Cheap Internal Blu-Ray Drive?

[Qwerty]

Need a bit of help: looking for a Blu-Ray Drive to watch Blu Ray movies on my PC but it seems that all the internal drives are going for $150 and above.
Does anyone have recommendations for a cheap and good Blu-Ray Drive?
So far the best deal seems to be brining in an LG OEM drive from Amazon.
Doesn't have to be a re-writable since I don't really foresee the day Blu-Ray Discs will become commonplace, thanks to thumbdrives and portable HDD.
Thanks!

 

[royfrosty]

Fyi, to play bluray off the disc using a pc isnt as direct as it seems.

If you understand what is needed to run bluray then fine.

 

[Qwerty]

Thanks for your quick reply!
As I understand it you need a specific video codec which is downloadable?

 

[royfrosty]

Not just codec. There is also a few other things that you might need.

Bluray audio is encrypted inside the together with the video inside the bluray disc itself.

It is unlikely that you can just playback the bluray titles just like that. It wont display anything nor is there any sound will be produced.

It requires a few things to decrypt before playback in order to get the DTS HD and Dolby TrueHD out from it.

One way is to:

Rip the entire bluray into the PC and use a player with codec supported to playback. Doing so will require each movies to be between 30gb to 50gb. And takes a long time to rip.

Another way is to find a software to decrypt it, such as Slysoft HD. This one need to pay for subscription for daily updates on the latest movies. As long as there is new titles being released, you will need to update the software. If your subscription expires, you will not receive any more updates. No updates = no new movies to watch.

Another way is to buy a EOL HDMI enabled sound card.

So yeah.

 

[darkarn]

Am I right to say that option 1 will be best option for TS's use case since this means most BD drives in the market can do that and HDD space is quite cheap nowadays (i.e. more cost-efficient compared to using Slysoft or getting that EOL sound card)?

 

[Qwerty]

Thanks again for the suggestions! Yikes! Looks like playing Blu-ray on my PC is going to be a whole lot more difficult (than popping in into the hall TV's Blu-Ray player). I was looking forward to doing so for the superior sound quality and enjoyment of live concerts.
Regarding the Slysoft HD: Isn't it a bit dangerous to buy that software since the developer is facing legal action for producing a Blu-Ray Ripping program? Using it might become illegal as well?

 

[royfrosty]

Thanks again for the suggestions! Yikes! Looks like playing Blu-ray on my PC is going to be a whole lot more difficult (than popping in into the hall TV's Blu-Ray player). I was looking forward to doing so for the superior sound quality and enjoyment of live concerts.
Regarding the Slysoft HD: Isn't it a bit dangerous to buy that software since the developer is facing legal action for producing a Blu-Ray Ripping program? Using it might become illegal as well?

Is not a ripping software. Is merely just pulling out encrypted data and decrypt for playback. This software is special. And no its not illegal.

TBH, its better for you to buy a normal Bluray player, attached it via HDMI to your monitor, or AV receiver then to your Monitor. This is the best way to enjoy good quality surround to.

 

[Techno Pride]

Need a bit of help: looking for a Blu-Ray Drive to watch Blu Ray movies on my PC but it seems that all the internal drives are going for $150 and above.
Does anyone have recommendations for a cheap and good Blu-Ray Drive?
So far the best deal seems to be brining in an LG OEM drive from Amazon.
Doesn't have to be a re-writable since I don't really foresee the day Blu-Ray Discs will become commonplace, thanks to thumbdrives and portable HDD.
Thanks!

Yeah, I gave up and got the internal LG reader from amazon.

Strange I got the Liteon 8x reader from SLS for Sgd60+ few years back. Stunned to realise that the newer drives are more expensive.

 

[dreamer_toons]

I have a LG Blu-ray internal drive to play my Blu-ray collection and I echo what others have said.

It is not as straight forward as it seems. It was all fine playing the Blu-ray with my Cyberlink video suite and all of sudden, it just stopped playing the latest movie disc abruptly.

It prompted me to update my LG drive and it still doesn't work after updating. Google for a work around confirmed that the software wouldn't read the latest movie title release due to a updated encryption on the disc itself.

Gave up and considering to get a proper Blu-ray player and hook up to my monitor instead. Meanwhile, I'm using the PS4 for the Blu-ray playback and the LG drive is idling and only used occasionally to install DVD software.

 

[royfrosty]

PS4 hooked to my av receiver and monitor ftw!

 

[Kiwi8]

I have a LG Blu-ray internal drive to play my Blu-ray collection and I echo what others have said.

It is not as straight forward as it seems. It was all fine playing the Blu-ray with my Cyberlink video suite and all of sudden, it just stopped playing the latest movie disc abruptly.

It prompted me to update my LG drive and it still doesn't work after updating. Google for a work around confirmed that the software wouldn't read the latest movie title release due to a updated encryption on the disc itself.

Gave up and considering to get a proper Blu-ray player and hook up to my monitor instead. Meanwhile, I'm using the PS4 for the Blu-ray playback and the LG drive is idling and only used occasionally to install DVD software.

Hmm... how come Blu-ray players are not affected by updated encryption on newer movies ah?

 

[royfrosty]

Hmm... how come Blu-ray players are not affected by updated encryption on newer movies ah?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Access_Content_System

High chance is copying the bluray out.

Where player could not do that. I believe that is one cause.