blu-ray support
2) Support 3rd party players as a plug in (This is what MS does and even Media Portal that is up to their 8th version on the plug in - http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/mediaportal-plugins-47/blu-ray-hd-dvd-plugin-arcsoft-player-49357/index41.html)
3) Basic Blu-ray Playlist support (this is what MPC-HC does but you need decrypted content)
4) Nathan's bodgy script thingie

Thanks
Nathan

Given 1 is highly unlikely my vote is for #2 , I'd even be happy to pay a bit more for a plugin.

Currently I'm running TMT3 (having dumped PDVD9 for not playing nice!)

Richard
Logged

raym

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3583
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #11 on: April 23, 2010, 03:18:11 am »

Quote
Currently I'm running TMT3 (having dumped PDVD9 for not playing nice!)

that's funny. I recently did the opposite as TMT3 doesn't play nice for me.

If option 2 is ever considered, I'd hope JRiver don't pick one player over the other as they're both leaders in the field IMO.
Logged
RKM Smart Home - www.rkmsmarthome.com.au
Z-Wave Home Automation

jmone

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 14497
  • I won! I won!
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #12 on: April 23, 2010, 03:33:01 am »

that's funny. I recently did the opposite as TMT3 doesn't play nice for me.

If option 2 is ever considered, I'd hope JRiver don't pick one player over the other as they're both leaders in the field IMO.

All the blu-ray apps have a plug in for MS - I "presume" there is some common way of doing this and that perhaps JR could use?
Logged
JRiver CEO Elect

mojave

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3732
  • Requires "iTunes or better" so I installed JRiver
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #13 on: April 23, 2010, 10:26:48 am »

I have AnyDVD HD installed and am using Windows 7. If I put a Blu-ray in my drive, browse to the BDMV/Stream folder and select the largest m2ts file, then the Blu-ray starts playing within MC without any problems. I am using the Microsoft DTV-HD video decoder and ffdshow audio decoder. This will decode Dolby TrueHD, but not DTS-HD and provides hardware acceleration. There is not chapter support using this method.

Perhaps JRiver should have a database of which m2ts file is the main one for each Blu-ray or a method of automatically selecting the largest m2ts file. Upon insertion of the Blu-ray, the correct m2ts file would begin playing. Currently it selects the index.bdmv file which doesn't help me. 
Logged

mojave

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3732
  • Requires "iTunes or better" so I installed JRiver
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #14 on: April 23, 2010, 10:43:01 am »

I just tested Hart's War which only has a DTS-HD track. It works fine and decodes the DTS core track. My processor use is 3-5%. I takes about 20 seconds from when I put in the Blu-ray until I am watching the movie in MC.
Logged

mojave

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3732
  • Requires "iTunes or better" so I installed JRiver
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #15 on: April 23, 2010, 10:50:50 am »

By the way, ffdshow Beta 7 offers "DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD bitstreaming support for the ATI Radeon HD5000 series, ASUS Xonar sound cards and Intel Clarkdale CPUs." If you are outputting to a receiver via HDMI and are using one of these hardware components you will then get the lossless audio track.
Logged

jmone

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 14497
  • I won! I won!
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #16 on: April 23, 2010, 03:51:24 pm »

I have AnyDVD HD installed and am using Windows 7. If I put a Blu-ray in my drive, browse to the BDMV/Stream folder and select the largest m2ts file, then the Blu-ray starts playing within MC without any problems. I am using the Microsoft DTV-HD video decoder and ffdshow audio decoder. This will decode Dolby TrueHD, but not DTS-HD and provides hardware acceleration. There is not chapter support using this method.

Perhaps JRiver should have a database of which m2ts file is the main one for each Blu-ray or a method of automatically selecting the largest m2ts file. Upon insertion of the Blu-ray, the correct m2ts file would begin playing. Currently it selects the index.bdmv file which doesn't help me. 

This is the Option 3) of basic file playback support and actually needs the player, to read and play the Blu-ray playlist file as many blu-rays use multiple m2ts files for the movie not one (eg support for seamless branching).

More info regarding playback options availble now is in this thread - http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=55171.0
Logged
JRiver CEO Elect

mojave

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3732
  • Requires "iTunes or better" so I installed JRiver
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #17 on: April 23, 2010, 04:10:21 pm »

I didn't realize multiple m2ts files were usually used. I only tried this with two Blu-rays and and with both there was only one m2ts file. I rip using Another EAC3to GUI Plus which you mention in the other thread.
Logged

jmone

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 14497
  • I won! I won!
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #18 on: April 23, 2010, 07:44:22 pm »

I didn't realize multiple m2ts files were usually used. I only tried this with two Blu-rays and and with both there was only one m2ts file. I rip using Another EAC3to GUI Plus which you mention in the other thread.

If you rip in EAC3 to GUI Plus then it reads the various playlist options, you select what you want, and it then builds a single m2ts.
Logged
JRiver CEO Elect

mmlevin

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 54
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #19 on: May 02, 2010, 11:49:00 pm »

I'm confused about something.  It appears that MC 15 has support for M2TS files, but when I import one which is an unencrypted complete BluRay DVD stream, it imports as an audio file.  Does MC 15 support M2TS files, or am I missing something??
Logged

fitbrit

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 4889
Re: Blu-ray Plug In for MC - Any Progress?
« Reply #20 on: May 03, 2010, 12:27:46 am »

I'm confused about something.  It appears that MC 15 has support for M2TS files, but when I import one which is an unencrypted complete BluRay DVD stream, it imports as an audio file.  Does MC 15 support M2TS files, or am I missing something??

They've always worked for me, and import as video. Do you have the correct filters to play them?
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up