Preferred software player for HTPC

[hogger129]

Hello all,

I am planning a build for an HTPC and was wondering what you guys could recommend for a software player. This would be for playing my storebought Blu-rays and DVDs from the disc through an external Blu-ray drive.

Currently I use Leawo Blu-ray Player under Linux Mint but I have been noticing it runs into errors once in awhile. Just today I tried to watch Terminator 2 and it said "Error Code 0." I have no idea what it means, probably because Leawo doesn't support BD Live?

I would prefer this program under Linux either natively or with WINE. I am willing to run Windows and use a paid program if there is one out there that does what I need better.

Anything you guys can recommend? Thank you.

[usually_quiet]

Linux lacks a built-in protected path for video playback to help meet DRM requirements for official Blu-Ray licensing and Blu-Ray is so complicated that it has been very difficult to reverse engineer all its features. A Blu-Ray player released for Linux is unlikely to work as well as a licensed Blu-Ray player because it will be reversed engineered.

Cyberlink Power DVD Ultra, is the best commercial DVD and Blu-Ray player left on the market. It is licensed and offers full Blu-Ray menu support. The downsides are that it is Windows only, you are restricted to one region code, and Cyberlink only provides updates to play new releases for a few years, expecting customers to upgrade to the latest version after that. I doubt that emulation would work with it.

[Edit]I almost forgot. Cyberlink PowerDVD is Cinavia compliant, so you may have a problem playing some ripped disks.

[jan5678]

I use kodi as htpc software under Windows.

It can play blu-ray with 2 major restrictions;
No menu support (only text based for the main movie, works most of the times)
And it can only play un-encrypted blu-rays (you can rip them too harddisk or use a on the fly decrypter like dvdfab passkey or anydvd)

Dvd playback is not a problem.

If you want/must use linux give openelec a try (although that wil have the same restrictions)

[hogger129]

Is it possible to buy older versions of PowerDVD? My main goal is to play my Blu-ray discs.

[hogger129]

Hello everyone,

I ended up trying DVDFab Media Player and purchased the Pro version since this software does what I need it to. It doesn't run under Linux & WINE but I'm fine purchasing another Windows license to use it when I build my HTPC.

Thank you everyone for your input. Thread can be closed.

[Kerry56]

You can find older versions of PowerDVD on ebay, but you'll want a full retail version. I don't think anyone can guarantee that they will update properly, to support new forms of AACS and BD-Live. However, I've forgotten when Cinavia detection was added to the program.

Oops a little late to the party.

[usually_quiet]

Cinavia compliance was required for all licensed hardware or software Blu-Ray players starting in February 2012, which means that PowerDVD 11 Ultra was the last version that definitely did not have Cinavia detection included in the original release, although it could still be added with an update.

Some say PowerDVD 12 Ultra didn't have Cinavia detection in the initial release either, but I can't verify that. PowerDVD 12 Ultra updates and software downloads did include Cinavia detection after a certain point.

I guess if someone has ripped all their Blu-Ray discs to ISOs, PowerDVD 11 would work, but they would need to run DVDFab Passkey for Blu-Ray or AnyDVD HD in the background to play some original disks, because an update might introduce Cinavia detection.

Looks like I am late too.