Power DVD 15 Ultra or other BD Player?

[mccoady]

I'm needing a new way to watch Blu-ray on my Windows 10 PC. My LG burner which is about 3 years old came with PowerDVD 5 but it's been crashing ever since I upgraded to Windows 10.

I see Cyberlink has a sale ending today for PowerDVD 15 Ultra for $60 http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdvd-ultra/features_en_US.html?affid=2581_1160_728_39844_0_ENU

I also see Amazon also has a PowerDVD 15 Ultra download for $40 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W426OA2?ref_=cm_cd_al_qh_dp_t

Are these downloads exactly the same and if so would there be any benefits buying directly from Cyberlink & paying more? It looks like you get a couple extra software's thrown in from Cyberlink but I don't care about them.

Since I've already installed the PowerDVD 15 Ultra trial will it just be a matter of installing the keys?

One other question I found a link to enable VLC player to play BD's does this really work?
http://www.wondershare.com/vlc/use-vlc-to-play-blu-ray-movies.html

[Kerry56]

Playing Blu-ray with VLC is still very much hit or miss.

One free player you might want to try out is the Leawo Player. It is free to use and is very much improved over earlier versions. Still not perfect on playing menus, but that is the hardest part with commercially made Blu-ray.

If that doesn't suit you, then the only commercial players left are PowerDVD and WinDVD, and of those two, PowerDVD has generally been a better choice.

[theewizard]

Seems to me, this is a situation where a new BD / DVD player hardware would be the best idea
FRYs electronics has had some on sale for $39
They have $59 BD players most of the time, you can order online
I'm sure best buy and New egg, have similar pricing

[mccoady]

Playing Blu-ray with VLC is still very much hit or miss.

One free player you might want to try out is the Leawo Player. It is free to use and is very much improved over earlier versions. Still not perfect on playing menus, but that is the hardest part with commercially made Blu-ray.

If that doesn't suit you, then the only commercial players left are PowerDVD and WinDVD, and of those two, PowerDVD has generally been a better choice.

Kerry the Leawo Player is the first thing I tried and for some reason would not smoothly play a commercially made Blu-ray. I tried several BD's and it had a shaky picture. I then installed PowerDVD 15 and they all played perfectly?

I had purchased TotalMedia Theater 6 a couple of years ago but had never installed it after I upgraded to Windows 10. Yesterday I decided to install it and my pc started crashing and finally figured out it was the cause. My pc probably crashed 3 times but after uninstalling TMT 6 back to normal again no issues. Anyway guess it doesn't like my pc after up grading to Windows 10.

Kerry is the PowerDVD 15 Ultra Amazon has for download the same as at Cyberlink's website?

@theewizard:
I did look up when when I bought my LG WH 12LS30 and it's 4.5 years old but why is getting a new player the best idea? Mine still works fine and even though I haven't looked I doubt if the ones you are talking about come with software.

[Kerry56]

I didn't have problems in playback the last time I tested the Leawo Player. I can't tell you offhand why there is a difference in your system. My main issue with the Leawo Player was its inconsistency in playing menus.

TMT6 also plays flawlessly in my computer, using Windows 10 64bit. I very much prefer TMT5 however, and only use TMT6 for testing purposes, when trying to detect Cinavia. Neither of the Arcsoft programs are supported anymore, and I have run into one Blu-ray that would not play in TMT5. I had to turn on AnyDVD HD in the background for that disc to play in TMT5.

I cannot tell you what is in the Amazon download, since I have never purchased PowerDVD in that manner. If it is a full program download, and not just the key, I would uninstall the trial of PowerDVD first, then use the download. If it is just the key, you can probably upgrade with what you already have in the system.

[mccoady]

Thanks Kerry! Weird that both Leawo Player & TMT6 play fine on your Windows 10 64bit and not mine. I had TMT6 installed using Windows 7 64bit before I upgraded and no issues.

[HemLok]

Unfortunately, the problems - BSODs - with TMT6 under Windows 10 aren't a rare occurrence and it's something that will never be properly fixed: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_wintp-insider_perf/arcsoft-t...b-2a94a63f6902 .

These days PowerDVD is the only real option for a licensed Blu-ray software player. Arcsoft walked away from the market and Corel's WinDVD is simply garbage. Cyberlink has the market cornered.

[mccoady]

I'm getting ready to purchase PowerDVD 15 Ultra from Cyberlink's website. Do you get an exe download file so you can always reinstall if needed?

[Kerry56]

I never upgraded TMT6 past version 6.0.1.123, so I've never seen the problems everyone had with 6.7.1.199, which was the last version I believe.

mccoady, you should be able to reinstall PowerDVD any time you want, once you purchase it. You should save the download somewhere, but there will also be updates available to you as long as version 15 is the current one, and even after they go to 16 for that matter. Cyberlink used to be worse about providing updates for older software, and still are not great, but they have responded to customer complaints in this matter.