Dealing with DRM: BluRays on PowerDVD Ultra 8
For the Blu-ray Disc (BD) (aka Bluray) addicts out there, Cyberlink’s PowerDVD Ultra is out in version 8. It is sporting a brand new user interface, and allows playback of BD+ titles. I bought the upgrade yesterday – and I will answer the question of why here.
A must have for PC Blu-ray playback
is AnyDVD HD, as this will remove the incredibly annoying regional zones. Furthermore it will allow ripping your purchased BDs to hardisk for more quiet playback; the Pioneer BDC-S02 player has many nice qualities, but ultra quietness is not one of them. Furthermore, having backed up your BD, you can safely store the original out of harm’s way and instead use the back up for playback.
Unfortunately for us, that’s not the way the studios see the picture – instead they want to make it as difficult as possible for us to do this by way of DRM. (There’s little wonder why hardly anyone is using their HTPCs for Blu-rays!)
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