Bluray on Linux based HTPC

[Martimus]

I was planning on building an HTPC this summer to experiement with Linux. I have started researching it, and I found that Bluray playback didn't work on Linux when Bluray first came out. I saw a bunch of posts showing a way to get around it by ripping hte whole disk, then playing it, but that would be stupid. All of the posts were about a year old, so I am asking here if anything has changed and Bluray playback is now supported on Linux? (If not, there is no reason for me to build the HTPC. I would rather just buy a BD player, because the whole point was to experiment with linux.)

 

[Tegeril]

Nope.

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: Tegeril
Nope.

Thanks. That will save me about $500 on the build I had planned. It would have been fun, but I can't justify it without the functionality of being a BD player.

 

[bjlockie]

It is possible with some disks that have cracked keys.
Do a search for 'bluray Linux'.
I wouldn't go to Linux route unless you like a challenge.

>The irony is that the music industry is already abandoning DRM (finally!), but the movie industry just stepped it up a notch on these new formats. Which probably means we'll be stuck with it for the coming years. Zotty @ http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=134974

 

[Martimus]

Which operating system should I get instead?

I was planning on building a HTPC with the following components:
Antec New Solution NSK2480 Case
GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G MB
AMD Athlon X2 4450e CPU
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB HD
LITE-ON Black SATA Blu-ray DVD-ROM Drive Model DH-4O1S-11
Corsair TWIN2X1024-6400C4 RAM

 

[Shawn]

Vista Home Premium

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: Shawn
Vista Home Premium

That seems a little expensive and overkill for a DVR and Bluray Player.

 

[Chapbass]

Originally posted by: Shawn
Vista Home Premium

seconded.

 

[Martimus]

I'm not spending $100 on a bloated operating system for such a simple device. I would need a more powerful cpu and more ram just for it to run normally, and all it would be doing is recording shows and playing movies. That just seems stupid to me. Is Vista really the only operating system that will play Bluray movies?

 

[Wuzup101]

I would do vista home premium too. You are going to be spending $100 regardless of what windows OS you use. IIRC, the price for XP home is $90 OEM @ the egg and pro is $140. I'm not sure that vista is needed to play BR (as I have a PS3 and it's a hell of a lot more reliable that the average computer when it comes to playing BR)... you might be able to get away with XP home...

 

[tdawg]

Originally posted by: Martimus
I'm not spending $100 on a bloated operating system for such a simple device. I would need a more powerful cpu and more ram just for it to run normally, and all it would be doing is recording shows and playing movies. That just seems stupid to me. Is Vista really the only operating system that will play Bluray movies?

I like Wuzup101's alternative idea of the PS3. By far the best Blu-ray player on the market with it's upgradeability, that Sony has been doing to add features you only get in much more expensive standalone blu-ray players. You can install Linux on it too.

If you're bent on building an HTPC, Vista is the only OS that features HDCP compatibility, which you'll need to output to a monitor or tv. The system you've listed will run Vista Home Premium easily and the built-in GPU on that motherboard is supposed to offload BD decoding from the CPU, right? You should have absolutely no problems running Vista on that machine. Hell, I ran it smoothly (beta and retail) on an Athlon 64 3000+, ATI x850 GPU, and 1.5 gb of ram.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: Martimus
I'm not spending $100 on a bloated operating system for such a simple device. I would need a more powerful cpu and more ram just for it to run normally, and all it would be doing is recording shows and playing movies. That just seems stupid to me. Is Vista really the only operating system that will play Bluray movies?

You could use XP MCE, but you'd also have to buy AnyDVD to overcome the lack of HDCP compatibility. Additionally, whether you use XP or Vista you'll need to purchase PowerDVD 7.x to (fairly) reliably play BD, which is @ $100 bucks as well.

I tried the whole HTPC route (for HD-DVD though) and spent a few thousand dollars networking it with extenders for the various TV's in the house. Eventually I just gave up. Not because it didn't work. It worked fairly well but there was always some niggling issue that would get in the way and wouldn't allow me to do everything I wanted it to, or required a hackish workaround. Got rid of the HTPC, bought a HD-A30 and will eventually get a PS3 for BD. imo, an HTPC just isn't worth the hassle, unless you're a glutten for punishment.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: Martimus
I'm not spending $100 on a bloated operating system for such a simple device. I would need a more powerful cpu and more ram just for it to run normally, and all it would be doing is recording shows and playing movies. That just seems stupid to me. Is Vista really the only operating system that will play Bluray movies?

That PC would run Vista just fine. Vista is pretty much your only option if you want to watch Blu-ray movies without a ton of hassle. AnyDVD is a option, but it costs $100 and you still aren't guaranteed to be able to play every movie. Some movies you may have to wait a month or more for them to release a new crack.

Additionally, Vista's Media Center is better than any other alternative I have tried, including SageTV and BeyondTV. After using Media Center I could no longer use anything else.

 

[Shawn]

Here are a bunch of screenshots I took a year ago.

Also there are a lot of cool plug-ins for Media Center.

My favorite being this one.

 

[Martimus]

Sorry for sounding upset in that last post. It is mostly that Microsoft has a monopoly on Operating Systems, so that there is no alternative that made me upset. I really just wanted a compact modular operating system that I could tailor to my needs.

Shawn,
Those screen shots look pretty good. Maybe I will go ahead and build it with Home Premium. The PS3 idea sounded like it may work well too.

 

[manimal]

I wouldn't recommend a htpc for someone who doesnt like to tinker. After setting up myth tv boxes so I could have free custom DVR for years I gotta say vista MCE is awesome. I have done both 64 and 32 vista MCE and while 64 is harder because of driver functionality, set up in general has been ALOT easier than it was on the other boxes. My movies and the price of HD space has truly changed what you can do. I used the 360HDVD addon very easily and HD functionality and look were great after using FFDShow and a splitter. I can backup my own disks so in my mymovies list I have 25 HD movies on demand from my hard drives + my entire DVD collection with all album art and movie discriptions in the language of my choice. When a ps3 does that let me know. The death of HDDVD did piss me off however.

I plan on getting a BlueRay drive once prices get below $99 or burners get mainstream below 199. I cant imagine its gonna be any worse than HDDVD was to setup. In the mean time Ill just watch what I get on netflix or cable since I have HD passtrough from my cable that I can DVR and timeshift HD signals via firewire from my cable into my near limitless storage.