# How do PC Blue-ray drives compare to dedicated blue-ray players?



## ashdavid

As the title says , how do PC blue-ray drives compare against dedicated blue-ray players? I was thinking od setting up the PC so that I could watch blue-ray through the PC. Cheers.


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## fmw

It works fine.  I have a BD drive in my computer but only a 24" wide screen display.  My BD player in the home theater drives a 42" display and large speakers.  I tend to watch BD's on the home theater.


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## diduknowthat

As long as the rest of the PC is up to the task it should be fine. Just build a media PC and the blu-ray drive on the computer can be hooked up to your TV and speaker system and what not.


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## ashdavid

fmw said:


> It works fine.  I have a BD drive in my computer but only a 24" wide screen display.  My BD player in the home theater drives a 42" display and large speakers.  I tend to watch BD's on the home theater.





diduknowthat said:


> As long as the rest of the PC is up to the task it should be fine. Just build a media PC and the blu-ray drive on the computer can be hooked up to your TV and speaker system and what not.



Sorry I did not explain myself fully.  Yes I was thinking of replacing the my dedicated DVD player on the home theater and hook up the BD from my PC so I can watch it on the big screen TV. Is it possible to hook up the amps and what not so I can still get 7.1 surround sound?


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## fmw

ashdavid said:


> Sorry I did not explain myself fully.  Yes I was thinking of replacing the my dedicated DVD player on the home theater and hook up the BD from my PC so I can watch it on the big screen TV. Is it possible to hook up the amps and what not so I can still get 7.1 surround sound?



Yes, if you have 7.1 surround support on your sound card.  Be sure you get software with your drive.  The standard is called PowerDVD Ultra.  It costs $100 if it is not included with the drive.  You can't get free codecs for BD.  The BD organization charges even the end users for the privilege of playing their product.


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## ashdavid

fmw said:


> Yes, if you have 7.1 surround support on your sound card.  Be sure you get software with your drive.  The standard is called PowerDVD Ultra.  It costs $100 if it is not included with the drive.  You can't get free codecs for BD.  The BD organization charges even the end users for the privilege of playing their product.



Great, that is what I was looking for! Thanks for the help everyone!


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