Technical Issues and Questions

[therewillbeblus]

Every once in a while this happens, but does anyone know why, on a Panasonic player,

a) some blu-ray discs don't seem to work? For instance, my Columbia Punch-Drunk Love special features blu-ray disc won't play in my 820, but will in my Sony

b) the player can get loud, like it's overheating, while playing certain 4K discs? This will happen randomly - whether I've been using it a lot, or not at all for days

[nicolas]

Every once in a while this happens, but does anyone know why, on a Panasonic player,

a) some blu-ray discs don't seem to work? For instance, my Columbia Punch-Drunk Love special features blu-ray disc won't play in my 820, but will in my Sony

b) the player can get loud, like it's overheating, while playing certain 4K discs? This will happen randomly - whether I've been using it a lot, or not at all for days

That sounds terrible. Luckily, I never had any of the above happening with my 820. I feel like a broken record but did you already try a factory settings reset or unplugging, waiting half a minute then plugging the power chord back in again?

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah I'm going to try that again, thanks! Not the end of the world since I have a backup player, just trying to figure out if it's a known thing with an easy fix. Sounds like maybe!

[cdnchris]

We have a small TV mounted in our kitchen and sometimes my kids will hang out in there and watch something through streaming. They've been bugging me for a while to hook up a Blu-ray player but it's a tight spot and the only thing I can think that may work is one I can side mount to a cabinet. Is there a half decent player like that? Ideally, it would have to "clip" the disc in like a laptop drive.

[Captain Paranoia]

I don't know if this is the best place to ask, but is there a good 4K UHD/Blu-Ray player software for Mac or at least Windows? There are some 4K UHD players such as the BDR-XS07TUHD or the LG WH16NS60, but I can't seem to find any decent software with the possible exception of Leawo software.

[nicolas]

I don't know if this is the best place to ask, but is there a good 4K UHD/Blu-Ray player software for Mac or at least Windows? There are some 4K UHD players such as the BDR-XS07TUHD or the LG WH16NS60, but I can't seem to find any decent software with the possible exception of Leawo software.

Are you planning on playing discs back or would it be for ripped 4Ks and BDs? If it’s the latter, there are great players but disc playback is more difficult. I’ve used Cyberlink years ago on a Windows laptop for BD playback and had good experiences with it: https://cyberlink.com/products/powerdvd ... tures.html

Ripped files are much easier though and playable on macOS natively.

[Captain Paranoia]

I try to rip my discs as a disk image file and play them back on software (which can be done with software such as DVDFab and IMGBurn). I've used the free version of MacGo Blu-Ray Player which works well with Blu-Ray but it can't play 4K UHD discs so I'm hesitant to buy the full version. Part of the reason I'm looking for software that can play 4K UHD and Blu-Ray is so I can take screen caps of the menus and the video files which is difficult to find software that can do both.

[nicolas]

I try to rip my discs as a disk image file and play them back on software (which can be done with software such as DVDFab and IMGBurn). I've used the free version of MacGo Blu-Ray Player which works well with Blu-Ray but it can't play 4K UHD discs so I'm hesitant to buy the full version. Part of the reason I'm looking for software that can play 4K UHD and Blu-Ray is so I can take screen caps of the menus and the video files which is difficult to find software that can do both.

In that case, give the open source and free IINA player a try. This one has the ability to do screenshots and it should play BDMV files but I’m not 100% sure. MKV’s definitely work with that player but good old VLC works just as fine here.

[tenia]

I'm considering changing my computer's drive, currently a Pioneer BD-209 EBK to a drive that would allow me to playback UHDs. I also have an external LG BD player, which I could swap to an external UHD-able drive too if it turns out easier/cheaper, but I prefer internal drives overall, and have free slots in my desktop PC anyway.

However, just finding a compatible drive in France to buy is complicated already (like : where are those ? who are selling them ? I seem to can't find any), but I stumbled during my researches on several other caveats and would like to ask here how people are playbacking their UHDs on computers.

Potential caveats on my end :
* I'm still (yes, I am) using Windows 7 64-bits (though I'm likely to switch soon to Win 10)
* my CPU is an i5 6500, so a 6th gen CPU, and not a 7th gen one. My motherboard is a Gigabyte B150M-DV, and I recently bought a RTX 2070 GC. I'm using a Dell P2422H as a screen (thank you workplace to lend me this screen for remote working, it also upgrades my home screen perfectly !)
* I use DVD Fab Passkey, in particular to region unlock BDs, and playback BDs and DVDs with either MPC-HC (when I just want to see the main feature) or VLC (when I want to go through the menu). I also have MPC-BE, which I use when I need to watch HDR files downconverted to SDR.

What I saw is that :
* I might NEED to upgrade Windows to playback UHD
* I might need a 7th gen Intel core
* I might need something else than MPC-HC or VLC, even with DVD Fab Passkey

I'm looking to spend as little money as possible on this, as I'm way less spend-y than in the past and would like to keep it this way. I also like my computer, which I made become quite stable over the years and would like to change as little as possible. Upgrading Windows will be mandatory at some time, but I don't have lots of HDD space so it'd need already me buying an extra drive, so that's some side expenditures just for that. I'd like to be able to just buy a new drive and not requiring side expenditures on that too !

[nicolas]

I'm considering changing my computer's drive, currently a Pioneer BD-209 EBK to a drive that would allow me to playback UHDs. I also have an external LG BD player, which I could swap to an external UHD-able drive too if it turns out easier/cheaper, but I prefer internal drives overall, and have free slots in my desktop PC anyway.

However, just finding a compatible drive in France to buy is complicated already (like : where are those ? who are selling them ? I seem to can't find any), but I stumbled during my researches on several other caveats and would like to ask here how people are playbacking their UHDs on computers.

Potential caveats on my end :
* I'm still (yes, I am) using Windows 7 64-bits (though I'm likely to switch soon to Win 10)
* my CPU is an i5 6500, so a 6th gen CPU, and not a 7th gen one. My motherboard is a Gigabyte B150M-DV, and I recently bought a RTX 2070 GC. I'm using a Dell P2422H as a screen (thank you workplace to lend me this screen for remote working, it also upgrades my home screen perfectly !)
* I use DVD Fab Passkey, in particular to region unlock BDs, and playback BDs and DVDs with either MPC-HC (when I just want to see the main feature) or VLC (when I want to go through the menu). I also have MPC-BE, which I use when I need to watch HDR files downconverted to SDR.

What I saw is that :
* I might NEED to upgrade Windows to playback UHD
* I might need a 7th gen Intel core
* I might need something else than MPC-HC or VLC, even with DVD Fab Passkey

I'm looking to spend as little money as possible on this, as I'm way less spend-y than in the past and would like to keep it this way. I also like my computer, which I made become quite stable over the years and would like to change as little as possible. Upgrading Windows will be mandatory at some time, but I don't have lots of HDD space so it'd need already me buying an extra drive, so that's some side expenditures just for that. I'd like to be able to just buy a new drive and not requiring side expenditures on that too !

If you want to spend as little money as possible and don’t mind an external solution, I don’t think there’s a better drive than this one: https://amzn.eu/d/ac3nHNM

I have this one and it’s exceptional. Their customer service is just as great if there’s ever an issue.

[tenia]

Obviously, I know it's going to cost some : one doesnt upgrade to 4k without spending a bit ! But I mostly don't want to start from wanting to buy a new drive and ending up having basically to rebuild my whole computer down to the CPU. 150€ would work perfectly for me (the Pioneer internal drives I saw were around 190€, so not that more, but without possible custom fees, VAT and whatsnot), so thanks for this recommandation.

What config (Windows, CPU, player) do you have to use it ?

EDIT : I forgot I read this already, but FFS what a clustercrap : Intel discontinuing SGX since their 11th gen means that's another hassle to be careful of.

[cdnchris]

Unless there's something special about the drive nicolas mentions I'm pretty sure you still need at least a 7th gen i7 chip. I had to completely overhaul my computer from the ground up, accompanying a 9th gen i7. I work in IT so I could justify it a bit more than others, but I couldn't find any way around it.

[tenia]

Ugh.
I hoped for some software workaround, but I guess the hardware wins here. Welp, I guess I wont be doing UHD screencaps anytime soon !
Would it however allow me to rip a UHD and watch it from HDD, do a BD Info scan, or not even this ?

(And if I ever go to UHD on my HT, I'll have to keep this in mind if I want to keep doing all I do with BDs).

[M-A]

MakeMKV can decode discs in real time even if your hardware doesn't support it

[tenia]

That's the kind of things I wondered : the exact technical limitations due to the above points (Intel SGX, HDMI 2.0, etc) and what could actually be achievable, even though it requires bypasses like Make MKV (like I used to use DVD Fab Passkey because my former screen wasn't HDCP compatible).

In such a case, could a possiblity for me be :
* buy the drive suggested by nicolas (for instance)
* run MakeMKV to, at worst, rip the disc and play it from my HDD (being from VLC, MPC-HC or MPC-BE)
?

It'd be more hassle than just playback-ing the damn discs, but since the endgame would be to at worst, only use it to compare (when available) to the equivalent BD and add to how I review BD, at best complement UHD reviews when my HT is upgraded (so I can keep doing screencaps and scan discs), it might be OK.

EDIT : crap, I see one also needs to select carefully the UHD drive if wanting to play with Make MKV.

[cdnchris]

If you can get your hands on an LG WH16NS40 (internal) and then flash the firmware on it from 1.1 to 1.0 it's the most dependable one I've worked with, 0 problems, and is pretty good at reading the discs straight out, and looks like it will be fine with MakeMKV (looking it up quickly). If you need an external you can buy kits for that, converting an internal to an external; it'll just be bulky, and it requires an external power source (another plug).

Edit: It sucks at burning dual-layer Blu-rays, though, if that matters and my only complaint about it. Ended up buying another external drive just for that.

[nicolas]

That's the kind of things I wondered : the exact technical limitations due to the above points (Intel SGX, HDMI 2.0, etc) and what could actually be achievable, even though it requires bypasses like Make MKV (like I used to use DVD Fab Passkey because my former screen wasn't HDCP compatible).

In such a case, could a possiblity for me be :
* buy the drive suggested by nicolas (for instance)
* run MakeMKV to, at worst, rip the disc and play it from my HDD (being from VLC, MPC-HC or MPC-BE)
?

It'd be more hassle than just playback-ing the damn discs, but since the endgame would be to at worst, only use it to compare (when available) to the equivalent BD and add to how I review BD, at best complement UHD reviews when my HT is upgraded (so I can keep doing screencaps and scan discs), it might be OK.

EDIT : crap, I see one also needs to select carefully the UHD drive if wanting to play with Make MKV.

The drive I recommended should work on your old PC problem-free. My Mac mini is an entry level intel i5 one and the issues I have is that it gets loud and worked up if a disc inside is defective. In that case, I'll just unplug the thing (I'm using the USB-C cable but you'll get a plethora of cables with the drive) and eject the disc after giving it a minute to cool down and plugging it back in. If it doesn't work properly, you can always send it back and their customer service is just fantastic. When I reported my issue with a defective disc (I had no idea that disc was defective) they already wanted to send me a new replacement drive.

And yes, it's fully MakeMKV compatible. I haven't tested it for direct playback though but can't imagine that it doesn't work as it should. I'm not sure I'd recommend watching a film with it as it'a quite a loud drive but that's probably the case with many external ones

[tenia]

Edit: It sucks at burning dual-layer Blu-rays, though, if that matters and my only complaint about it. Ended up buying another external drive just for that.

That's why I ended up buying the internal Pioneer after my external LG : the LG kept crapping burnt BDs, both singled and dual, while the Pioneer never did.

In any case, thanks all for your advices, it looks like I should able to just buy a drive (whatever it ends up being exactly - I do have a bias in favor of Pioneer) and be done with it (instead of having to pretty much rehaul my entire PC).

I'm not sure I'd recommend watching a film with it as it'a quite a loud drive but that's probably the case with many external ones.

My external LG is also quite loud, but in this case, the drive would be secondary as a UHD drive, exactly like I'm currently not using my PC for watching BDs, but only using it and the drives for screencaps and BD Info.

[mhofmann]

I can recommnend ASUS BW-16D1HT drives (https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B00DRHOL44/) with the right firmware (which can be found with a bit of googling) to unlock UHD reading capabilities.
They're internal drives but they can be put into a compatible USB enclosure (e.g., ICY BOX IB-550StU3S, https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0083RBVRS/) to make them external devices.

With the right drive firmware, I don't think your tech specs matter as much. I have a 5th-gen Core-i7, and MPC-HC or VLC can play UHD discs as well.