Play HD Movies on a PC /اجرای HD dvd و Blue-ray در رایانه های شخصی
so you want to play HD DVD or Blu-ray discs from Hollywood
on your existing computer? Well, it’s going to cost you—
not only in cash, but also, if your experience is anything like
mine, in frustration. The hardware you’ll need is expensive, the
software is immature, and your graphics card or monitor, even
if recently purchased, may not measure up.
Though I got my setup to play Blu-ray movies, I had diffi culties
with HD DVD movies, proof that the upgrade path to highdef
playback isn’t ready for the masses just yet. Playing high-def
movies on your PC requires more than just adding a new optical
drive to your existing rig. Hardware and software vendors recommend
at least 1GB of memory and a dual-core processor.
The bigger gotcha to playing back both Blu-ray Disc and HD
DVD movies, though, concerns copy-protection schemes. Commercial
movie discs are encrypted with the new Advanced
Access Content System (AACS) protocol; but Intel’s High Defi -
nition Content Protection, a hardware handshaking/security
protocol embedded in device fi rmware, is the real roadblock. All
of the hardware in your PC’s chain—the HD DVD or Blu-ray
drive, the graphics board, and the monitor—must be HDCPcertifi
ed to play back copy-protected content at full resolution via
a digital connection, either DVI or HDMI.
Shopping for HDCP-certifi ed devices remains tricky. If the
box doesn’t say “certifi ed,” don’t buy the product. Some graphics
cards state HDCP compliance in their specs, or boast HDTV
output, but don’t actually implement HDCP (only implementation
earns the “certifi ed” moniker). Look for a card based on
an nVidia GeForce 7– or GeForce 8–series GPU with Pure Video
HD drivers, or AMD’s ATI Radeon X1650 or a better card with
the latest Catalyst drivers. Even if a board has one of these chips,
however, that doesn’t guarantee that it implements HDCP.
nVidia grants its PureVideo HD logo only to certifi ed cards;
AMD doesn’t have such a logo at this time.
Because of HDCP, the hardware you’ll need to play high-def
Hollywood movie discs at top quality on your computer gets
expensive quickly, beginning with a $500 hd100 HD DVD-ROM
drive from HP or a Blu-ray burner such as Sony’s $700 BWU-
100A or Lite-On’s $600 LH-2B1S. Add to this an HDCP-certifi ed
video card ($150 or more) and an HDCP-certifi ed monitor of
reasonable size (expect to pay at least $700 to get 1920 by 1200
resolution for full 1080p; though less-costly HDCP monitors
exist, many don’t accept 1080p output). The total upgrade bill
could easily top $1500 if you were starting from square one.
Getting It To Work/اماده کردن برای کار
to see just what it takes to upgrade a system to play HD, I
tried a number of components in search of the perfect setup—
which I subsequently redefi ned as one that actually worked. My
own Dell UltraSharp 2405 monitor let me play high-def only
through the analog VGA connector, so I switched to ViewSonic’s
$799 VX2435wm and Dell’s $1399 UltraSharp 2707WFP (24
and 27 inches, respectively) HDCP-certifi ed wide-screen displays.
Replacing my existing graphics card with a GeForce
8800–based card completed the HDCP chain.
I then turned my attention to watching movies. I had to install
several versions of CyberLink’s Power DVD Ultra 7.3 software
before I managed to get Blu-ray movies to play. Alas, HD DVD
was more problematic. I never got my ad hoc test system to play
HD DVD movies via my monitor’s DVI connection; even the
PowerDVD 6.5 HD DVD Edition app that came with HP’s hd100
drive took me only as far as the FBI warnings,
titles, and menus before a black screen kicked in.
HP and CyberLink were at a loss to explain this.
You can avoid compliance worries by buying
an expensive yet decked-out machine that’s preconfigured
for high-def playback. Doing so
worked best for me: I had no issues using HD
DVD on a preconfi gured HP Media Center PC.
Is watching movies on your PC worthwhile?
Yes and no. The picture is a visual treat, visibly
better than DVD, even on a screen that’s small
compared with a gargantuan plasma or LCD TV.
The question is, will you get playback to work on
your PC? Unfortunately, you may not know this
until you actually jump in and give it a try.
