Blu-ray player - Region's and AnyDVD HD & Playmovies plugin

[Hawker05]

Hello all,

After watching some mkv files on my Media Centre I have decided to purchase a blu-ray DVD Drive, Was looking at the "Pioneer Blu-Ray BDC-S02 Combo Drive" As ive always liked Pioneer DVD drives....and it has the PlayMovie plugin for Windows Media Center included.

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/...ducts_id=25995

Anyway i have a few questions:

These are obviously region coded drives and you select which region you are etc...Say i got a blue-ray movie from the US will AnyDVD HD let me watch it???

Also Does the PlayMovie plugin work well? Does it work in Vista? How about with the MCE remote etc...???

Anything else i need to know?

Maybe good places to buy the movies?

thanks

[ApoLakay]

Originally Posted by Hawker05

Anyway i have a few questions:

These are obviously region coded drives and you select which region you are etc...Say i got a blue-ray movie from the US will AnyDVD HD let me watch it???

There are not that many BD drive to choose from and Pioneer is as good as any of them.

You can change the region settings 5 times and it will lock to the last settings after that.

Not all BD are region locked so you can play BD's released in the US (Region A). Locked Australian release BD's falls under Region B. This site has a very good list of BD movies with region classification. Not only that, it has also links to the review of the movie. You can order your BD overseas with the assurance that it will play in your BD drive.

Originally Posted by Hawker05

Also Does the PlayMovie plugin work well? Does it work in Vista? How about with the MCE remote etc...???

Pioneer BD drive is bundled with BD Solution (including PDVD7 for playback) and PlayMovie. PlayMovie plugin is use as an interface for PDVD7 from VMC. It operates just like a normal VMC playback, so your MCE remote should work. Just make sure to get the latest PDVD patch from Cyberlink before you attemp to play any BD as the latest patch enables playback of the latest releases.

Originally Posted by Hawker05

Anything else i need to know?

The bundled playback software will only play 2CH audio. You can either upgrade PDVD7 to PDVD8 Ultra or purchase Arcsoft Total Media Theather (TMT) to get DD/DTS 5.1 audio. You can download Trial version on both of these applications, test them (30-days trial) and decide which one you would prefer.

Originally Posted by Hawker05

Maybe good places to buy the movies?

Look for specials from JB HiFi, Kmart, Big W (for local releases). They are still very expensive if they are not on special ($40+ normal, $23+ on special)

You can source from the following sites overseas:

Guaranteed Region B releases from here or here

For US releases, you can source here or here. Just make sure you check the region coding from the link I listed earlier before you order them.

[saxnix]

ApoLakay: Man, that is a great, comprehensive response to the question. Nice job.

Hawker: If you are after 2nd hand BD's (and new ones sometimes), there is a BD traders thread (trading and selling) here at DTVforum. You can pick up your movies in great condition for reasonable prices, and often much prior to Aust release dates. I have used it a few times and it is a great way to kick-start your collection.

[aanda6]

Also AnyDVD HD will remove any copy protection/region coding on your bluray discs. save having to change the hardware configuration.

[Hawker05]

Thanks very much for the replies! You have answered all my questions!

[The Brad]

Originally Posted by ApoLakay

Pioneer BD drive is bundled with BD Solution (including PDVD7 for playback) and PlayMovie. PlayMovie plugin is use as an interface for PDVD7 from VMC. It operates just like a normal VMC playback, so your MCE remote should work. Just make sure to get the latest PDVD patch from Cyberlink before you attemp to play any BD as the latest patch enables playback of the latest releases.

Btw, the last 2-3 months of BD drives have had the same build I have distributed personally to people. If your update function of PlayMovie doesn't crash, you don't need any updates.

Originally Posted by aanda6

Also AnyDVD HD will remove any copy protection/region coding on your bluray discs. save having to change the hardware configuration.

An important point also is your 5 changes of region is totally stored in the PowerDVD software, not the drive. Make of that what you will....