I have a laptop with an external Blu-ray drive, but no playback software. I do have DAPlayer, but it doesn't work very well. For some reason, most Blu-ray software seems to cost more than a low-end stand-alone player, even thought they need playback software, plus a bunch of electronics. Also, there seems to be limited support, so who knows if it will still play new titles two years from now if a new batch of AACS keys comes out? I don't need to rip discs or anything, just watch them. Are there any good solutions or are we stuck with paying more than a stand-alone or having it likely not work and eventually, probably both?

Quoting Silence_of_Lambs:

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Searched for some time on the quest for a decent software player.
It seems that there are currently only three that are good:

PowerDVD Ultra
WinDVD
Nero MultimediaSuite (Platinum Version only!)

What's wrong with ArcSoft's TotalMedia Theatre?

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Three vendors and about 50 million customers, this very limited market naturally raises the prices.

My PowerDVD9 came free with a B-rD drive. No limitations yet.

Ace_of_Sevens, I do not have any pirated program, you could buy a B-rD drive with OEM software, and resell the unsused brandnew drive. There is no freeware player for copy-protected B-rDs.

Quoting pauls42:

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Quoting bbbbb:

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There is no freeware player for copy-protected B-rDs.

anydvd HD

AnyDVD HD is not Freeware. It's a 30 day trial after which it stops functioning until you purchase it.

Quoting Ace_of_Sevens:

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I considered it as there are a bunch of region B Blu-rays I wants, but it's expensive and only a subscription, not a real purchase.

Although it is expensive (worth it for me to get screen grabs for my site), I can attest that it's a great product (that's frequently updated) and I've been using it for a couple of years now...

Quoting whispering:

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Quoting TheMovieman:

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Although it is expensive (worth it for me to get screen grabs for my site), I can attest that it's a great product (that's frequently updated) and I've been using it for a couple of years now...

Does it take over your PC like e.g. PowerDVD does? (i found it impossible to make it not launch after inserting a disc, it also hijacks my volume control, instead of using the system volume i'm using in every other program).

Well, on my laptop, I got seperate controls for the volume depending on what program is playing (so if I'm watching a movie via PowerDVD, I can lower that volume while listening to a live streaming commentary online). Yet on my desktop computer, PowerDVD unfortunately takes over the volume controls.

As for launching when inserting a disc, you could go into AutoPlay (should be in the Control Panel) and then there you can select it to ask every time a disc is inserted. As for AnyDVD HD taking over, there's an option in the settings to deselect auto start and then when you need it, you just double click the icon on your desktop to start it up.

But like I said, I use it to get screen grabs and the Blu-ray I have is not my primary player so that's how I have it set up.

Quoting TheMovieman:

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Quoting Ace_of_Sevens:

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I considered it as there are a bunch of region B Blu-rays I wants, but it's expensive and only a subscription, not a real purchase.

Although it is expensive (worth it for me to get screen grabs for my site), I can attest that it's a great product (that's frequently updated) and I've been using it for a couple of years now...

I have to agree. I bought this when the registration was NOT a subscription. However, even with a sub it's the best software I've used. Updates are very frequent, and I've never had a problem.

Of course, I've decided to move away from software Blu-ray players altogether for watching a movie because I have been looking for a simple player for way too long, and they all are just idiotic in nature when it comes to basic functions. And don't get me started on PowerDVD or the like. The larger companies are just atrocious and their software is just one big memory hog and proprietary system which is far from "Family Entertainment".

I reluctantly settled (due to cost--these are not inexpensive) for an Oppo BDP-93 and I've never been happier.

Two suggestions:
(1) Go to the Cyberlink web site and try to find an upgrade package. Check carefully, you may need the OEM version, or Legacy version. The installation will check for validity, so you shouldn't need any sort of password.

I used this one successfully for my LG OEM a couple of years back before I unpgraded to a later version:

"PowerDVD 7.3 updates: This file updates PowerDVD 7.3 to PowerDVD 7.3 v4617. This update is for OEM versions of PowerDVD only."

(2) If you don't alerady have it, add AnyDVD HD to your system, and it might help clear up the issues.

(Gasp I see the following posts. Sure hope this doesn't happen to me. If so, we all need to start comparing lists of most recently played BDs to find the culprit(s)).

Smells like a class action suit brewing ...

It seems that Cyberlink is currently doing a whole-sale block for older (outdated) OEM-BluRay software.
Obviously they are simply blocking the AACS download.

Currently affected are versions < 10.