Blu ray software

[swampydrill]

I have a VGN FW11M sony laptop that recently had to get repaired out of warranty, i had to have a new hard drive installed, trouble is a lot of software was pre-installed and now i have no blu ray software to work the Bluray DVD rom unles i pay Sony £50 for a new software bundle, is there any software i can download free of charge so i can at least watch movies etc or do i have to bite the bullet and pay, the hard drive failed a month out of warranty and that was after Sony had fixed it once, won't be buying anothe rone for sure.

 

[PhilFrisbie]

No, there is no free Blu-ray player software available. It is too bad you did not make recovery discs while it was running fine. . .

 

[Monkey With a Mouse]

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html + addon http://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name/ = bluray playback

 

[PhilFrisbie]

I correct my last statement:

No, there is no free and legal Blu-ray player software available.

 

[Sunius]

I correct my last statement:

No, there is no free and legal Blu-ray player software available.

Any reason why is that the case? Is Blu-ray playback some kind of licensed thing? A link to an article explaining that would be nice.

 

[Monkey With a Mouse]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_player_software
http://www.one-blue.com/

 

[Sunius]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_player_software
http://www.one-blue.com/

I still see no laws that forbid programming such player.

 

[PhilFrisbie]

I still see no laws that forbid programming such player.

In the US it falls under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA), which prohibits bypassing encryption. Blu-ray discs are all encrypted, and the encryption keys available for download have been cracked, which is also illegal in most countries.

Now that I have said that, do not get me started on Fair Use and how this restricts it in the US. . .

 

[Sunius]

In the US it falls under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA), which prohibits bypassing encryption. Blu-ray discs are all encrypted, and the encryption keys available for download have been cracked, which is also illegal in most countries.

Now that I have said that, do not get me started on Fair Use and how this restricts it in the US. . .

How does the paid software get to decrypt the content then?

 

[PhilFrisbie]

How does the paid software get to decrypt the content then?

They pay a license fee to One-Blue for the privilege. . .

 

[Sunius]

I see, that's BS...

 

[PhilFrisbie]

I see, that's BS...

That is the patent system. . .

 

[Monkey With a Mouse]

Patent System = Profit

 

[PhilFrisbie]

Patent System = Profit

Ideally, yes, but with software: Software patents = lock-in + lawsuits + lack of innovation

 

[Monkey With a Mouse]

+ 1 ^

 

[Monkey With a Mouse]

i totally agree

 

[PhilFrisbie]

i totally agree

Thanks, but I still wish it were not true 😉