subject: How Blu-ray Discs Work And How To Play Them On Your Pc [print this page] In 2006 the entertainment industry set a new standard of quality for films and programmes alike. Blu-ray discs are able to hold a substantial amount of data (27GB) and this allows them to store high definition audio and video.
Single sided discs can currently hold 4.7GB of data or information. This is roughly the size of a two-hour film in standard definition, with a few extra features. High definition movies, which have much clearer images, can take up to five times as much space. Obviously, this requires more storage space. As modern entertainment technology makes the leap into high definition it seems the public are in need of new playback systems, ones with enough space to store high definition movies.
Enter the Blu-ray disc. Yes, the next generation of digital videodisc is here. It can record, store and play back high definition video and digital audio, in addition to computer data. As mentioned, the advantage a Blu-ray disc has is the sheer volume of data that it can hold. A single sided Blu-ray disc can hold up 27GB of information, while this is only about 2 hours of high definition video it is equivalent to a staggering 13 hours of standard definition video. Moreover, a double-sided Blu-ray disc can store up to 50GB of data; this is enough for about 4 and half hours of high definition video or more than 20 hours of standard definition video.
Although Blu-ray players are readily available at reasonable prices, many people are still looking for a way of playing them on their PC, and there three ways of doing so:
1)The easiest way to watch Blu-ray discs on your PC without using commercial software is to install Make MKV. After buying your Blu-ray movie you can download it onto your PC with this software and then play it in VLC. Although this method can be time consuming and Blu-ray files can take up to 50GB of space on your drive.
2)A more complicated method is to use XMBC. After installing Make MKV, install the Blu-ray plugin XBMC. From XMBC go to Videos>Video Add-Ons>Blu-ray Player with Make MKV. This should allow you to play the main movie on the disc.
3)Or if youre not a fan of getting into the tech side of computers then there is always the option of buying the Blu-ray software, CyberLink PowerDVD, this usually retails at around 54.99. Although, if your computer came with a Blu-ray drive you should already have some sort of Blu-ray capable software.
