SATA 2 USB Blu-ray player 2 HDTV

[Oyeve]

Ok, a few months ago I jumped on the newegg lite-on BR player for the PC for $79 bucks. Obtained powerdvd ultra 8. I was planning on installing it in my latest PC build (in sig below) but dont really game much on the PC as I am on the 360 most of the time so the PC is basically a waste at this point. Anyway, I use my laptop for 99% of my PC needs and decided to hook up the PC BR player to the laptop via a SATA to USB converter and use the VGA ouput from the laptop to my HDTV (Samsung 32") and route the sound from the laptop to an old Denon receiver that is under my HDTV and just use 2 Infinity 2001.1 reference speakers. Everything works great, but am I missing anything in this setup? I know I am missing out on DD TrueHD and stuff like that, but is going from SATA BR to laptop via USB2 and outputting to HDTV via plain old VGA cable not giving me the best picture? I ask because I was watching Akira on BR, and while I love the movie and have seen it a bazillion times, I don't see a night and day difference from the standard DVD version. To be honest, I only own 3 BR movies: Akira, 2001: A Space Odessey and 2010: The year we make contact. Each movie is over 20 years old and 2001 is 40 years old so I dont know if I am not seeing the promise of BR because these are old movies. I am planning on buying a more recent movie on BR to really see the difference. I ask if I am missing picture quality with this set up because I am trying to see if I should stop buying DVDs and really make the switch to BR, but from what I am seeing so far from my set up and 3 movies, BR just isnt there yet. The picture looks very good, but its not "Holy crap! That looks great!" enough to warrant the extra $$$ for BR movies. But it just may be the 3 movies I have. Thanks.

 

[sdifox]

HDCP is the issue... you want hdmi or dvi out from your laptop to the tv with HDCP capability or bypass that limit with anydvd hd.
Your PC has a video card that is hdcp capable no?

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: sdifox
HDCP is the issue... you want hdmi or dvi out from your laptop to the tv with HDCP capability or bypass that limit with anydvd hd.
Your PC has a video card that is hdcp capable no?

I can see the movies so HDCP is not an issue. I just want to know if I am missing better picture quality by using VGA to the HDTV. And yes, I can do DVI out from the laptop via its docking station but the HDTV does not have DVI. The video card in the PC I was originally going to use has HDMI out, but like I said, I really have no use for a monsterous PC (in sig) just for BR which is why I hooked it up via usb to the laptop.

I guess what i'm saying is, is the picture quality of the set up I have adequate or would I yield better results another way. Movies look damn good, just not what I expected. Maybe its cuz they are old movies and not HD quality or maybe the sw playback and output via VGA is not good enough.

 

[abaez]

Get a DVI to HDMI cable.. about 10$ from monoprice depending on length.

I have an unopened 25 foot one if your interested that I got from them. Got it but didn't need it after moving some stuff around.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: Oyeve

Originally posted by: sdifox
HDCP is the issue... you want hdmi or dvi out from your laptop to the tv with HDCP capability or bypass that limit with anydvd hd.
Your PC has a video card that is hdcp capable no?

I can see the movies so HDCP is not an issue. I just want to know if I am missing better picture quality by using VGA to the HDTV. And yes, I can do DVI out from the laptop via its docking station but the HDTV does not have DVI. The video card in the PC I was originally going to use has HDMI out, but like I said, I really have no use for a monsterous PC (in sig) just for BR which is why I hooked it up via usb to the laptop.

I guess what i'm saying is, is the picture quality of the set up I have adequate or would I yield better results another way. Movies look damn good, just not what I expected. Maybe its cuz they are old movies and not HD quality or maybe the sw playback and output via VGA is not good enough.

You are using VGA out, that link is not 1080p capable. Yoru TV's VGA port won't take 1080p, your laptop won't output 1080p over VGA.

Your laptop, unless it's fairly new, probably doesn't have a video card with HDCP capabilities.

You can use a dvi-hdmi cable to hookup the laptop to the tv, but you still have to solve HDCP.