How about a Xbox One or newer (though I don't know about their BD-player and/or decoding capabilities) or just a standalone BD-player?
As mentioned above both zoom and slow motion controls are a must. They were in virtually every DVD player back in the day, but good luck finding them in any BD player, even in Panasonic's ~ $1K top model-and no Sony models either. My lovely Oppo 95 BD player has zoom, but the designers made the incredibly dumb mistake of not enabling the remote's up, down, sideways buttons to allow centering the zoomed image on the screen! Only my equally lovely Pioneer LX500 BD player has fully functional zoom control.
However, while not true of Warners, Kino Lorber, Powerhouse Films, et al, other studios like Universal, ShoutFactory, Sony and Criterion Collection disable my players' zoom control when the BD (though not DVD) is inserted. And that's another advantage of using BD decrypting software, because unlike standalone BD players BD drives don't have that accursed BD-J chip that Hollywood forces all BD player brands to include, which forces compliance with these playback restrictions.
en.wikipedia.org
Furthermore, because neither of these or any BD players have a USB audio output they won't work with my chosen home theater hardware, which omits an AVR or processor. Instead, I use this multichannel DAC which recieves the decoded DTS-MA as PCM audio from JRiver or VLC player via USB.
I'm not sure why you are actively trying to avoid the backdoor way for free and backup your disc in the process when this is exactly what Passkey does - decrypts the disc for payback. Just it cost money.
Though I don't condone piracy, you might actually be breaking the law by doing exactly this function. Grey area that consumers are stuck in. They own the product. Can't use it without break the protection, which in turn is legal (country dependent).
If you read my first post I explained that I am NOT a coder, though I did my best to get free VLC player to decrypt and play BDs. I wasted enough of my precious time with that; and $80. won't break my bank.
And I resent anyone's implication that my using such decrypting software is piracy.
> 95% of BDs I'd be decyrpting to play on my system are from my personal collection, all of which were purchased by me directly from the brand or from legitimate online stores. And the rest are borrowed from local public libraries who are funded by my school taxes-and here on miserably overpopulated Long Island school taxes comprise > 65% of the average homeowner's tax bill. So, however the IP police would care to twist the truth, I am NO pirate.
