Blue Ray Player

trabpc

Hi I want to put a Blue Ray Player in my pc.

Im looking at the following

LG GGC-H20L for €105 (I can pick it up in Park West)

http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECE1512784

or this:

Pioneer BDC-S02BK €132 plus delivery

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=343688

My Motheboard is an asus p5k deluxe

and has the following connections

x audio - line-In - 4 PIN MPC
1 x storage - floppy interface - 34 PIN IDC
1 x keyboard - generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style)
1 x audio - SPDIF output - RCA
1 x audio - SPDIF output - TOSLINK
2 x storage - eSATA-300 - 7 pin external Serial ATA
2 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire) - 6 PIN FireWire
2 x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T - RJ-45
8 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 PIN USB Type A
1 x network - Radio-Ethernet
1 x audio - line-out (side surround) - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
1 x audio - line-out (rear) - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
1 x audio - line-out (centre/subwoofer) - mini-phone 3.5mm
1 x microphone - input - mini-phone 3.5mm
1 x audio - line-out - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
1 x audio - line-In - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm

I also have an 8800gt and 4x 500gb disks.

I can link it up to my PT-AX 200 via a DVI to VGA lead.

Soes my mobo have any good audo connections to connect my Onkyo 605?

and has anyone any experience of the above 2 Blue Ray players or any other and what to they think of same?

bit new to all this!

eddiem74

I am also new in this area and built my first HTPC recently.

I went with the Pioneer (you get POWERDVD software included with it) drive as it seemed to be selected a lot over on AvForums, plus BluRay had just won the war. I also didn't have/own any High-Def DVD's therefore I had no need for a HD-DVD drive. I have used it for burning lots of CD's, DVD's, and playing DVD's with no issues of any kind, however no BluRay as of yet.

I also have the Asus P5K Standard Mobo, and connect it to my 605 via coaxial. I set the 605 to then take sound for DVD from this.

My graphics card is the Asus HD3650, and I connect this to the 605 via HDMI using the adaptor provided, and then feed my 605 to my PT-AX200 via HDMI.

So a similar set-up to what you have, except I have not played any Blu-Ray yet, so can't comment, but do not expect any issues.

trabpc

Thnks eddieem

1 x audio - SPDIF output - RCA
1 x audio - SPDIF output - TOSLINK

Do these 2 mean Coax and optical(more used to these terms than rca etc.)

eddiem74

trabpc wrote: »

Thnks eddieem

1 x audio - SPDIF output - RCA
1 x audio - SPDIF output - TOSLINK

Do these 2 mean Coax and optical(more used to these terms than rca etc.)

Spec from the website confirms under Audio both Coax & optical are present on the back panel - "Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports at back I/O"

My board only has coax.

trabpc

Had a quick look around back of pc and yes I have both the Coax and optical.

SO either of these should pass 5.1 thru to the onkyo 605?

You will have to ge a blue ray on rent and let us know what you think!

thanks again

eddiem74

trabpc wrote: »

Had a quick look around back of pc and yes I have both the Coax and optical.

SO either of these should pass 5.1 thru to the onkyo 605?

You will have to ge a blue ray on rent and let us know what you think!

thanks again

Please remember I am also a novice in this area, and not as much of a technical expert as I would like to be.

I have 5.1 via coaxial. I achieved this with some advice from those with more technical knowledge/expertise than me.

Will get around to playing a bluray at some point.

Basically I downloaded Vista Codec Pack, and then had to set the AC3 Filter to SPDIF Out, and enable 5.1, plus also allow passthrough for DTS then it works when a file with 5.1 audio was playing (if I remember correctly).

eddiem74

Well gave BluRay a go ! Bought 'Surf's Up' for the kids.

So this was my first time using the OEM version of PowerDVD included with the Pioneer drive. I needed to install an update straight off for it, I think I am now at version 7.3'ish (don't have it in front of me).

I then popped in the DVD and waited for it to play.

First thing that popped up was Windows Aero needed to be switched to Basic as there was some issue with it, this seems to be an auto function though.

So, after that the DVD still would not play. Seemed to be an issue with graphic card drivers, so I installed the latest version from ATI (I am still not 100% sure this was required, but did it anyway).

I then seemed have an issue with my display (Monitor was not HDCP compliant), so I turned on the projector and tried again. I then had an issue in that it would not play in Clone mode as I had the monitor & projector working this way. So disabled clone mode, and just left the projector on, and hey presto DVD started to play !

However the DVD only had TrueHD audio on it, and not DD/DTS, and my Amp was not picking this up. So I have not been able to figure this out yet, and still need to 'google' further. It could be I need a later version of PowerDVD and need to pay for it, as I think the OEM version only does 2 channel, or I may need to do something else on the audio front ?

eddiem74

Just wanted to give a further update after some investigations.

The DVD not playing and the LCD Monitor issue, seemed to be related to the fact that I did not have AnyDVD HD running when I loaded the DVD. It seems fairly intergrated with PowerDVD. It seems if you have AnyDVD HD running, this all works in terms of video playback. So as I said above I was not sure I needed to update my graphics card. I also downloaded Arcsofts Total Media Theatre (15 day trial) which also plays the disk, and does not appear to require AnyDVD HD.

On the TrueHD sound front, well this appears to not be possible at present via digital output on the PC. They are a few sound cards due out over the next few weeks/months that will allow this, but in the meantime you can get something via the analogue outputs on the PC using a few 3.5mm jack to dual RCA leads to your AMP. I haven't tried this yet, but am planning on picking up a few cables in the next few days to try it out. If there is a DD track on the bluray it will play no problem via the SPDIF output.