Or maybe 0710 doesn't rip a BD to an ISO, but to some other files (that don't include the original BD menu system). But still, once ripped, can I use the Orbiter and MD/Hybrid to watch Blade Runner in glorious 1080P?
Yes that is correct
Well that is quite cool. I presume that the original menu content on the BD (and HD-DVD) cannot run because LMCE doesn't have the operating environment that the BD drive has embedded in its HW, which is where that menu content runs. I suppose that's a function of the BD driver, which we won't see getting that access to the BD HW anytime soon. But I believe that Blu-Ray at least is just a Java VM. Which could mean that the entire BD could possibly run, menu content included, in a JVM running on the LMCE host. Does that seem plausible?
Yes I think that is likely to be the case in the future... when I can't say though.
I am really glad that LMCE will offer me the ability to actually use the content on BD that I paid for, even under Linux. FWIW, my Blu-Ray player is my PS3, which runs Ubuntu and now has an accelerated MPlayer driver using the Cell's DSPs.
Though I don't see that the PS3's embedded BD-J (Blu-ray Disc Java) support is exposed to Linux (probably locked out by the PS3 Hypervisor just like the RSX is),
BD-J is a
J2ME CDC. As is DVB. Maybe there's something in the new DVB support in LMCE 0710 that could also support BD-J... And maybe that kind of convergence also means that a "Mobile Orbiter" in Java, rather than targeting just Symbian 60 phones, is the future for mobile access to LMCE (and everything else LMCE opens up).
If we do this stuff right, it will just snowball. Especially now that Blu-Ray looks like the default HD storage format, now that Warner has left the HD-DVD camp.