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  1. Member
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    Hi all,
    I would very much like to purchase a HD computer monitor and EXTERNAL Blu-ray drive. However, I have no idea if my computer can handle it. Can you please let me know?
    Here are my specs:
    -
    Windows 7 (64-bit) Home Premium edition
    Intel Pentium Dual-Core E6700 @ 3.20 GHz
    4 Gigs of RAM
    1 TB hard drive
    Display adapter: Intel G45/G43 Express chipset
    Audio adapter: Intel High-Definition Audio HDMI, RealTek High Definition Audio
    -
    If my computer can't handle it then that's a bummer, but if it can, where can I find info on an HD computer monitor/external Blu-ray drive? ... keeping in mind that I have absolutely NO experience in this area and I'm completely new to it all.
    Thanks
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  2. Member DB83's Avatar
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    Try this:

    http://www.cyberlink.com/prog/bd-support/diagnosis.do

    BTW My system marginally fails this test but still plays BD fine.
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  3. Renegade gll99's Avatar
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    On XP sp3, I'm playing BR discs from an internal BR-rom drive with a lowly core2 E2180 @2000 Ghz without issue with the version of PowerDVD that came with the drive. Just make sure your video is HDCP compliant otherwise you'll have to buy an add-on pcie hdcp compliant video card like I had to do with the older replacement mboard I'm currently using after my original mb fried.
    There's not much to do but then I can't do much anyway.
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    This says your system's onboard graphics can handle Blu-Ray playback. If you use HDMI or DVI to connect to an HDCP compliant monitor, you should be able to play Blu-ray discs.
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    Originally Posted by DB83 View Post
    Try this:

    http://www.cyberlink.com/prog/bd-support/diagnosis.do

    BTW My system marginally fails this test but still plays BD fine.
    Yeah, mine failed too :/
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    It looks like this one would work, right?

    http://www.aztekcomputers.com/MS228HPBR-ASUS-2512045.html
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    Originally Posted by takearushfan View Post
    It looks like this one would work, right?

    http://www.aztekcomputers.com/MS228HPBR-ASUS-2512045.html
    Yes. That monitor's description says that it has HDCP support. I thought about buying that model when they first came out, but I couldn't find one locally to see what it was like, so I bought an LCD instead.
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    Originally Posted by usually_quiet View Post
    Originally Posted by takearushfan View Post
    It looks like this one would work, right?

    http://www.aztekcomputers.com/MS228HPBR-ASUS-2512045.html
    Yes. That monitor's description says that it has HDCP support. I thought about buying that model when they first came out, but I couldn't find one locally to see what it was like, so I bought an LCD instead.
    You raise a good point. Might it be a bad idea not to see what it looks like in person? Then again I never bothered to do that with previous monitors.
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    Originally Posted by takearushfan View Post
    Originally Posted by usually_quiet View Post
    Originally Posted by takearushfan View Post
    It looks like this one would work, right?

    http://www.aztekcomputers.com/MS228HPBR-ASUS-2512045.html
    Yes. That monitor's description says that it has HDCP support. I thought about buying that model when they first came out, but I couldn't find one locally to see what it was like, so I bought an LCD instead.
    You raise a good point. Might it be a bad idea not to see what it looks like in person? Then again I never bothered to do that with previous monitors.
    Some things I will buy online, and some things I won't. Maybe it is just a personal quirk with me, but I like to see monitors and TVs in person. I also want the option to return these kinds of things without a lot of hassles, if I don't like them once I get them home and actually use them.
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    Okay,
    The HD monitor and HDMI cable are on the way. However, despite what I've tried, I can't find the answer to my audio question:
    Do I need additional cables if I already have my 5.1 SS ones? How does my 5.1 system "fit into" the HD monitor, HDMI cable and BD player situation?
    Thanks again
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    Originally Posted by takearushfan View Post
    Okay,
    The HD monitor and HDMI cable are on the way. However, despite what I've tried, I can't find the answer to my audio question:
    Do I need additional cables if I already have my 5.1 SS ones? How does my 5.1 system "fit into" the HD monitor, HDMI cable and BD player situation?
    Thanks again
    You did not bring up a 5.1 surround sound system audio question in this thread before now, as far as I can tell. ...but I can't really answer it anyway. All I can say is that I only have 2.1 channel speakers connected, and my system passed Cyberlink BD Advisor's tests for 2d playback, except for not having BD player software and a BD drive.
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  12. Member DB83's Avatar
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    Maybe I over-simplify the situation but here are my 2 cents.

    Your 5.1 sound system does not 'fit in' to the monitor and hdmi cable. The cable only carries video to the monitor. Well that is what I would expect.

    I assume your sound cables at present go directly to the speakers from the sound card and that is where they stay. The playback software should have a setting for the sound configuration - if it has one for dvd then it should have one for BD.
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    Originally Posted by DB83 View Post
    Maybe I over-simplify the situation but here are my 2 cents.

    Your 5.1 sound system does not 'fit in' to the monitor and hdmi cable. The cable only carries video to the monitor. Well that is what I would expect.

    I assume your sound cables at present go directly to the speakers from the sound card and that is where they stay. The playback software should have a setting for the sound configuration - if it has one for dvd then it should have one for BD.
    Thanks. Yeah, I didn't mean literally fitting the system into the monitor. I just wanted to make sure that there's nothing special about my sound setup that needs to change.
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    Originally Posted by takearushfan View Post
    Originally Posted by DB83 View Post
    Maybe I over-simplify the situation but here are my 2 cents.

    Your 5.1 sound system does not 'fit in' to the monitor and hdmi cable. The cable only carries video to the monitor. Well that is what I would expect.

    I assume your sound cables at present go directly to the speakers from the sound card and that is where they stay. The playback software should have a setting for the sound configuration - if it has one for dvd then it should have one for BD.
    Thanks. Yeah, I didn't mean literally fitting the system into the monitor. I just wanted to make sure that there's nothing special about my sound setup that needs to change.
    Well, Blu-Ray has a requirement for a protected audio path for HD sound, much like its requirement for a HDCP protected path for video. HDMI can provide one. I can't recall for sure, but I think software Blu-Ray players only allow stereo audio output for commercial Blu-Ray discs when not using HDMI for audio. Maybe someone else can clarify this.

    [Edit] I found an answer in Wikipedia, which says the following in its HDMI article:

    In comparison, the Protected Audio Path was only required if a lossless audio bitstream (such as Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA) was output. Uncompressed LPCM audio, however, does not require a Protected Audio Path, and software programs such as PowerDVD and WinDVD can decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA and output it as LPCM. A limitation is that if the computer does not support a Protected Audio Path, the audio must be downsampled to 16-bit 48 kHz but can still output at up to 8 channels.
    Last edited by usually_quiet; 10th Mar 2012 at 10:40.
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    Hi all.
    I now how an external (USB 2.0) BD drive, an HP HD monitor (via HDMI) and the monitor is HDCP compliant. I also bought 4 BDs to get me started, though only 3 have arrived and one was the wrong item.
    I'm having trouble finding the answer/solution to my issue here. I'm using the latest WinDVD and while "The Others" plays just fine, the other two BDs I tried have a sort of rapid "shaking"/"jitter" that I'm clueless about.
    Does anyone know what's causing this? I can't watch these movies at all, even if it's not directly from the BD drive. I copied the full BDs to my hard drive and they still display this rapid jitter; a bit of a bummer
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    Originally Posted by takearushfan View Post
    Hi all.
    I now how an external (USB 2.0) BD drive, an HP HD monitor (via HDMI) and the monitor is HDCP compliant. I also bought 4 BDs to get me started, though only 3 have arrived and one was the wrong item.
    I'm having trouble finding the answer/solution to my issue here. I'm using the latest WinDVD and while "The Others" plays just fine, the other two BDs I tried have a sort of rapid "shaking"/"jitter" that I'm clueless about.
    Does anyone know what's causing this? I can't watch these movies at all, even if it's not directly from the BD drive. I copied the full BDs to my hard drive and they still display this rapid jitter; a bit of a bummer
    Are the problem movies 24p? If so, the problem is called "judder". From what I read about it, WinDVD is supposed to have an "anti-judder" setting that uses software frame interpolation to remove the judder by adding more frames, but I don't know where the setting is located.

    If that doesn't help, I saw something in a Cyberlink forum that suggested changing the monitor refresh rate 24Hz. Unfortunately, some monitors (maybe most monitors, including mine) don't support a 24Hz refresh rate/1080p24 HDTV mode.
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    All of them are 24p, so I don't know why The Others works but not, eh, the other ones. I read about the refresh rate too and, like you said, I can't adjust it to 24Hz.
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    Update:

    I switched from WinDVD to PowerDVD and that seems to somewhat solve the problem. The "somewhat" is that everything plays perfectly, but from my hard drive. However, it still gets stuck when reading directly from my external drive. I guess USB 2.0 isn't fast enough...?
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    Both Corel's and Cyberlink's players provide software frame interpolation. If you want to look for Corel's version to see if it was enabled, "Motion Streamliner" is the name they use for their anti-judder technology.

    If all your movies are 24p, then all will have some judder, but judder is most obvious in scenes with fast motion, or when the camera pans, or during CGI sequences. Supposedly some directors minimize panning so judder is less apparent.
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    I would add, at least, 4 Gig of Ram.
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