For those of you out there who have a VMC HTPC and a Blu-ray or HD DVD player, here is the way to do it. Mike over at Attack Computer Wiz puts together the components to do just that.
From his Blog post:
I pulled my hair out for hours trying to find the best way to get my Windows Vista Ultimate HTPC to support Blu-ray. Here are my requirements.
1. Play Blu-ray and HD DVD’s directly from Media Center.
2. Native Media Center remote support.
3. Backup my Blu-ray and HD DVD’s to hard disk.
4. Play the backup from the folder on the hard disk.
5. Not take extra steps in the backup process (i.e. creating iso files)
6. Do this with as few programs as possible.There are guides out there to help with this, like Revision3’s System. But their recommendations fell short of my needs because they suggested CyberLink PowerDVD 8. While this program is very nice, it does not support HD DVD, does not integrate with Media Center, does not integrate the Media Center remote (without the need for additional software, and would not play the backups directly from the folder.
So, leaving the nuts and bolts out of it, and assuming you already have all the hardware you need installed and configured correctly, below are my steps and recommendations. I make no guarantees, but the below steps worked perfect for me and met all of my requirements listed above.1. Install SlySoft’s AnyDVD HD
2. Install ArcSoft’s TotalMedia Theatre
Two applications are all you need to get this job done. AnyDVD HD allow for the backup your DVD’s to your hard disk drive. TotalMedia Theatre provides full Blu-ray and HD DVD playback and fully integrates with Media Center out of the box. Because of this integration the remote works flawlessly. TotalMedia also has the ability to play the backup videos from thier folders.
Enjoy!
July 25th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Will this work with Extenders?
July 25th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
To quote: “provides full Blu-ray and HD DVD playback and fully integrates with Media Center out of the box.” I would expect that you should be able to do so, assuming any required codecs are in place thru the full stream of HW/SW.
Key word: “expect”.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I am curious as to how your getting this to work. I have AnyDVD HD and TotalMedia Theatre along with Vista Media Center. Although TotalMedia Theatre is integrated into Vista Media Center it will only play a Blu Ray DVD from the optical drive. I do not have any way to select to select the movie that has been ripped to the hard drive from the TotalMedia Theatre program from within Media Center. What am I missing.
August 16th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Hi Jim,
Just in time! I was looking the web for such a solution. I have downloaded TMT and installed it. It works perfectly on my Media Center PC.
By the way, I have posted an issue on another file but did not get many answers. I just installed an Xbox360 to to use it as an extender. Everything works ok except the media extender. Each time I try to connect to the Media Center from the Xbox, it lauches Media Center and then I get an error message stating “Connection Lost” Any idea about the problem?
Thanks
Claude
August 16th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Unfortunately, I think you answered your own question here: http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/2008/07/24/how-to-play-blu-ray-and-hd-dvd-movies-from-vista-media-center/#comments.
Quote: “I have seen a lot of messages on the web with the same issue, but I have not seen any solution!”
Sounds like an issue for MS to contend with. I would go over to MS’s Media Center and/or Xbox forums. Or go to their Connect site and submit a bug report, which is probably the best place to get some action on the problem.