Playing BluRay films on a PC.

Karl Hungus

Just want to run this by everyone before I get my new PC, but this monitor with the 4870 GFX card, both HDMI/HDCP, I should have no issues watching films on BluRay in full quality? Thanks.

Karl Hungus

Nobody?

techdiver

Hi.

I'm not very familiar with the ATI offering on hardware acceleration, but here is the following requirements for playing blu-ray on a PC.

A few facts:

1). Blu-ray movies can comes encoded in 3 different formats. A) MPEG-2, b) VC-1 and c) MPEG-4/AVC.

The resource drain on each increases as we go from a), to b), to c). I.E. If MPEG-4/AVC is the used codec the system will utilize the most resources, to a point at where even a dual core processor will not hack it.

To get around this issue you need a graphics card that includes an on board hardware acceleration for AVC.

I use the NVidia 8600 GTS and it works perfect. You can google to check the difference between the NVidia 8600 GTS and the 4870 GFX. Pay particular attention to whether the 4870 can offload the entire MPEG-4/AVC decode process from the CPU. Cards that claim HDCP support are not always suitable for decoding blu-ray movies. I had one such card, the 7600 GT and it was crap when MPEG-4/AVC came on stream.

2) You will need a compliant software player for your PC. I use PowerDVD 8 Ultra edition. This works perfectly.

I hop this has helped.

Karl Hungus

Thanks for your reply Techdriver, very helpful. I did a search and looking at this and this, it seems that it's compatible with bluray.

techdiver

Yup. From reading those fact sheets it seems you are good to go. Best of luck and enjoy your movie watching.

Karl Hungus

Thanks man, I certainly shall.

Anti

To be perfectly honest, the resolution of the monitor will be fine, quality will be good, graphics card is awesome. Bit overkill for just movies tbh. But the size of the monitor is just to small to appreciate BR films.

Nick_oliveri

Ahh its the quality that matters and maybe karl has a flatscreen tv he could hook up from HDMI to DVI.

But, buying the monitor just for this? You best be playin games with the 4870, not as impressive as i imagined it would be when i bought it, but it plays current games, which is a plus.

Karl Hungus

Manties wrote: »

To be perfectly honest, the resolution of the monitor will be fine, quality will be good, graphics card is awesome. Bit overkill for just movies tbh.

Definitely not just for movies, I'll be gaming as well on this new rig.

Manties wrote: »

But the size of the monitor is just to small to appreciate BR films.

I can't see myself really wanting to get anything larger than 24", so when you say it's too small, do you mean that there's going to be limitations on the resolution, or simply that it's not going to compare to a proper HD TV in size?

Nick_oliveri wrote: »

Ahh its the quality that matters and maybe karl has a flatscreen tv he could hook up from HDMI to DVI.

Aye, have a TV as big as the broad side of a barn tbh.

techdiver

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Definitely not just for movies, I'll be gaming as well on this new rig.



I can't see myself really wanting to get anything larger than 24", so when you say it's too small, do you mean that there's going to be limitations on the resolution, or simply that it's not going to compare to a proper HD TV in size?



Aye, have a TV as big as the broad side of a barn tbh.

TV can never be too big.;) I a beautiful Samsung 46A656, an absolute beauty!

TerrorFirmer

Resolution is fine, it was the physical size of the screen he was getting at! I don't really watch any movies on my monitor let alone HD ones, but the one I did watch, Revenge of the Sith, was astounding....but I wouldn't really watch many movies on a 24", prefer to watch them on the TV.

Doesn't really matter though as you're gaming as well, which is the 4870's primary purpose - if you wanted just HD playback, you can get 30 euro cards for that.

Karl Hungus

techdiver wrote: »

TV can never be too big.;) I a beautiful Samsung 46A656, an absolute beauty!

I've a 42" here, plenty big.

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Resolution is fine, it was the physical size of the screen he was getting at! I don't really watch any movies on my monitor let alone HD ones, but the one I did watch, Revenge of the Sith, was astounding....but I wouldn't really watch many movies on a 24", prefer to watch them on the TV.

Doesn't really matter though as you're gaming as well, which is the 4870's primary purpose - if you wanted just HD playback, you can get 30 euro cards for that.

Well honestly, I watch a lot of movies on a PC monitor as it is, nearly half as much as on the TV. I know the 42" with surround sound is the optimal way to watch movies, but at night it's not really possible, so I'll very often be watching films here with a pair of headphones on, and sometimes I prefer it simply for uninterupted atmosphere. I do want to have the PC for playing BluRay as well, because it's gonna get used for movies.

Anyway, thanks guys.

Voodu Child

To be perfectly honest, the resolution of the monitor will be fine, quality will be good, graphics card is awesome. Bit overkill for just movies tbh. But the size of the monitor is just to small to appreciate BR films.

Depends what you mean by appreciate.

Obviously, its more comfortable to watch a movie on a couch across the room from a big TV. But in terms of perceiving the benefits/detail of full HD, you'll actually see more detail on a 24" monitor up close (compared to a 42" at say 9 feet). And it'll likely take up just as much of your field of vision.

So I don't see any problem. Comfy desk chair, good headphones, good sized monitor, its a good setup for watching movies tbh.