Do you own a Blu-ray player in some form?

[mr_lou]

In relation to my project "8bit Stories", I'm curious to know how many of you own a Blu-ray player in some form.

Please note, playing a FullHD video (even if it is from a Blu-ray disc) is not the same as playing Blu-ray. Blu-ray is a specific format / folder structure including Java coded menus. It requires a player that has the Blu-ray logo on it.
If your device does not have the Blu-ray logo, then it probably does not play Blu-ray. (There are exceptions though).

Thank you for voting.

"8bit Stories" is a diskmag-like project I've been working on for some years now. It contains a lot of stories I remember from my life about our retro computers.

More info available in this thread:
Project "8bit memories": Collections of our retro memories
Project "8bit memories": Collections of our retro memories

[jbaudrand]

got it on my freebox player (it's an internet/tv  box all in one)

[mr_lou]

got it on my freebox player (it's an internet/tv  box all in one)

Neat, never heard of those. Does it play discs or do you mean from harddisk/usb?

I have a Dune HD myself, which lets me play both Blu-ray ISO files and Blu-ray folders from harddisk and usb, but it doesn't take discs.

Please note, playing a FullHD video is not the same as playing Blu-ray. Blu-ray is a specific format / folder structure including Java coded menus. It requires a player that has the Blu-ray logo on it.
If your device does not have the Blu-ray logo, then it does not play Blu-ray.

[seanb]

Lg player and a usb drive for my pc

[remax]

got it on my freebox player (it's an internet/tv  box all in one)

same for me

Neat, never heard of those. Does it play discs or do you mean from harddisk/usb?

It plays both

[mr_lou]

Lg player and a usb drive for my pc

Nice.
The USB drive will need a software player though.
I mean, I'm sure you can play video from a Blu-ray disc, but in order to view the menus you need a software player that supports Blu-ray Disc Java, like e.g. PowerDVD or WinDVD or (soon) Kodi etc.

[mr_lou]

same for me
It plays both

Really? Including the menus? Do you get a "Play movie" button and such, like you do in a traditional Blu-ray player?
Because it's one thing to simply play the m2ts streams, but another to be able to show the Blu-ray menus. The device needs to be licensed in order to do that, and then it will carry the Blu-ray logo. Does it have the Blu-ray logo?

[TFM]

Voted for "Yes, I own some other kind of Blu-ray player not listed above. (Please specifiy in a comment).". Because my laptop has a Blue Ray Burner.

[remax]

Really? Including the menus? Do you get a "Play movie" button and such, like you do in a traditional Blu-ray player?
Because it's one thing to simply play the m2ts streams, but another to be able to show the Blu-ray menus. The device needs to be licensed in order to do that, and then it will carry the Blu-ray logo. Does it have the Blu-ray logo?

http://www.freebox-v6.fr/wiki/index.php?title=Utiliser_le_lecteur_Blu-Ray


Yes... It use the "Blu-Ray TM" name so i think it complies to the specification.

[seanb]

Nice.
The USB drive will need a software player though.
I mean, I'm sure you can play video from a Blu-ray disc, but in order to view the menus you need a software player that supports Blu-ray Disc Java, like e.g. PowerDVD or WinDVD or (soon) Kodi etc.

Like surround sound watching blu rays on the pc is a pain in the arse to set up and get running.

Vlc plays vids I think by its own but I know the only official software that can play br's is powerdvd.
Screw them.

To play a blu ray on a pc should be free.
I use a cracked version of sly soft to remove copyright protection and have a cracked version of powerdvd.

Refuse to pay. Maybe some other software has come along recently so you can watch br for free but I'm unaware of it

[mr_lou]

http://www.freebox-v6.fr/wiki/index.php?title=Utiliser_le_lecteur_Blu-Ray

Yes... It use the "Blu-Ray TM" name so i think it complies to the specification.

Awesome! :-)

To play a blu ray on a pc should be free.

Refuse to pay. Maybe some other software has come along recently so you can watch br for free but I'm unaware of it

Well Kodi is getting full Blu-ray support implemented these days, and I think VLC too. I think all software players will get full Blu-ray playback functionality in the near future. But yes, it should have happened a lot sooner.

[Carnivius]

I have PlayStation 3 and 4.

Think my laptop has one but I so rarely use it now I can't even remember.  I just use one of the PlayStations for my blu rays.

[Dizrythmia]

I was careful to purchase a blu-ray player that was able to be region modified. I did this for 3 reasons:

I am very much a "country of origin" person when it comes to TV shows. If a show was filmed in NTSC then I want to buy the NTSC version of it.

I don't like the horrible ratings logos used on any form of entertainment. They are horrible, oversized & obscure the box art. One example that comes to mind is the Australian Blu-ray to Priscilla: Queen of the Desert

Everything overseas is cheaper! Even with the Australian dollar being in such a poor state.

[Fessor]

PS 3 and 4 and a BR-Burner on PC. But no Software for playing BRs. VLC can only play unprotected BRs.

[mr_lou]

PS 3 and 4 and a BR-Burner on PC. But no Software for playing BRs. VLC can only play unprotected BRs.

"8bit Stories" will be unprotected. 

[||C|-|E||]

I have the PS4 and a proper Sony BluRay player, with the logo on it an everything 

[mr_lou]

Thanks to all who has voted.

It seems that one third has a traditional player, while another third has some other kind of player, and the last third won't be able to enjoy 8bit Stories.
I can live with that.

To the ones who don't have a player and don't want to buy one, look out for future release of VLC or Kodi.

[ImpaledGryphon]

samsung br player
ps3, ps4, xbone
lg super multi blu burner / player on pc


i also have a toshiba hd-dvd player, an hd dvd drive for my xbox 360 and a toshiba hd-dvd-r burner / player on my pc

[andycadley]

Technically I think I have a Bluray drive on my laptop too, although I've never actually used it so didn't bother choosing it.

It's also worth noting that not all Bluray players, even with the logo, can play all Blurays. It comes down to which version of the spec they support (and most aren't upgradable). Frankly the whole thing was a bit of a mess, it's not surprising uptake has never been great....

[mr_lou]

It's also worth noting that not all Bluray players, even with the logo, can play all Blurays. It comes down to which version of the spec they support (and most aren't upgradable). Frankly the whole thing was a bit of a mess, it's not surprising uptake has never been great....

Hm, our Blu-ray player is very old and we've never encountered not being able to play a certain Blu-ray disc.
I know there's Profile 1.0 and Profile 1.1 and Profile 2.0 players. I'm not sure I'd consider that a mess though. I've definitely seen other things a lot more messy.... like e.g. HTML.

Profile 1.1 players of course offered more things than Profile 1.0 players did (like PIP and persistent storage), but I'm fairly sure most disc producers who wish to use these features only does so if Profile 1.1 is detected.
Profile 2.0 players just mean there's network capabilities too. Again, check if available and if not then don't use.

But now you've peaked my curiosity, so I'll probably find out what profiles my test-players are now, and then see if I can find a disc in my collection that won't play on them.

For the development of "8bit Stories" though, I have intentionally been buying older devices to test on, just because I'm a crazy man with a weird hobby. I find it fun to get things running on these old devices.
So I'm fairly sure my project will run on anything out there. 

[mr_lou]

But now you've peaked my curiosity, so I'll probably find out what profiles my test-players are now, and then see if I can find a disc in my collection that won't play on them.

Apparently I don't have any Profile 1.0 players among my test-players.... Only Profile 1.1 and Profile 2.0.
I was a bit surprised by that. I thought at least one of them would be that old.
But ok.... Profile 1.1 has been mandatory since November 2007, so it would be somewhat difficult to find someone still holding on to a Profile 1.0 player today.

I'm looking forward to see the Ultra HD Blu-ray players that's supposed to come out later this year. 

[Targhan]

I'm a bit at war against BluRay : I bought Interstellar and PowerDVD refuses to read it! It requires a (paying) upgrade. This is ridiculous. VLC, who most of times accept reading BluRay gave up on this one. If someone knows a solution, I'd be be interested (PM me).

Anyway, a BluRay dedicated to the CPC is clearly something unique, I'd be very interested to see what it will look like!

[mr_lou]

I'm a bit at war against BluRay : I bought Interstellar and PowerDVD refuses to read it! It requires a (paying) upgrade. This is ridiculous. VLC, who most of times accept reading BluRay gave up on this one. If someone knows a solution, I'd be be interested (PM me).

Hm, well that is puzzling. Must admit I don't use software players myself, but PowerDVD ought to eat as much as any traditional player.
A thought though: Brand new Blu-ray players are only about 50 euro nowadays, and they come with all sorts of neat stuff like Netflix and what not. And now that Ultra HD Blu-ray is right around the corner, there'll most likely be a sale soon.
If you want cheaper I've gotten a few used ones for at little as 7 euro. Why not get one of those?

Anyway, a BluRay dedicated to the CPC is clearly something unique, I'd be very interested to see what it will look like!

Well, dunno if it's dedicated to the CPC. It's just a diskmag kinda thing, where most of the content will be about the CPC.
If other people authors future issues of 8bit Stories the content will be about other machines. 

[TFM]

I'm a bit at war against BluRay : I bought Interstellar and PowerDVD refuses to read it! It requires a (paying) upgrade. This is ridiculous. VLC, who most of times accept reading BluRay gave up on this one. If someone knows a solution, I'd be be interested (PM me).

Solution? Yes, but you won't like it. Take an international flight, they show Interstellar now in airplanes overseas. 

[seanb]

Solution? Yes, but you won't like it. Take an international flight, they show Interstellar now in airplanes overseas. 

Ah, areoplane cuts of films.
Who remembers the airline cut of Shaun of the Dead.
It was funking good.