blue ray

[powerbits]

is blue ray now supported by linuxmce and how strong should the cpu be?
Now i use only a AMD sempron 3400 64

[indulis]

I have not researched this recently, but last I checked Blah-Ray would not work natively with Linux- that is, play directly from a Blu-Ray disc.  You have to rip the disc and then play from a hard disk image.  Don't know if LMCE can do this, but it is possible to do manually.

There is some hope on the horizon http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=2908

More info about Blu-Ray and Linux:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/BluRayAndHDDVD

In reality, you are unlikely to be able to see the difference between DVD and Blah-Ray.  You are much better off to stick to DVD for the time being, and not get sucked into the "upgrade for real HD" Blu-ray marketing.

I can't remember where I found the following chart so can't give credit to where it is due (it is not my chart).  But it shows the resolving power of average eyesight vs the screen size and viewing distance.  Note that for the USA (NTSC format, 480 lines) the difference between Blu-ray and DVD is more significant than for PAL (576 lines).

[powerbits]

ok , well its because i noticed somewhere that 7.10 would support blue ray

I too would think that dvd should provide adequate quality for now, my tv does support full hd, but i gues he will see my dvd at 1080p too?

[skeptic]

DVD is adequate, and for the price and hassle differences I will stick with DVDs for now.  That chart looks interesting and may be a good guideline, but I can see a big difference between 480p and 720p on my TV when watching digital cable.  I know, it's not the same as DVD vs. Blu-Ray, but it should still be valid.  My TV is a 32" 720p LCD HDTV and I sit about 10 feet away.  Right on the edge between no difference and starts to become noticeable.  Even at 15 feet, well in the supposedly equivalent range, I can tell the difference. 

I rip my DVDs and transcode them to H.264 with even more detail loss (which I can't see).  In the end, blu-ray would likely give a slightly noticeable better picture but I doubt I'd enjoy the movies any better.  What would make a huge difference is a bigger TV and 5.1 surround sound (my old surround sound was part of a 5 disc DVD changer that I threw out a while back).

Until ripping Blu-Ray movies is as easy as ripping a DVD movie is today, and I can buy them for the same price I pay for DVDs, I'm happy to stick with DVDs.

[powerbits]

will the new 8.04 support blue ray?

[skeptic]

Currently there isn't any good easy reliable linux support for protected Blu-ray at all.  There is preliminary blu-ray support already, although I don't remember if it's in the current version by default or if it's an extra install.  The problem is it only works on very early movies.  I have a BR drive and ONE BR movie I bought as a test, it doesn't play. 

Good progress is being made, but it intentionally lags behind commercial Windows solutions.  Apparently they are afraid of the MPAA coming down on them, but feel semi-ok about supporting things in linux that already are available under Windows.  After BD+ was broke under linux and it became public, the main author disappeared.  His forum account was deleted, etc.  I've read through some threads and it appears there is a very manual solution to watch most all movies, but no simple all-in-one program that just works.  In short, DRM and the MPAA are a-holes and completely out of touch with what consumers, want making LMCE use of Blu-Ray quite a hassle at best at the moment.

[Zaerc]

Personally I prefer the term MAFIAA (Music And Film Industry Assholes of America).  Anyway the simple truth is that they don't want you to be able to watch your legally bought discs on your own equipment.  It's the same thing as with the DVDCSS crap all over again, unfortunately that doesn't seem to stop the uneducated masses from buying into their crap though.

[hari]

it is called blu ray :-)

I for my part still miss quality with blu ray.. so i stick with DVD and high quality movies.. perception is so relative..

best regards,
Hari

[totallymaxed]

it is called blu ray :-)

I for my part still miss quality with blu ray.. so i stick with DVD and high quality movies.. perception is so relative..

best regards,
Hari

I totally agree. We have installed two large systems in the last few weeks and both have multiple 40-50" Plasma/LCD screens and large Home Theatre installations using video projectors. In both cases the customer was so impressed by the upscaled DVD picture quality that they decided to not install any standalone Blue-Ray players. In one case the customers Christmas guests were convinced they were watching Blue-Ray movies through his system... we have heard this feedback from customers before too.

All the best for the new year!

Andrew

[krys]

What are you using to upscale, an AV reciever? Also what are you upscaling to 720 or 1080? I have never watched anything that has been upscaled and didnt know if it was worth the extra money.

[tschak909]

Daniel and I have had this discussion before, and I do agree with his assessment. The problem with the current crop of blu-ray movies is the same problem that we had with the first run of DVD movies in 1996, a lack of understanding on a proper mastering process for the resolution of the new medium.

This will change in short time.

-Thom

[hari]

What are you using to upscale, an AV reciever? Also what are you upscaling to 720 or 1080? I have never watched anything that has been upscaled and didnt know if it was worth the extra money.

Look at the PS3 or the Denon 3930 to see very nice upscaling. dscaler gives nearly the same result. LMCE also does upscaling very nice. But I did not manage to get a tearing free picture..

br, Hari

[krys]

LMCE upscales? Is this automatic or something that has to be configured?

[tschak909]

The graphic card stretches the content to fit the target display. This is upscaling.

-Thom

[krys]

Crap I was thinking of upconversion, not upscaling