Better Support for Blu-ray Decoders
Posted: 12 Aug 2015 20:17
I'm surprised that nobody seems to have posted a feature request about Blu-ray support since 2013.
Yes, there are decoding solutions, such as AACS Updater. But VideoLAN support of such is limited.
Problem 1: The only versions of VideoLAN that ever work with an AACS solution (either the "AACS Updater" or KEYDB.cfg + libaacs.dll) are 64-bit versions. And even at that, the only 64-bit versions that anyone seems to get to cooperate with it are versions 2.1.3 through 2.1.5. Nothing older and nothing newer seems to work.
As a consequence, one can not use an AACS solution with VideoLAN if their PC, laptop, or OS is 32-bit. They're just out of luck and must use something else.
Even when it works, they're stuck with an outdated version of VideoLAN and will have to ignore update reminders (or anti-virus notifications) to update VideoLAN.
Problem 1-a: I've noticed that the video quality on the 64-bit versions of VideoLAN are much, much worse than the 32-bit versions. The picture seems almost grainy as the color depth is extremely limited. This happens no matter what kind of video I'm playing, whether it's Blu-ray, DVD, or an MP4.
Problem 2: Of the few, outdated versions of VideoLAN that work with an AACS solution, none of them support the libbdplus library. (This is in contrast with 32-bit MPlayer and Starbuck's FreePlayer.) As a consequence, VideoLAN can not fully decode Blu-ray discs with BD+ protection and such disks are played with BD+ visual artifacts.
Blue-ray decoder solutions have been around since at least 2011. Granted, it is nice that we can play Blu-ray disks at all with VideoLAN. But why is it taking the VideoLAN development team so long to improve on support? Why does Blu-ray seem to be such a low priority?
BTW: While I used to be able to use DVDFab Passkey Lite to decode Blu-ray, when I tried the other day I couldn't get it to decode any Blu-ray disks at all. (A window popped up telling me to upgrade to the full version. And, this time, updating it to the latest free version did not fix it.) So it seems I need to either use an AACS solution again or shell out for a commercial product. Because of the issues I just mentioned, I'm leaning towards commercial software. Which is a shame, because I really liked VideoLAN.
Yes, there are decoding solutions, such as AACS Updater. But VideoLAN support of such is limited.
Problem 1: The only versions of VideoLAN that ever work with an AACS solution (either the "AACS Updater" or KEYDB.cfg + libaacs.dll) are 64-bit versions. And even at that, the only 64-bit versions that anyone seems to get to cooperate with it are versions 2.1.3 through 2.1.5. Nothing older and nothing newer seems to work.
As a consequence, one can not use an AACS solution with VideoLAN if their PC, laptop, or OS is 32-bit. They're just out of luck and must use something else.
Even when it works, they're stuck with an outdated version of VideoLAN and will have to ignore update reminders (or anti-virus notifications) to update VideoLAN.
Problem 1-a: I've noticed that the video quality on the 64-bit versions of VideoLAN are much, much worse than the 32-bit versions. The picture seems almost grainy as the color depth is extremely limited. This happens no matter what kind of video I'm playing, whether it's Blu-ray, DVD, or an MP4.
Problem 2: Of the few, outdated versions of VideoLAN that work with an AACS solution, none of them support the libbdplus library. (This is in contrast with 32-bit MPlayer and Starbuck's FreePlayer.) As a consequence, VideoLAN can not fully decode Blu-ray discs with BD+ protection and such disks are played with BD+ visual artifacts.
Blue-ray decoder solutions have been around since at least 2011. Granted, it is nice that we can play Blu-ray disks at all with VideoLAN. But why is it taking the VideoLAN development team so long to improve on support? Why does Blu-ray seem to be such a low priority?
BTW: While I used to be able to use DVDFab Passkey Lite to decode Blu-ray, when I tried the other day I couldn't get it to decode any Blu-ray disks at all. (A window popped up telling me to upgrade to the full version. And, this time, updating it to the latest free version did not fix it.) So it seems I need to either use an AACS solution again or shell out for a commercial product. Because of the issues I just mentioned, I'm leaning towards commercial software. Which is a shame, because I really liked VideoLAN.
