Technical Issues and Questions

[fdm]

I feel like none of these really affect me, so should I NOT upgrade? I also have a region free thing plugged into the back...could its usability be jeopardized?

Those would be changes from the previous (non-beta) firmware update, earlier firmware updates fixed other things. So depending on how long it's been since you last updated your firmware and whether you have any problems with your player playing a disc or the player itself acting up from time to time, it's your call. I pretty much always go for the latest firmware, and my internal mod has survived several updates so far (as it's supposed to... knock on wood).

[Drucker]

I don't have an internal mod, I have the chip that plugs into the USB port in the back. And my player is less than 2 months old....so I'm pretty close to having the most recent...

[Feego]

It's increasingly becoming more difficult to watch a movie in my house without audible distractions (the family, washing machine, etc.), and I've been thinking about buying a set of noise-cancelling headphones. I really have no idea where to start, though. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good set of wireless headphones that I can use on my TV?

[MichaelB]

DNR on BD titles is often caused by studios taking old tube-era telecine transfers (which, I understand, could be inherently noisy, rather than grainy) and trying to give them a facelift. Keep in mind that some facilities have been doing 1080-line HD telecine since 1993 so there is a bit of a back catalog. (There have been instances of new transfers being gimped by NR, of course).

This could well cause problems with Peter Greenaway's 1990s catalogue - his 1980s films will look absolutely fine in 1080p, as they were shot on 35mm (at least from A Zed and Two Noughts onwards), but when he started experimenting with analogue high-definition video on titles like Prospero's Books and The Pillow Book, presumably this creates some major transfer challenges?

The consensus on Park Circus' Blu-ray of The Pillow Book seems to be that it probably looks as good as it realistically can do given the source materials - but it's not a patch on the BFI's A Zed and Two Noughts, a film made over a decade earlier.

[dx23]

I just purchased an external blu-ray player and was wondering if anyone knows of a good software for Mac to play BDs, preferably a free one.

[David M.]

I don't think there is one. What you have is a BD-ROM drive, and on a Mac that's only going to be useful for burning data to disc, not watching movies. Apple's arrogance and refusal to support BD, and Sony's apparently weird licensing terms, mean that you will have to rip the discs on a Windows machine, then drag the clips into VLC Media Player on the Mac side. You won't get access to the menus, just the individual clips that make up a disc.

The arrangement means that with an external BD drive and Final Cut Pro on the Mac, you can actually create basic Blu-ray Discs (Hollywood professionals demanded it, apparently) but you can't actually play store-bought movies on the Mac.

Best thing to do: install Windows on the Mac and buy Arcsoft Totalmedia Theatre or Cyberlink PowerDVD.

[dx23]

Wow! That's just ridiculous! Corporate stupidity and we the consumers get screwed. Thanks for the info David!

[David M.]

Tell Apple you want it. Maybe they'll listen if enough people ask!

[fdm]

Not free, but Mac Blu-ray Player worked with several titles I tried, possibly regardless of region (I played some imports, but don't recall whether they were region locked). It basically just plays the movies, so no menu screens or supplements.

However, at present it seems to be lagging a bit wrt some of the most recent titles I tried (stuff from the last couple of months or so). Support said that the next version(s) will get to that but I've not owned it long enough to know how long that might take (was more or less a canned response, so grain of salt). Note: I don't watch movies on my computer, so...

Can try it out for free beforehand if you want to see if it will work with your drive and the titles you want to watch. I bought an internal BD burner about 18 months ago, but really haven't used it much (burned a couple blus), so figured I'd at least get some use out of it besides importing CDs into iTunes.

Tell Apple you want it. Maybe they'll listen if enough people ask!

Won't happen. Would have if it was going to by now.

[Anthony]

Apple seems to be going the route of down load only. Don't be surprised if their next hardware machines (MacBooks and iMacs) lose the DVD drive altogether.

[David M.]

Yes, that is almost certainly the political reason they've chosen to deny Mac users the quality of BD. It really aggravates me how they promote themselves as a quality choice, then pull something like this...

[dx23]

Apple seems to be going the route of down load only. Don't be surprised if their next hardware machines (MacBooks and iMacs) lose the DVD drive altogether.

Yeah, that is why I bought my Macbook now instead of waiting for the next generation. Apple seems intent (like many other companies) in pushing digital distribution and cloud base services. The huge rumor is that in fact, Apple is dropping DVD drive and regular hard drives, going instead for a leaner look with a solid state drive. Of course, they will still sell the DVD drive at additional $70 like the are doing right now for the Mac Mini.

[David M.]

I love how the companies call poor quality download services "digital distribution". What, are we meant to believe that Blu-ray Disc works off of steam?

[mfunk9786]

Yes, that is almost certainly the political reason they've chosen to deny Mac users the quality of BD. It really aggravates me how they promote themselves as a quality choice, then pull something like this...

Well, they also allegedly have an issue with the ongoing unreliability of the technology, a la Adobe Flash on their phones and tablets, and I can't say I blame them for staying away. It took me 6 actual Blu-ray players to find one that works with reliable speed and consistency, I can only imagine how hit-or-miss the world of BD-ROM is.

[David M.]

I don't think that's a typical experience at all, to be honest. Which brand of player was this?

I think Apple's dislike of BD is more to do with them pushing downloads, the BDA's licensing terms, and the kludged politically compromised implementation ("Ooh, let's have THREE video codecs so we can appease a committee of biased voters!")

[mfunk9786]

I had two Insignia players, a Sherwood, a Samsung, and a current model LG 3D player thinking that'd solve my problems (it was a mess). When I got a region free-modified year-old model LG BD630, I was finally done - it works wonderfully.

[perkizitore]

Ha, with all the money you spent you could have gotten yourself an Oppo!

[mfunk9786]

Don't remind me. But I've never had a problem with this LG, so I'm very happy and wouldn't tempt fate by pining away for an Oppo

[essrog]

Not free, but Mac Blu-ray Player worked with several titles I tried, possibly regardless of region (I played some imports, but don't recall whether they were region locked). It basically just plays the movies, so no menu screens or supplements.

Do you have any idea if this would work with HandBrake or something similar to rip chapters or scenes from a Blu-ray into a different format? I do that with DVD's now to create clips for classes I teach, but am worried that as DVD's dry up, I won't be able to do this anymore. I don't own a Blu-ray drive right now to experiment with this.

[fdm]

Not free, but Mac Blu-ray Player worked with several titles I tried, possibly regardless of region (I played some imports, but don't recall whether they were region locked). It basically just plays the movies, so no menu screens or supplements.

Do you have any idea if this would work with HandBrake or something similar to rip chapters or scenes from a Blu-ray into a different format? I do that with DVD's now to create clips for classes I teach, but am worried that as DVD's dry up, I won't be able to do this anymore. I don't own a Blu-ray drive right now to experiment with this.

Really no idea. (Seems to support snapshots, but I haven't tried.)

I went looking for Mac Blu-ray Player after seeing that vlc 2.0 was supposed to support BD playback, but it didn't come with the libraries (for Macs anyway), so my curiosity got the better of me to see what else might be out there. Did a bit of googling... Would guess PCs probably provide more "support" for the type of thing you want to do. Maybe something is out there wrt the missing libraries for vlc.

(I did try out region-B locked Melancholia, by the way, and it plays... still some stubborn recent ones though.)

[David M.]

Some programs on the Mac can read Blu-ray file formats and do conversions. But nothing as far as I know can actually rip the files from the disc on the Mac.

There are programs on Windows that can kill the AACS copy protection and copy the files onto hard disk - from there, Mac OS can read them. But there is no end-to-end Mac solution that I know of.

[matrixschmatrix]

I just watched the 2001 blu on my PS3 and for some reason, I can't access the menu- when I try, it just freezes up. The menu works fine on my laptop. Anyone else encounter this?

[swo17]

Does anyone know of a good disc or file that can be played on a plasma TV to counteract the uneven wear that can come from watching a lot of 4:3 content? Perhaps something like those break-in discs that alternate between solid color fields, only leaving the center of the screen black? It would look something like this:



Or could running something like this possibly make things worse?

[David M.]

What model of plasma are you having uneven wear issues on? And what picture settings do you use on it?

I don't have much experience with uneven aging. I've not come across it myself. I do see temporary retention on some PDPs after watching a 4:3 film though.

[swo17]

A Pioneer Kuro. I typically have it on full mode (which slightly zooms in so that 1.85:1 fills the screen but otherwise OAR is maintained) with some kind of orbiter running to avoid burn in. I've just noticed lately while watching some widescreen material (it's especially noticeable when the screen is filled with blue sky) that the 4:3 center of the screen is a tad bit darker than the sides.