BluRay to PC-HDD... newbie looking for help.

[bajafx4]

Hello,

I'm new to this and a bit confused by all the acronyms and terminology. All I want to do is copy BluRay discs (movies) that I already own to my PC hard drives and play them directly to my TV from the PC. At this time, I have no intention to compress anything or make any alterations to the original format... just play them as they are from the PC.

Question 1) It appears that I can use either DVDFab Blu-ray Copy or Passkey for Blu-ray to accomplish this. Is that correct?

Question 2) Because I will not be copying these movies to a disc, do I even need a BluRay burner drive?

System Specifications:
AMD Phenom X4 955 OC 3.8GHz
16GB RAM
Radeon 6850 2GB
Windows 7 Ultimate

Thanks!

[SweetOne69]

Correct

1) Yes you would need Blu-Ray Copy or Passkey
2) Yes you only need a Blu-Ray Player Drive.

[bajafx4]

Ok. I downloaded and installed the trail DVDFab DVD Copy and PowerDVD 11. I used DVD Copy to copy a DVD (Gladiator) to my HDD. I can play it with PowerDVD, but I must select several *.VOB files within PowerDVD to get the entire movie to play (there are 8 *.VOB files). Is there an easier way to play the entire movie... something my wife can easily do?

EDIT: I see that if I execute the *.IFO file in the directory I copied the movie to, the movie will start at the menu... which is the way I setup the movie to copy. That's good. But I have three *.IFO files for this movie (VIDEO_TS.IFO, VTS_01_0.IFO, and VTS_02_0.IFO). It doesn't seem to matter which I execute from Windows to start the movie... they all take me to the movie menu. Does it make a difference?

[regnad kcin]

Is there an easier way to play the entire movie... something my wife can easily do?

Ouch, and you dared post this on a public forum?
Living dangerously my friend...lol

Everyone has opinions, but I believe there are better software players...and free as well.

I recommend
Media Player Classic (<--- link for MPC)
or
VLC Media Player (<---VLC)
No reason not to install both.
You shouldn't have to select any subdirectories, it's an unnecessary PITA and generally contraindicated for most players.

Let's take MPC.
Download and install MPC
Open MPC, click on File upper left of toolbar and select
Directory from the dropdown.

Here you will simply navigate to the movie folder via "Browse for Folder"
(Windoz Explorer) and click once on the entire folder to highlight, then click OK.
The movie will play start to finish.
Again, do not double click and attempt to select any of the expanded subdirectories.

If a BD has a multiple .m2ts structure, MPC will play these individually, but stitch them together.
You will notice a very slight, but noticeable pause in between files. The time is displayed for each stream.
The first Sherlock Holmes flick is an example of multiple .m2ts structure

VLC will play these multiple files seamlessly.
Most BD's are not authored this way

Keep in mind, MPC and VLC won't play BD .ISO, but will have no problem with standard BD format (BDMV) or various conversions such as .MKV.
VLC will play standard dvd .ISO

Hope this helps

[bajafx4]

Thanks regnad,

I will give them a try. I'm going to pay to register the DVDFab software, so if I can save money on the player it will be a bonus.