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How do I play Blu-Ray Disks?
I received PowerDVD with my Dell XPS-730X, and I hadn't re-installed it since I upgraded to Windows 7 (64-bit) last November. Today, I wanted to play a Blu-Ray video on my computer. So I installed PowerDVD with the original install CD. It downloaded two updates after the install, so I'm assuming it's the most recent version (it says 8.2.5711).
When I try to play a Blu-Ray disk, it simply will not play it -- PowerDVD is only looking at my DVD drive (drive E:) and never looks at my BD drive (drive F:). The help file says that it's supposed to give me a list of drives to choose from, but it never does. It just defaults to the first drive it finds, which is not my BD drive.
How do I get PowerDVD to select a different drive?
RobinBredin
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July 17th, 2010 06:00
Hi, Your version of Power DVD, does it say Ultra at the end of it. Also does your Blu-ray drive show up in your BIOS, and is enabled. Also have you looked HERE as well.
fireberd
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July 17th, 2010 09:00
Swap the DATA cables on the rear of the two optical drives (with the PC powered off). That will make the Blu Ray drive the first drive and PowerDVD MAY pick it up.
Laurence5905
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July 17th, 2010 09:00
No, it's PowerDVD DX. Probably a dumbed-down "free" version that Dell supplies with any new computer. But it is supposed to play Blu-Ray discs, according to what I've read... And my BD-ROM drive does show up in BIOS and in the My Computer window, and it will say the name of the Blu-Ray movie when I put one in the drive.
It's really just a matter of getting PowerDVD DX to actually use that drive, it seems. It won't give me a list of drives to choose from -- it defaults to the first drive, which is my DVD+RW drive, and won't even look at the second drive (the BD-ROM drive) even when I right-click on the BD-ROM drive and select "Play with PowerDVD."
There's got to be a way to get PowerDVD to play on that drive -- I just can't seem to get it to work...
RobinBredin
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July 17th, 2010 11:00
Nice one jack, thinking along that lines myself. Also, normally with Power DVD, you need the Ultra version to play Blu-ray disc.
rdunnill
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8.8K Posts
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July 17th, 2010 12:00
PowerDVD is now at version 9. As has been stated, only the Ultra version plays Blu-ray. Sometimes OEM versions can be found on eBay at a fraction of the price the full product costs. An alternative is Arcsoft TotalMedia Theater Platinum, which can be had for about $65 (on sale or with an easily found online coupon) downloaded directly from Arcsoft. I have about a hundred Blu-rays now and I use a home theater PC with TMT 3 as a playback device.
Laurence5905
7 Posts
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July 17th, 2010 13:00
Yeah, I was hoping not to have to do that... I like having my DVD+RW as the first drive... Was really hoping to find a way to get PowerDVD to recognize the 2nd drive... But I'll give it a shot, and see if it works.
JMICHAEL
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July 17th, 2010 14:00
I have PowerDVD 8 and my Blu-ray drive is the 2nd drive and it plays fine. My guess like others have said is that your version of the software just does not play Blu-ray. The version I have is not an Ultra version, but is a BD version that came with my drive. My drive was only $60 including the software so it was not too bad. Unfortunately, with buying the retail software, only the Ultra version costing $100 plays Blu-rays.
kate59588
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August 28th, 2010 02:00
I just purchased a Pavtube Blu-ray converter Ultimate for Windows. It worked perfectly on Blu-Rays.The conversion speed for DVD's is great. Much faster than I expected. The Blu-Ray conversion seems fast enough
http://www.pavtube.com/blu-ray-video-converter-ultimate/
I copy the whole Blu-ray or DVD disk including, menus, ads, sub titles ,commentary and all audio tracks to my hard drive. And use Power DVD for playback.