VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray.

Liqourice · Oct 21, 2012, 10:17 PM

I've seen others saying they can play blu-ray movies with no problem with VLC. I've installed the dll and config file needed for this to work but it still won't play.

Supposedly XBMC should be able to play them out of the box but same thing there, it just won't play them and I can't figure out why.

This suggests that there is some other issue with either some driver or other software, I doubt it's a hardware issue since they play perfectly fine in PowerDVD.

I don't need this to work since I have powerDVD but I'm just the type that doesn't like when things don't work as they should. Could use an extra head or two in figuring out what might be the reason here.

RoyBatty · Oct 22, 2012, 06:28 PM

I don't use VLC, but out of curiosity I downloaded it (64-bit version 2.0.4) to see how it works. Found out that it can play some Blu-rays, but not all of them. Out of the Blu-rays I have it is able to play U2 Rattle and hum, The 5th Element and Apocalypse Now. No luck with Avatar and Star Wars The Complete Saga, it says it needs a BD+ library, which is not available, so for now VLC is not able to play BD+ discs.

What error message do you get?

Judas · Oct 22, 2012, 07:16 PM

usually have to navigate to the discs BDMV/STREAM folder and select the largest stream file.

Some blurays don't have the stream file as an entire movie.. broken down into tons of small ones... requireing you to know the playlist. which is a pain.

It's not 100%... but it's close.

VLC doesn't report in for an updated encryption key either, but i know you can download one to do it, i just haven't bothered.

I've been encoding all my blurays slowly to a dual audio 1080p x264 format weighing in at around the 1.5-2.5gb mark.

my most recent encode has been this

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/4...2117h50m29.png
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/5...2117h45m29.png
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/1...2117h38m00.png

obviously star trek 2009.

But thus far i've got 28 encoded out of about 450, and it's nice being able to slap them on a drive and play them without screwing around with discs.

Liqourice · Oct 22, 2012, 09:45 PM

I've navigated through the discs and tried to play the files separately with no luck so it's not that. I've tried about 10 different ones and no luck with any of them.

Haven't really noted what error messages have been but I'll check that. With XBMC I don't get anything at all, it's just as simple as nothing happening at all.

RoyBatty · Oct 23, 2012, 07:36 AM

I play the blu-rays using the Media-Open Disc menu in VLC. There is also an option to skip menus and play the movie directly.

Liqourice · Oct 23, 2012, 08:28 PM

I've tried that way as well. There's something missing on my system to make it work, I just can't figure out what.

Liqourice · Oct 23, 2012, 09:54 PM

Got it working with VLC. I had the aacs config file in the wrong directory. The instructions was a bit unclear on that.

Though, still can't get them to play in XBMC but I think that's some kind of software problem with XBMC itself.

Tipstaff · Oct 23, 2012, 10:16 PM

Playing Blu Ray isn't straight forward with anything but software designed with it in mind, and if you remember I did mention this in Taks HTPC thread. What I didn't get into was the work-arounds.

XBMC 11: it "supposedly" has better support for Blu Ray, but while it will play BR rips, it doesn't support full disc/ISO playback, and from what I recall it still has issues with file streaming. One thing you can do is have XBMC load an external player to play Blu Ray. 'Course, this does require a Windows/XBMC install plus whatever software you've decided to use installed such at TotalMedia or PowerDVD in order to work. Just read through the instructions on THIS page, and you should be good to go. Another article/thread to look at would be THIS one.

Something of note is the addition of AnyDVD in the second article I mentioned. This is key because AnyDVD is doing on the fly disc decryption thus allowing you to use MPC-HC to play the discs. That also leads into the next piece...

VLC 1.2: it does support Blu Ray playback, but not encrypted files (to be honest though I've only used this a couple times, so I'm a bit rusty on this). So, you could have XBMC run VLC externally as per the second article, and have AnyDVD do the decryption, OR another method would be to get the necessary files for decryption as per THIS page, and install them locally (just gotta get the path right). As far as VLC is concerned, my guess is that this is exactly what's holding you back right now.

Edit: just saw that you got VLC working. Guess I type too slow.

Takaharu · Oct 23, 2012, 10:53 PM

I decided it best to purchase PowerDVD 12. That way, I guaranteed that the discs would all play correctly, without any of the mucking about. Haven't had any issues with Power DVD, 2D or 3D.

Judas · Oct 23, 2012, 11:13 PM

Power DVD kinda pisses me off.. after 2 years they basically kill their product making it impossible to view new movides.....

Power DVD 7 played blu-rays perfectly.. then the encryption update service (connects online to get an updated encryption codes when necessary) was just seveared..

Powered dvd 8 also ran into the same problem... runs fine but kinda screwed... forcing you to upgrade to the next version

Cyberlink has made it a unstoppable cash cow, basically forcing you into using the next/newer product when for no apparent reason a blu-ray that worked before.... stops working because they've killed it purposely.

Paid upgrade from the previous to the next isn't all that much cheaper than just buying the full download.. and gaud forbid if you don't make a backup copy of the full install download... they actually have the balls to CHARGE you for holding a copy of their file that you are buying (but only paying for the license then being charged for web storage) if you choose to buy it.. what was it 12 dollars for a year? what a crock of shit for a 100mb installer.

Just going to rip the buggers and encode them .....

Liqourice · Oct 24, 2012, 04:36 PM

Well, as I said. It works perfectly fine with PowerDVD so I really don't NEED for it to work. I guess I didn't read properly about XMBC then so I guess nothing is wrong when it can't play internally. So, everything works as it should then.

I'm still using PowerDVD 10 though and what Judas says makes me a bit worried. So far all discs are working and there was an update a few months ago. If they stop updating this version to accomodate new changes in BD movies so they won't play I'll be extremely annoyed, I paid for a working product... then I shouldn't have to upgrade to a newer version for it to work.. but we'll see when that day comes.

Judas · Oct 24, 2012, 04:42 PM

Far as i know powerdvd 10 still works fine...

Power DVD 9 however was slaughtered a little over a year and a half ago though... so if they decide to drop the same hammer again, it may not be much longer.. or maybe they won't... their trend with 7,8,9 is all the same.

RoyBatty · Oct 24, 2012, 05:38 PM

There was a big discussion over at the Cyberlink forum when they stopped support for the previous versions. People were pretty pissed off, some of them threatening with a lawsuit against Cyberlink.
Latest PowerDVD 10 update is just a few days old, I hope they keep it up as long as possible, I use it too

Liqourice · Oct 24, 2012, 10:22 PM

I can understand that software won't be supported indefinately, but cutting after only 2 years is just insane. If they want to lose customers it's a good policy though...

Judas · Oct 24, 2012, 10:27 PM

WinDVD appears to have done the same thing....

so that doesn't really leave much else...

Liqourice · Oct 25, 2012, 01:09 AM

Well, There's TotalMedia Theatre as well. Haven't tried that to see how well it works though.

Tipstaff · Oct 28, 2012, 05:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liqourice

Well, There's TotalMedia Theatre as well. Haven't tried that to see how well it works though.

They have a 15 day free trial. At least that way you can decide if you want pay the $99 price tag for it, or stick with the $79 price tag for PowerDVD 12 Pro.

One thing I've found rather odd is that the specs TM lists for Blu Ray and Blu Ray 3D:

BD: Screen Resolution: 1280 x 1024
BD3D: Screen Resolution: 1680 x 1080

I don't have a Blu Ray drive for my PC, and I've only tested TMT for a few clients on smaller screens before giving the machine to them, so maybe someone can confirm this?

Liqourice · Oct 28, 2012, 05:26 PM

Strange. Must be some kind of typo but it's on more places than one so... It's not even a viable resolution.

RoyBatty · Oct 29, 2012, 07:50 AM

I don't see anything strange there. It is listed under Minimum system requirements, so it is just a recommended minimum resolution to watch Blurays.

Oct 21, 2012, 10:17 PM	#1
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 2,580 Rep Power: 171 System Specs	VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. I've seen others saying they can play blu-ray movies with no problem with VLC. I've installed the dll and config file needed for this to work but it still won't play. Supposedly XBMC should be able to play them out of the box but same thing there, it just won't play them and I can't figure out why. This suggests that there is some other issue with either some driver or other software, I doubt it's a hardware issue since they play perfectly fine in PowerDVD. I don't need this to work since I have powerDVD but I'm just the type that doesn't like when things don't work as they should. Could use an extra head or two in figuring out what might be the reason here.

Oct 22, 2012, 06:28 PM	#2
RoyBatty HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 1,981 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. I don't use VLC, but out of curiosity I downloaded it (64-bit version 2.0.4) to see how it works. Found out that it can play some Blu-rays, but not all of them. Out of the Blu-rays I have it is able to play U2 Rattle and hum, The 5th Element and Apocalypse Now. No luck with Avatar and Star Wars The Complete Saga, it says it needs a BD+ library, which is not available, so for now VLC is not able to play BD+ discs. What error message do you get?

Oct 22, 2012, 09:45 PM	Thread Starter #4
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 2,580 Rep Power: 171 System Specs	Re: VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. I've navigated through the discs and tried to play the files separately with no luck so it's not that. I've tried about 10 different ones and no luck with any of them. Haven't really noted what error messages have been but I'll check that. With XBMC I don't get anything at all, it's just as simple as nothing happening at all.

Oct 23, 2012, 07:36 AM	#5
RoyBatty HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 1,981 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. I play the blu-rays using the Media-Open Disc menu in VLC. There is also an option to skip menus and play the movie directly.

Oct 23, 2012, 08:28 PM	Thread Starter #6
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 2,580 Rep Power: 171 System Specs	Re: VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. I've tried that way as well. There's something missing on my system to make it work, I just can't figure out what.

Oct 23, 2012, 09:54 PM	Thread Starter #7
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 2,580 Rep Power: 171 System Specs	Re: VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. Got it working with VLC. I had the aacs config file in the wrong directory. The instructions was a bit unclear on that. Though, still can't get them to play in XBMC but I think that's some kind of software problem with XBMC itself.

Oct 23, 2012, 10:16 PM	#8
Tipstaff HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Torauna Posts: 7,332 Rep Power: 309 System Specs	Re: VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. Playing Blu Ray isn't straight forward with anything but software designed with it in mind, and if you remember I did mention this in Taks HTPC thread. What I didn't get into was the work-arounds. XBMC 11: it "supposedly" has better support for Blu Ray, but while it will play BR rips, it doesn't support full disc/ISO playback, and from what I recall it still has issues with file streaming. One thing you can do is have XBMC load an external player to play Blu Ray. 'Course, this does require a Windows/XBMC install plus whatever software you've decided to use installed such at TotalMedia or PowerDVD in order to work. Just read through the instructions on THIS page, and you should be good to go. Another article/thread to look at would be THIS one. Something of note is the addition of AnyDVD in the second article I mentioned. This is key because AnyDVD is doing on the fly disc decryption thus allowing you to use MPC-HC to play the discs. That also leads into the next piece... VLC 1.2: it does support Blu Ray playback, but not encrypted files (to be honest though I've only used this a couple times, so I'm a bit rusty on this). So, you could have XBMC run VLC externally as per the second article, and have AnyDVD do the decryption, OR another method would be to get the necessary files for decryption as per THIS page, and install them locally (just gotta get the path right). As far as VLC is concerned, my guess is that this is exactly what's holding you back right now. Edit: just saw that you got VLC working. Guess I type too slow. __________________ Portal: The Flash Version _________________________________ Brain: So, you sacked the cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker? Mr. Sackett: The second cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker I've sacked since the sixth sitting sheet slitter got sick.

Oct 23, 2012, 10:53 PM	#9
Takaharu Unus offa, unus iuguolo Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: England, UK Posts: 2,456 Rep Power: 169 System Specs	Re: VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. I decided it best to purchase PowerDVD 12. That way, I guaranteed that the discs would all play correctly, without any of the mucking about. Haven't had any issues with Power DVD, 2D or 3D. __________________ I don't get paid to know the answer, therefore I'm far more likely to give you a straight and honest answer.

Oct 24, 2012, 04:36 PM	Thread Starter #11
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 2,580 Rep Power: 171 System Specs	Re: VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. Well, as I said. It works perfectly fine with PowerDVD so I really don't NEED for it to work. I guess I didn't read properly about XMBC then so I guess nothing is wrong when it can't play internally. So, everything works as it should then. I'm still using PowerDVD 10 though and what Judas says makes me a bit worried. So far all discs are working and there was an update a few months ago. If they stop updating this version to accomodate new changes in BD movies so they won't play I'll be extremely annoyed, I paid for a working product... then I shouldn't have to upgrade to a newer version for it to work.. but we'll see when that day comes.

Oct 24, 2012, 05:38 PM	#13
RoyBatty HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 1,981 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. There was a big discussion over at the Cyberlink forum when they stopped support for the previous versions. People were pretty pissed off, some of them threatening with a lawsuit against Cyberlink. Latest PowerDVD 10 update is just a few days old, I hope they keep it up as long as possible, I use it too

Oct 24, 2012, 10:22 PM	Thread Starter #14
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 2,580 Rep Power: 171 System Specs	Re: VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. I can understand that software won't be supported indefinately, but cutting after only 2 years is just insane. If they want to lose customers it's a good policy though...

Oct 25, 2012, 01:09 AM	Thread Starter #16
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 2,580 Rep Power: 171 System Specs	Re: VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. Well, There's TotalMedia Theatre as well. Haven't tried that to see how well it works though.

Oct 28, 2012, 05:26 PM	Thread Starter #18
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 2,580 Rep Power: 171 System Specs	Re: VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. Strange. Must be some kind of typo but it's on more places than one so... It's not even a viable resolution.

Oct 29, 2012, 07:50 AM	#19
RoyBatty HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 1,981 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: VLC and XBMC can't play blu-ray. I don't see anything strange there. It is listed under Minimum system requirements, so it is just a recommended minimum resolution to watch Blurays.