That is an awesome price. Blu-Rays chances of hitting the game market seem very possible with this.

Musselsif you dont have vista or 7, you dont have HDCP which means you cant play blu ray titles.
You can still use the drive itself on other operating systems.

This drive is already for sale in AU, for $120. Its the cheapest one i can find, and its only just launched!

Oops, totally forgot about HDCP :o Thanks for the reminder lol

Wait what?

That would be incorrect my friend. HDCP is a propritary hardware chip, not software. You on need to make sure your monitor or TV and GPU support it. And pretty much every (with exceptions to low cost models and IGPs) GPU made in the last like 2 years has HDCP. If you have any ATI HD 2000, HD 3000, HD 4000, Nvidia 8 series, 9 series, GTX, or GTS card you are good on the card. Check your monitor or TV. Any TV with an HDMI plug has HDCP. And Nvidia's GPU software will has tab that will blunt tell you if HDCP content is possible, and if not, why.

It has nothing to do with your OS. I know because I have already watched HDCP content on my system hooked to my Sony 37" LCD TV before. My monitor doesn't support it.

TheLaughingManThat would be incorrect my friend. HDCP is a propritary hardware chip, not software. You on need to make sure your monitor or TV and GPU support it. And pretty much every (with exceptions to low cost models and IGPs) GPU made in the last like 2 years has HDCP. If you have any ATI HD 2000, HD 3000, HD 4000, Nvidia 8 series, 9 series, GTX, or GTS card you are good on the card. Check your monitor or TV. Any TV with an HDMI plug has HDCP. And Nvidia's GPU software will has tab that will blunt tell you if HDCP content is possible, and if not, why.

It has nothing to do with your OS. I know because I have already watched HDCP content on my system hooked to my Sony 37" LCD TV before. My monitor doesn't support it.

HDCP requires a supported video card, monitor, and operating system. You then need a player on top, with HDCP support.

If the OS doesnt support it, it wont play at all unless you're using something like anyDVD HD to rip out the security. If your monitor doesnt support it, then you arent getting full quality as it automatically drops the quality as an anti piracy measure - thats the whole point of HDCP.

DVI ports on monitors can support HDCP.

Musselsif you dont have vista or 7, you dont have HDCP which means you cant play blu ray titles.
You can still use the drive itself on other operating systems.


This drive is already for sale in AU, for $120. Its the cheapest one i can find, and its only just launched!

TheLaughingManThat would be incorrect my friend. HDCP is a propritary hardware chip, not software. You on need to make sure your monitor or TV and GPU support it. And pretty much every (with exceptions to low cost models and IGPs) GPU made in the last like 2 years has HDCP. If you have any ATI HD 2000, HD 3000, HD 4000, Nvidia 8 series, 9 series, GTX, or GTS card you are good on the card. Check your monitor or TV. Any TV with an HDMI plug has HDCP. And Nvidia's GPU software will has tab that will blunt tell you if HDCP content is possible, and if not, why.

It has nothing to do with your OS. I know because I have already watched HDCP content on my system hooked to my Sony 37" LCD TV before. My monitor doesn't support it.

HDCP needs both hardware and software support. Yes, your OS is important, as it has to support HDCP playback. Windows XP SP2 does support HDCP.

Now, you can still play Blu-Ray movies if you don't have HDCP. However, you won't get 1080p output. Instead, I believe you are limitted to 720p output(possibly 1080i, I can't remember), which is still a hell of a lot better than a standard DVD.

newtekie1HDCP needs both hardware and software support. Yes, your OS is important, as it has to support HDCP playback. Windows XP SP2 does support HDCP.

Now, you can still play Blu-Ray movies if you don't have HDCP. However, you won't get 1080p output. Instead, I believe you are limitted to 720p output(possibly 1080i, I can't remember), which is still a hell of a lot better than a standard DVD.

I dont believe that on the XP support. I've had to help a lot of people with blu ray issues, and we always had to either rip the security out, or upgrade to vista to get the movies to play.
I'll look into it now.

Correct on the playback without HDCP - i'm checking exactly what format/resolution it limits it to now.

You sure it limits it to 720p? I thought it crippled it severely?

i'm having trouble finding hard info on this, oddly wiki is missing it.

I keep finding posts about people saying they cant watch their movies on many screens, the players merely crash or give a blank screen playing on a non HDCP screen.

Example thread

Seems you only get the lower res on VGA, on digital connections you get the black screen.

Can I Playback Blu-ray Movies without a HDCP certified monitor or video card?

Yes you can but not with a digital connection like DVI or HDMI if no HDCP support exists. You can use a VGA connection which is allowed because of a flaw is AACS (See Section 4.4), this may or may not be changed in the future.

To playback blu-ray content over a digital connection without HDCP you'll need to buy a software package called "AnyDVD HD" made by a company called Slysoft for the privilege, which allows you remove certain protections from the disc to allow you to play content on any type of interface. More details can be found on their web site: www.slysoft.com/en/anydvdhd.html

its actually really hard to find information on this, i'm rather surprised. Common belief seems to be that you get capped to 480P, american DVD resolution (although i think you may get 1080P resolution, just with a stretched image)

DaveKOops, totally forgot about HDCP :o Thanks for the reminder lol

you dont need HDCP support to play HDCP copyprotected stuff. SlySoft has an app what bypasses HDCP. :)

Watch movies over digital display connection, without HDCP-compliant graphics card and without HDCP-compliant display.

www.slysoft.com/en/anydvdhd.html

LOL i was beaten to it by Mussles :(

the problem is that anyDVD may well be illegal in many countries. its kinda of a grey area.

If you're doing this "legally" you need some pretty silly requirements to play blu ray movies... and people who pirate/use such tools dont. its stupid.

not illegal in my country. the law specifies that if you buy a movie, game, app,... you can legally make 2 or 3 personal backup copies of it. we pay a special tax on every DVD, CD, USB key, HDD, SSD, memory card,... sold. to compensate for making a backup copy of apps/games/movies.

mtosevnot illegal in my country. the law specifies that if you buy a movie, game, app,... you can legally make 2 or 3 personal backup copies of it. we pay a special tax on every DVD, CD, USB key, HDD, SSD, memory card,... sold. to compensate for making a backup copy of apps/games/movies.

I remember an american program that was shut down - not because it backed up the disks, but because it broke the macrovision protection in doing so. The same may apply with HDCP.

I remember DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink. Decrypter was British. so are talking about DVD Shrink?

That is what I get when I run the BD advisor on my XP setup, if Cyberlink think's XP will work with Blu-Ray discs, I'm sure it will.

Edit: I believe you may be right about the HDCP monitor being required, at least with digital connections. After doing some research, and trying to connect my PS3 to a non HDCP compliant monitor, I believe the following.

1.) If you are using a digital connection(HDMI or DVI) HDCP is required.
2.) If you are using an analog connection(VGA or Component) HDCP is not required. However, you will be limitted to 1080i resolution.

Taking stuff for granted

I didn't have any issues playing the HD DVD I was watching so I ignored requirements.

Guess I need to brush up on my HDCP info.

From what I gather thus far from my own use.

Vista and Windows 7 support HDCP. I am fairly sure the Nero Media player was used to play the movie. I will not stop reply to avoid making myself look dumber that I already have.

A lot of movies will play without HDCP in my experiance @ full res, but will under no circumstances give you Dolby True HD or DTS Master Soundtracks, unless all components software and hardware make the requiremants, Sly Soft can helps alleviate the issue of full res or backup copy playback but even that has to be updated every week or so to keep up to date with copy protection methods and still isnt the golden bullet, and it still wont give you the HD Audio..

I have a HTPC with a Asus XSonar 1.3 without the Xonar you can not at this time get Full DTS master Audio passthough no matter what player you have or card, ATI Nvidia will give you multi channel 5.1 or 7.1 but not True HD.

So you will need a HDMI display, HDCP display adapter, Asus Xonar 1.3, Arcsoft TMT 3 or Power DVD 9 for DTS Master or Dolby True HD, and optional Audio Video Receiver with HDCP that can playback these soundtracks, this is what is required, even Slysoft anydvd cant give you the audio if you dont have the hardware.

In my experiance its a lot of effort and exspense, but it is worth it, the Audio and Picture are leaps and bounds ahead of DVD, but if you dont have the Audio to go with the picture your only getting half the experiance, think of DTS vrs MP3 its the same with DVD vrs BluRay.

Blu Ray recordable media is a non event, prices are high to curb piracy, and recoup Sony som dosh, prices wont come down for years with this, so burners that can do BR are not worth it untill the time comes that we can buy cheap blank BR disks.

If I left anything out please let me know.