Hi all
First post, please be gentle

I've been searching the forums and getting more confused, sorry if this question has been answered elsewhere.

I'm all ready for Blu-Ray but need to decide between a stand-alone Player for the TV or a BD writer for the PC and send the picture to my TV. Seems to be alot of questions and problems around HDMI HDCP etc.

I want to watch Blu-ray on my TV in high def, I have SAMSUNG PS50Q96HD 50" Plasma. I could just buy a Blu-Ray player but, for about the same money, I would rather buy a LG GGW- H20L BD writer for the PC and send the picture to my TV.
Is this possible as long as I use HDMI cables etc. My Graphics card is a nVidia 8600GT and says its HDCP compliant.
I'd prefer to go this route as I have a 5 year old and he is none to careful with discs and I currently only let him use back ups as he keep getting them all scratched up etc.
I can only afford to do one or the other at the moment so any helpful advice appriciated, ie, what problems if any am I going to run into?

Thanks in advance

Sorry dont mean to push for an answer but come on.

The forums are full of threads with people saying they get black screens when they try to do as I'm suggesting to people saying they only get low res on the TV, and others that seem to say it can be done.
I think I'm trung to do something quite straight-forward and I've been quite specific about my equipment, so can anyone shed any light.

ta

I'd even settle foe a flame war, just so I know someone is out there

You will want at least a 3Ghz or better and ANYDVDHD, software published by Slysoft. When you play to a TV, like my HDTV, it is not HDCP compliant and I have to have the encryption taken off of it. One thing I have noticed also, is that some Blue-Ray disk to do not work on Power DVD. I haven even updated to the newest version. The content plays but will hang on some of the menus and you can not access the main title via the menu buttons. Am example would be "Across the Universe". If you are going to put them on your hard drive, I would suggest at least SATAII in a raid zero configuration. The bandwidth is just so HIGH for blue ray content. Some of these movies are over 30 GIGs. You could get away without the raid, but I just have to much other stuff running and I will error out in PowerDVD and the program crashes. In other words, you have to make sure everything is just perfect or it will not play. I am sure sometime at the beginning of next year they will have plenty of support and better software for Blue Ray, but right I have to Rip 1/5 of my Blue Ray disk and just watch them that way. O ya I am running Windows x64 also, you probably are too, but maybe not. I have to. It may run alot smoother in 32-bit but I don't have that luxury since I am running 8 GIGS of RAM.

I have a Toshiba BDC 202 Bluray drive (the liteon was tempting but out of stock)
I also have an XFX Nvidia 8600GT and it is NOT HDCP Compliant.
When I ran the BD advisor tool (From the Cyberlink website) it told me my video connection was not HDCP compliant. I checked with Toshiba and thay confirmed by email that my 32WLT66 display was HDCP compliant. I investigated the DVI connection but finally came to the conclusion that it was my GFX card. I re-checked the XFX website and noticed that only their 8600 GTS has the HDCP logo.
I use AnyDVD HD as suggested which removes the HDCP signal on the fly so that you can watch it HD.
I have only suffered one movie which would not play in HD which was Sweeney Todd. If the HDCP signal cannot be handshaked between the PC and the Display then your software player such as Power DVD will output the movie over analogue (VGA) but only at standard resolutions. I was able to watch the film over a VGA connection instead of the DVI but at 1280 x 1024 Res so I might as well have got it on DVD.
As regards a standalone I read that there are still problems with firmware releases needed etc and at the moment the best method would be the PS3 which appears to be readily upgradeable with regular firmware updates is the impression I get.
At least with a PC you can always change hardware , software and firmwares quite readily to keep up but you suffer with some inconvienience in the practical sense compared to a standalone, much the same as DVD playback really.
One thing about the BD advisor tool though is it also told me my CPU was no good for the job but its a Core 2 Duo 3ghz and very capable.
No issues with playback other than those detailed above.

Excellent

Thanks, the "BD advisor tool" was just what I was looking for.
here
http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/support/bdhd_support/diagnosis.jsp


i think I'm going to be OK

Cheers
for replies

Hope you get on okay,
Here's a few more tips.
1) Watch the video using dual view mode. For this you will need to make sure the plasma is turned on and "tuned" the DVI / HDMI input for the PC before you switch the PC on. This will allow the dual-view mode to appear as an option in the nvidia display options. You will need to drag a minimised window of powerdvd to your plasma. You may also need to use the re-size HDTV desktop option you see in the advanced menu to overcome scaling issues. Then successfully maximise the powerdvd window to fill and not "overfill" the screen.
2) If you have a S/PDIF output on your sound card or motherboard, some can output uncompressed digital audio such as Dolby digital 5.1 and DTS. I have mine connected to a surround sound system with a digital co-axial lead and set the option in power dvd sound options to output from the S/pdif. Then at least I get the surround sound aswell.
Any more advice just ask.