Any free Blu-Ray Players & Ripper Software available out there?

[aoommen]

I just built a new system, the specs of which are given below, and installed a Bluray burner - LG WH12LS30 as well as a DVD burner - Lite On IHAS424!

My OS is Win 7 - Home Premium 64 bit!

I have a 3 question about playing Bluray media - unfortunately windows for whatever reason has chosen not to support blu ray media in their Media Player, which is a shame! Tried VLC and they also does not support it, yet! So I right now use Power DVD 11 - trail version to play Blu Ray media, but I really don't want to spend another $30 bucks on software to play Blu ray's when the trial expires.

Q 1) Hence are there any free Blu Ray media players out there or codec's I can install to make it play on any of my existing players!

Q 2) Also for Blu Ray ripping software - are there any free rippers available that can rip Blu-ray's? I use Handbrake for my DVD's and it is excellent, but it doesn't recognize Blu Ray discs!

Q 3) What is the best format to convert DVD's to - high quality is what I'm looking for, conversion time and size, I'm not so particular about, I don't convert a lot, but when I do, I'd like to retain the highest quality possible! I use Format Factory for these format conversions!

I also have format factory and Nero 9 essentials installed! I read else where that the Media Player Classic - Home Cinema does support Blu ray's haven't tried it yet, does any one know whether it does for sure, nothing about Blu-ray is mentioned on their site?

Any suggestions or advice on these are welcome! Thanks in advance!

System Specs: CPU: Intel i5 - 2500K - 3.3 GHz; Motherboard: ASUS Z68 Chipset P8Z68 V; SSD: Crucial -M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC+; RAM: Corsair 16 GB Vengenace; HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB SATA II (3GB/S); GPU: XFX Radeon HD 6870 - ZHBC (900 MHz); Case: NZXT Phantom Black Full Tower; Power Supply: Seasonic X Series 650 W Gold ATX; CPU Heatsink & Fan: Cooler Master CM Hyper 212+; ODD: LG Blu Ray Writer - WH12LS30; Lite On 24X DVD Writer - iHAS424; Card Reader: SABRENT 7 Slot 75 IN 1 Internal; Wireless Adapter: ASUS PCE-N13 Wireless Adapter; Monitor: Hanns-G 27.5'' LCD Monitor; Mouse: Logitech Wireless Performance Mice MX; Keyboard: Logitech Wireless Illuminated Keyboard - K800; Webcam: Logitech HD Pro C910

 

[hang-the-9]

The Bluray burner should have come with software unless you bought an OEM version to save a few bucks. There is no free bluray player, at least right now, nor a decoder. That Media Player Classic, seen a few posts where people say it works, but have not seen any write-ups about it.

For DVDs, I find that avi.NET, slow encode, 2048 bit rate does a great job. DIVX or XVID codec with it. That one is free and does a great job. 2-pass encode does a really good job with lowering the artifacts you sometimes see in compressed files, which looks like what the slow encode option does in avi.NET.

 

[aoommen]

The Bluray burner should have come with software unless you bought an OEM version to save a few bucks. There is no free bluray player, at least right now, nor a decoder. That Media Player Classic, seen a few posts where people say it works, but have not seen any write-ups about it.

For DVDs, I find that avi.NET, slow encode, 2048 bit rate does a great job. DIVX or XVID codec with it. That one is free and does a great job. 2-pass encode does a really good job with lowering the artifacts you sometimes see in compressed files, which looks like what the slow encode option does in avi.NET.

Yes I bought an OEM drive to save a few bucks - but looks like I'll be spending a few more now, they got me!

Okay so are you saying that there aren't any freeware Blu-ray players or rippers available even on open source ??? I find that really hard to believe - is that so?

DVD's - I'm good I have multiple players and ripper software for those!

 

[hang-the-9]

Well, if there was a free bluray player or decoder, typing in "free bluray player or decoder" in google would get you some results. I'm guessing you did that already so either they don't exist or are hidden so well that the best search engine in the world would not find it.

 

[aoommen]

Well, if there was a free bluray player or decoder, typing in "free bluray player or decoder" in google would get you some results. I'm guessing you did that already so either they don't exist or are hidden so well that the best search engine in the world would not find it.

Well if I did find some there, then I wouldn't be here chatting with you right, I'm sure you are very pleasant to talk to (as I can see) but still!

So you don't know of any out there I guess is what you have been trying to say! Anyways, thank you for the help and the quick replies!

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Sorry but you will have to pay for bluray software to view your bluray movies!

http/www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdvd/overview_en_US.html?&r=1

http/www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1189528458632#versionTabview=tab1&tabview=tab0

http/www.nero.com/eng/nero10-hd-overview.html

http/www.arcsoft.com/estore/software_title.asp?ProductCode=TMT5P

Bluray Player software options ^

 

[hang-the-9]

Seems like you ran into one of the rare issue when buying OEM stuff is not the best pick. If you just got an OEM DVD player or even OEM Windows you would not have these issues, just happed that you got one of the few devices where an retail vertion would have saved you money.

 

[aoommen]

Its a good thing that I am still within the 30 day return guideline and has free shipping for return as well, guess I would return it and buy a new retail drive in a box with software and cables!

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

That is the way to go!

 

[aoommen]

Well did not have to go that way!

Found a great free Blu-ray player - has played everything that I have thrown at it so far, including Blu-rays! I guess it has been around for quite sometime now, surprised no one had heard about it!

Here is the link for anyone looking for the same answer as me - DA Player - Free Blu-Ray player, I installed it a week back and have used it extensively for testing different formats and discs and no problems so far, so I'm keeping it!

For ripping I'm using MakeMKV - , this one is the best I have come across so far, I did use AnyDVD HD(trial) and Handbrake as well for Blu-ray ripping, but it is much slower and the quality is not as good as the MKV! Make MKV does rip a bluray in under 1.5 hrs max on my rig, and this is with a simultaneous DVD rip going on!

So thanks to all the good folks who tried to help! This issue has been resolved!