Can you recommend a free Blu Ray and/or DVD player for my DVD's and Blu Rays?

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Can you recommend a free Blu Ray and/or DVD player for my DVD's and Blu Rays?

(12 posts) (4 voices)

Started 8 years ago by Whiterabbit-uk
Latest reply from Lester (Chip)

Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru

It's that time of year again where I'm off on vacation soon. We are going to Tunisia. (We were given the opportunity to cancel following the atrocities last week, but decided against cancellation).

Anyway I'll be taking a laptop so that I can play DVD's and Blu Rays but I don't have a media player installed that plays either my Blu Rays or DVD's. Can anyone recommend any freeware/open source programs that will enable me to play my movies.

I've asked for advice previously, but with my memory problems I have forgotten what was recommended last time.

Thanks in advance for any help.

regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

Posted 8 years ago #
Lester (Chip)
English Mod

VLC Media Player. It will play pretty much any media format you need it to.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

Posted 8 years ago #
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru

Thanks Chip. I hope all's well with you? Have you finished your studies yet?

All I need now is one that plays the BD - Blu Ray format.

If I can't find one for Blu Ray i have enough DVD's to take with me, plus loads on pen drives, that I could leave the blu ray. It would be nice to be able to play Blu Ray though becasue most of the movies I've purchased over the last 18 months have been Blu ray. Stopped buying DVD's when the price of Blu Rays dropped signficantly a couple of years ago. Still got at leat 100 plus DVD's that i've purchased that I've still not watched for example the Wicker Man (Nicolas Cage version), which I bought on release back in 2006, yet still not watched it. I'm sort of a mood person, and watch different movies as the mood takes me.

You can see my problem when deciding what to take with me. Half of the movies on the shelves below haven't been watched yet and they are only part of my collection. still got some boxes stored up in the spare family room.

Posted 8 years ago #
ChrisS
Administrator

These changes are supposed to enable you to play a Blu Ray with VLC so maybe one player is all you'd need.

But, with that many disks a backup player is almost required. For a simple DVD player you might try Media Player Classic. There are instructions for getting it to play a Blu Ray but I haven't tried it.

Posted 8 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

PowerDVD 15 Ultra
Expensive, though if you register a trial you **might** get an e-mail offer with a sale price. [The trial is now limited in what it can do, or it might have been a good choice lasting as long as your vacation.] You can also find it on sale on-line, but those sales are pretty sporadic [at least in the US], & may be for the older version -- since updates to new Blu-Ray DRM schemes are only provided for so long after PowerDVD is no longer current, older versions are not a great value.

Simply does what it's supposed to on retail Blu-Ray & DVD discs, or most discs copied to hard drive or other storage. Viewer experience is the same, sometimes better than using a stand-alone Blu-Ray player, plus you get Android & iOS apps for your tablets/cells. Also may well have the best audio down-sampling for the multi-channel DTS often found on Blu-Ray. There's a reason that PowerDVD Ultra is popular if you check the forums for the PC-based home theater enthusiasts.

Nero Platinum includes a Blu-Ray player based on PowerDVD -- I've seen it on sale as low as $25 in the US. It works.

Note: In the thread on upgrading hardware I mentioned a huge sale on Amazon on 7/15 [the UK store included]. If that's not too late for you, there's a decent chance either PowerDVD Ultra &/or Nero Platinum will show up on sale, as Amazon has sold both before cheap.

I *very* occasionally use Aiseesoft, Aurora, DVDFab, & Leawo Blu-Ray players, which are all based on the open source XBMC [xbmc.org]. Of the 4, Leawo is always free -- the others have been giveaways. All understand Blu-Ray playlists -- Blu-Ray can use playlists specifying the order of .m2ts video files making up the movie. None understand the menus & special features using Java. All can be glitchy. All depend on contacting developer servers for info on how to handle DRM -- note that that info may not always be accurate.

Fengtao [DVDFab] has a payware app called Passkey with a 30 day trial, after which it transforms into the Lite version that will not work with all discs. SlySoft has their AnyDVD HD -- also payware. With either app running, they handle the DRM on any DVD or Blu-Ray disc, so all Windows & software players see is a disc with no DRM whatsoever. This allows for the use of players with no DRM capabilities, e.g. XBMC.

For video nerds/enthusiasts MPC-HC & optionally madvr may provide the best playback experience, but work better if fed a single video file -- remember Blu-Ray may make use of a dozen [more-or-less] files. Apps like MakeMKV [payware for Blu-Ray, though 30 day trial] can copy those multiple files to a single MKV file without re-encoding anything. There are several alternative apps that do the same thing basically, but not always as well. You can also perform a two-step using free software, using something like the ancient BluRip [there are many alternatives] to get the individual video, audio, sub files, & chapter data [times], then using another app to put those together into a single file -- multiAVCHD for example will create a simple Blu-Ray disc layout that can be burned to disc or played from hard drive.

---

VLC -- Very poor choice overall for Blu-Ray, IMHO anyway.

Media Player Classic -- go to MPC-HC instead. Mind the documentation, as adding DS filters to the playback PC/laptop can make a big difference. Also bear in mind that it works best with a single file, not a Blu-Ray playlist.

---

RE: your impressive collection...
http://www.meritline.com/cd-dvd-510-holder-wallet-holders-black---p-39027.aspx
http://www.meritline.com/900-aluminum-like-diamond-black-hard-cd-case---p-47943.aspx

I've bought these sorts of cases from Meritline & SuperMediaStore.com [maybe cheaper]. They take up quite a bit less space, if that matters, make it easy to take your collection with you, & most importantly, make sorting alphabetically easy -- buy a new disc & I can put it immediately in it's proper place, without having to shift however many shelves worth of discs.

Posted 8 years ago #
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru

Thanks for your feedback guys. I have a similar aluminium cased CD/DVD holder, which I purchased to keep the family videos safe, but it's only a 50 disc storage.

With respect to my vacation. The British government announced on TV today that there was an increased risk of more attacks occuring in Tunisia and have advised only essential travel. Our provider has pulled out all holiday reps from Tunisia and are offering full refunds. We are now looking for a new destination. The only problem, because its now so late in the pre book season, and so many cancellations have occured at this time, we are finding it difficult to find a vacation within our budget. Everything appears to be twice the price we paid for the Tunisian holiday. Also, we always book 2 rooms for us and the kids. It's almost impossible to find two rooms available. Don't know whether we will even make it away now. :(

Posted 8 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

Purely FWIW, if you can't have the vacation you planned, perhaps everyone would get more out of spending a day or 3 focused solely on them, e.g. maybe your wife would get more out of a day or two or three at a spa? I mean being totally pampered vs. worrying about & trying to stay on top of the kids, managing dinner plans, managing activities etc. -- being the center of attention rather than having to split her attention 20 different ways.

You could do the same sort of thing for the kids -- ask them individually what would be their absolute favorite day ever, & maybe you could make something like that happen? They might be thrilled at the chance to do something only they want, that they normally wouldn't get to do because no one else would or could enjoy it.

Posted 8 years ago #
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru

Ha! I suggested that earlier this morning, but my wife is dead set on going abroad. As for my son, his ideal day would be spent sitting in front pf his monitor playing Counter Srike: Global Ops with his friends. He wasn't too enamoured when we told him we would be going to a hotel with poor internet connections.

There is a water park nearby, which both my kids love to go to. My wife comes from a water sports family, and has always ensured pool time every week since they were babies. We have canoes etc, and Callum until recently was in a Kayak club. Personally I hate water sports, lol.

We have given the kids loads of oppertunities to do things they like. We have gone out of our way and at a lot of expense to give them experiences that they will always remember, and hopefully open up the world to them.

Since my accident, I've not been as involved, but my wife has been a star in that respect.

Posted 8 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

"Ha! I suggested that earlier this morning..."

:) Great minds think alike! :)

"As for my son, his ideal day would be spent sitting in front pf his monitor playing Counter Srike: Global Ops with his friends."

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. ;)
Wouldn't be surprised if one day your gov comes courting -- they seriously want young people with computer chops to train. Wouldn't be surprised either if they had a role nudging the BBC to develop & launch that program, providing the pocket PCs with the emphasis on coding.

That said, has your son ever had a LAN party? That *might* be his idea of Nirvana.

"Personally I hate water sports, lol."

My dad was in the Navy... Not sure if his motivation was preparing me for military service or what, but he was a bit like your wife. Unfortunately chlorine & I have never gotten along, At All, so my memories of it are more akin to torture. It Did Not breed Any love of water sports, so I likely agree with you more than most. ;)

"We have given the kids loads of oppertunities to do things they like. We have gone out of our way and at a lot of expense to give them experiences that they will always remember"

That was one thing I loved about living in Tampa, Florida. The boys grew up [till they were 9-10 anyway] spending their weekends at the Disney parks, or Busch Gardens, or the beach, or the local springs [underneath, Florida is like a giant sponge, & there are some wonderful springs where the water comes to the surface]. OTOH you didn't really commune with nature unless you were a Florida native -- the number of species that would hurt you is amazing... notable were coral snakes, rattlers, scorpions, deadly spiders, gators, wild boars, & our youngest's personal nemesis, fire ants -- you learned quickly Never, Ever stand in one place. During the summer, Sunday morning coffee was a treat -- the farmer's field behind our house was one of the spots they touched down for hot air balloon races, so they were really low when they came over the house. Nice way to wake up before the day got hot, even if the fool dog was having a ball barking his head off, scaring them away.

Posted 8 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

*Maybe* related...

*If* it's of any interest, Meritline has a case on sale, but while they ship internationally, don't have any idea if the coupon code works outside the US.
http://www.meritline.com/cd-dvd-510-holder-wallet-holders-wallets---p-39026.aspx?strcoup=MLCS11KN&dealid=91693

WR, know you have a Blu-Ray burner, so thought you might be interested in this short article I came across today concerning BD-R disc longevity.
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx?NewsId=34515

Posted 8 years ago #
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru

We have five working computers in the house, not counting the laptops and Cal has had up to three friends playing online together using the house LAN. We have five Steam accounts two are mine and two Cal's and one my daughters. I created a second account specifically for my kids friends and Cal created his second one so that he could play Counter-Strike: Global Operations (CS:GO) at a lower level because a lot of his friends are at much lower levels. The way CS:GO works, when you play online your level of competence is matched to servers with players of similar skill levels, so the only way he could play with some of his friends was to play the game using different Steam accounts. Each CS:GO game is tied to a specific Steam account, so you can't set up different names accounts using the same copy of the game like you can with arcade games. He now uses both of my accounts to play CS:GO as well, which has enabled him to play with a wider circle of friends. Last time he spoke about it I think he said he had just managed to attain Master Guardian Elite, which was totally beyond me as I only play CS:GO with bots and non-competitively.

I've purchased copies of several games that they really like to play for each of the accounts (Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, Terraria, CS:GO, Gary's Mod, Half Life Deathmath 2, Unreal tournament 2004 and 2007 {UT3} plus several other games - usually purchased when on sale at rock bottom prices), so that when friends stay over they can all play together.

Yes you are right, I've obviously influenced him since my accident. Playing games helps with my pain management, and he's seen me playing games virtually every day ever since he was a toddler.

I've purchase several game engines, music creation programs and web site creation tools with a view to interesting him in game development, as well as given him access to other tools to try and develp an interest in IT, maybe coding or some other computer related career. He worked at a company that designs routers for industrial use for his work experience last summer and throughly enjoyed the experience. At the moment he's still confused as to what he really wants to do. We've always tried to encourage both of them with various clubs and sports ever since they were toddlers.

We've only managed to get to Florida twice (2009 and 2010). I was hoping to take them at least one more time before they grew to old to appreciate the theme parks. Cal is 16 Em 14, so maybe one more chance if we go soon. They both loved Bush Gardens and Discovery Cove.

I love hot air ballons. I've still not mmanaged to go up in one, tohugh my wife and kids went into one of those massive ones when we stayed at Luxor several years ago. The company who ran the balloons wouldn't let me up in one. Said because of my disabilities they wouldn't be insured. My wife did take aobut 30 miutes of video for me, but its not the same. I don't know whether the balloon rides have been reinstigated since the aweful accident a couple of years ago?

Posted 8 years ago #
Lester (Chip)
English Mod

I'm doing well! Been finished college since 2011 but decided to just focus on web and graphic design as a hobby/side work from the lack of work in my area. I'm still working at a local grocery store which pays decent and I have vision/dental/medical benefits thanks to the union. Just waiting now until an apprentice position opens up so I can learn to be a meat cutter which will of course give me a new trade and allow me to further my career. How have you been?

Posted 8 years ago #

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