Is support for Blu-ray disc playback anywhere on the list?

[sportera]

Hey,

I hate to be repetitious but does anyone know if support for Blu-ray disc playback is a priority on anyone elses list but mine??? I'd rather see Sage support this directly but I'd just be happy to get some support to make this happen through linkage to an external player.

I still haven't loaded the v7 SageMC plugin yet to see if it still works to support external playback of a Blu-ray disc through TMT3 (didn't I read somewhere that SageMC did this in the past?)

Just asking. I try to check the forum daily to see if there are any "Blu-ray" posts and nada, no interest.

[razrsharpe]

From the SageTV7 Beta Announcement

This is almost what you want...ie not perfect (no menus) but you get the same experience you do at an hd200 with a windows client now

BDMV (BluRay) folder playback in SageTV Media Center & Client for Windows
The BDMV support that has been so popular on the HD media extenders now comes to the Windows versions of SageTVClient and SageTV Media Center (codecs need to be installed by the user)

and this is also relavent

Support for playback of ISO DVD & BDMV (BluRay) files on all platforms that support non-ISO playback (on Windows this requires the free application Virtual Clone Drive to be installed)
SageTV can now mount DVD and BluRay ISO files for playback. This is functional on all platforms; but the platform needs to support regular DVD or BDMV playback for this to be useful (i.e. all servers can now mount DVD/BluRay ISO files; but they would need to be played back on an HD extender or Windows SageTVClient; this feature does not imply additional platforms can playback BDMVs)

and its not on the page i linked but you can now also select the title you want to watch on the bdmv... ie you can fix it when sage guesses the wrong title.

[GMan78]

All true, but when I attempt to playback the BD I cannot get the english audio stream...always French or Spanish. Changing the audio and/or the BD track to play has no effect. Any ideas?

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by GMan78

All true, but when I attempt to playback the BD I cannot get the english audio stream...always French or Spanish. Changing the audio and/or the BD track to play has no effect. Any ideas?

probably a codec issue because the english audio stream is probably dts-ma (and the other language streams are dolby digital/ac3) and you don't have a codec for dts-ma(dts) on your computer... Run the .m2ts file through mediainfo to see if thats the case. and if it is install a dts-ma codec.

What happens when you play the raw .m2ts file in wmp?

[sportera]

Originally Posted by razrsharpe

From the SageTV7 Beta Announcement

This is almost what you want...ie not perfect (no menus) but you get the same experience you do at an hd200 with a windows client now
and this is also relavent
and its not on the page i linked but you can now also select the title you want to watch on the bdmv... ie you can fix it when sage guesses the wrong title.

So how does this work actually(to play a Blu-ray disc, in a client blu-ray drive)? As I search and read posts on this, it gets confusing with many of the posts talking about ripping and playing back a blu-ray ISO file. I don't want to rip a blu-ray disc to watch it. I just want to put the disc in my client blu-ray/DVD drive and watch the main movie.

[Rico66]

Originally Posted by sportera

So how does this work actually(to play a Blu-ray disc, in a client blu-ray drive)? As I search and read posts on this, it gets confusing with many of the posts talking about ripping and playing back a blu-ray ISO file. I don't want to rip a blu-ray disc to watch it. I just want to put the disc in my client blu-ray/DVD drive and watch the main movie.

Yes, you can playback discs as well, though you still need some software that circumvents the encryption (e.g. AnyDVD). Once that's done Sage guesses the main title (=the longest) and plays that one by default. You can change the title, and the audio track afterwards. So it's not perfect, but a good alternative to other players, if you mainly care about the main movie

As of now playback still only works for some BDs, e.g. VC1 encoded don't work with the native splitter. Audio playback also can be problematic depending on codec requirements.

[sportera]

Originally Posted by Rico66

Yes, you can playback discs as well, though you still need some software that circumvents the encryption (e.g. AnyDVD). Once that's done Sage guesses the main title (=the longest) and plays that one by default. You can change the title, and the audio track afterwards. So it's not perfect, but a good alternative to other players, if you mainly care about the main movie

As of now playback still only works for some BDs, e.g. VC1 encoded don't work with the native splitter. Audio playback also can be problematic depending on codec requirements.

I guess I knew I'd need to put up the money for an AnyDVD subscription. I still can't find how to set this up in Sage v7. I downloaded and played with VirtualClone DVD yesterday and couldn't mount it to my actual BD drive because it was asking me to select a file to mount.

Can you point me to a link or give me some pointers on how to set this up? In the meanwhile I'll download AnyDVD trial.

[gplasky]

You would run ANyDVD on the PC that has your Blue ray drive and share that drive out in Windows. Then add the drive as an import directory in Sage. Now when a disc is put in Sage should see it as an imported DVD and you would play it as any other rip. The VirtualClone DVD is used with a ripped .ISO file to mount it as a drive I believe.

Gerry

[sportera]

Originally Posted by gplasky

You would run ANyDVD on the PC that has your Blue ray drive and share that drive out in Windows. Then add the drive as an import directory in Sage. Now when a disc is put in Sage should see it as an imported DVD and you would play it as any other rip. The VirtualClone DVD is used with a ripped .ISO file to mount it as a drive I believe.

Gerry

Well I loaded the trial version of AnyDVD on my client PC (that has the blu-ray drive) and mapped the client blu-ray drive to "I:\" but when I go into the client Detailed Setup (v7) and try to add this drive as a Video source, the only drives I see are the drives located at the WHS PC. None of the drives, even the VirtualClone DVD drive (at the client) show up on the list. I even went to the WHS PC, stopped the service, loaded Sage and tried to add as the client mapped drive (\\HTPC\I:\) as a UNC source at the WHS, but that wouldn't work either. Does the blu-ray drive always have to be located at the WHS PC for Sage to use it? Hope not, it would be a pain to always go to the WHS to stick a disc in and then go to the living room to watch it at the client.

[gplasky]

Did you share the drive and not just map it? And if you're running Sage as a service you need to use UNC paths, not mapped drives.

Gerry

[Suntan]

probably a codec issue because the english audio stream is probably dts-ma

As of now playback still only works for some BDs, e.g. VC1 encoded don't work with the native splitter.

Audio playback also can be problematic depending on codec requirements.

See, but now this is what I would consider "no support for BR playback." I'm getting tired of the media player companies "saying" they have support for this or that feature, but really meaning "you're on your own to get it to work."

Jumping around looking for directshow codecs and splitters to make "most" of the discs work is understandable when you are trying to picemeal a HTPC together from "free" software, but when I am paying money to get one that just plays *all* the BR itterations, it is a bit of a joke to think I believe the notion that their is support for it, just because it will try to play the file (even with no audio or a blank picture being rendered.)

If they can't find a mismash of codecs and splitters to offer with the install, I'd at least be happy if Sage came out and stood behind a statement/howto like "install this or that 3rd party software and we you will have full support for all BR configurations."

-Suntan

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by Suntan

See, but now this is what I would consider "no support for BR playback." I'm getting tired of the media player companies "saying" they have support for this or that feature, but really meaning "you're on your own to get it to work."

The feature as noted in the release notes is pretty clear that it's BYOC[odec]. It might not be ideal, but the necessary level of transparency is there. I prefer that the feature is present, it's nice to not have to launch an external player to watch my BD.

Originally Posted by Suntan

Jumping around looking for directshow codecs and splitters to make "most" of the discs work is understandable when you are trying to picemeal a HTPC together from "free" software, but when I am paying money to get one that just plays *all* the BR itterations, it is a bit of a joke to think I believe the notion that their is support for it, just because it will try to play the file (even with no audio or a blank picture being rendered.)

Maybe you'd be happier with a standalone player or special purpose SW. If you're not comfortable with the caveats, don't use the feature.

Originally Posted by Suntan

If they can't find a mismash of codecs and splitters to offer with the install, I'd at least be happy if Sage came out and stood behind a statement/howto like "install this or that 3rd party software and we you will have full support for all BR configurations."

There are legal issues with bundling "free" codecs. I would prefer that Sage just license the necessary filters to make it work from Cyberlink or ArcSoft, but that's probably not viable given the cost and how many people would find the feature useful.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by GMan78

All true, but when I attempt to playback the BD I cannot get the english audio stream...always French or Spanish. Changing the audio and/or the BD track to play has no effect. Any ideas?

There are few bugs w/ stream selection in the current beta. You can change the audio track from the options menu (although sometimes you need to select the wrong track to get the one you want because there's a mapping issue).

[Suntan]

Originally Posted by babgvant

Maybe you'd be happier with a standalone player or special purpose SW. If you're not comfortable with the caveats, don't use the feature.

Nice. So by that logic Sage should have stopped at version 2 and we all would have migrated to other products by then... How did that work for BeyondTV?

-Suntan

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by Suntan

Nice. So by that logic Sage should have stopped at version 2 and we all would have migrated to other products by then...

Eh? How is pointing out that those who aren't comfortable w/ BYOC[odec] should use a product which provides a packaged experience in any way suggesting that Sage should stop adding features?

[Fuzzy]

That's the classic most extreme exaggeration forum tactic. Take a pointless response that adds nothing to the conversation, extend it to the furthest reasonable extreme, go three steps further, and then click post.

[paulbeers]

Suntan has a history of posting rather pointless and/or insulting things. Do we have a user rating system here?!?!

[korben_dallas]

As a long time SageTV user, I have to say that I think SageTV's guidance on playback of BD disc / iso / folder is quite poor.

It is not surprising people are confused, and that some are even asking if it works at all.

As of yet, I have not been able to make video + lossless audio BD content play on my SageTV v7 server.

If there are OS limitations, they need to be delineated.
If there are codec requirements, they need to be enumerated.
If there are client considerations, they need to be discussed.

Otherwise, this "feature" will remain broken to many users.

[sportera]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

As a long time SageTV user, I have to say that I think SageTV's guidance on playback of BD disc / iso / folder is quite poor.

It is not surprising people are confused, and that some are even asking if it works at all.

As of yet, I have not been able to make video + lossless audio BD content play on my SageTV v7 server.

I really hate to say anything negative (after Sage made big strides with the release of v7 beta) but I have to agree with this.

I've yet to get blu-ray playback working either, probably because I'm not setting it up right on a PC Server/PC Client system. To be honest I've yet to try gplasky's last recommendation and will post what I find after trying that.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I haven't played a DVD disc in many months. Once you start using blu-ray, regular DVD just looks (and sounds) well, like watch old analog TV before upgrading to HDPVR's. I living with shutting down sage and loading TMT3, on my client PC, everytime I want to stick a blu-ray disc in my LG Blu-ray drive to watch a great looking movie. I can live with that for now as I only get a couple of blu-ray discs from netflix every week of so, but I'd really like to leave sage loaded and do this from within the UI.

And having to pay for a yearly AnyDVD HD subcription when I already own a TMT3 for playback doesn't make me happy either. I can understand this if I chose to rip blu-rays to the hard drive, but I've got a ton of DVD's I've not watched in years. I now just get a movie from netflix, watch it once or twice, and send it back. Unless I find a movie so good I want to keep it (rarely), I don't have the need to backup a disc to the hard drive anymore, and therefore, shouldn't need to pay to have AnyDVD HD on hand.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

As of yet, I have not been able to make video + lossless audio BD content play on my SageTV v7 server.

If there are OS limitations, they need to be delineated.

The default audio renderer on XP and Vista doesn't support HD codec bitstreaming. You'll need to use Reclock or the MPC-HC audio renderers to make it work (tested on Vista, assumed on XP*).

* it's somewhat unrealistic to expect current gen features to work on an OS that is n-2.

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

If there are codec requirements, they need to be enumerated.

You'll need an AVC and VC-1 decoder. XP, Vista, and 7 include the WMV DMO which works for VC-1 but is SW only, so results aren't great. If you have a HD PVR the bundled TMT2 AVC/VC-1 decoder is probably the best option for VC-1. The PDVD9 or MS decoder in 7 are the best options for AVC, but if you're using ATI or modern (2x0) Nvidia HW the ffdshow DXVA or MPC-HC video decoders are good options for AVC or VC-1.

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

If there are client considerations, they need to be discussed.

not sure that there are any.