Playback censored with WinDVD and PowerDVD?

[Apulo]

I have purchased a new ATI card, a HD2400. It supports h264, VC1 and MPEG2 acceleration. In order to use the acceleration, you need to use a software to playback the video files that supports the GPU.

Both WinDVD and PowerDVD in their latest incarnations are supposed to do this.

But I heard the versions currently on sale have been crippled and will only play content from encrypted discs, because it is assumed any (HD) content played from harddisc must be pirated stuff.

Does anyone know more? I can't find definitive answers, and I don't want to pay for something that won't work after all.

Thanks!

[Dr Mordrid]

Nero 7/8's "Nero ShowTime" supports BD and mini-HD DVD playback with a $25 plugin.

http://www.nero.com/enu/bluray-hddvd-video-plugin.html

BTW: anyone else hear that DivX has bought out MainConcept to get 'hold of their encoder and H.264 engine?

http://www.divx.com/company/press/press_detail.php?pr_id=273

One of their first moves were to license their codecs to Panasonic for use in decks and their AVCHD products.

[Apulo]

Hello Doc, thanks for the reply!

I think I have not explained properly. I don't need to play back BD or HDDVD, I'm not investing in either format yet.

I do however want to play back h264 and MPEG2 material from harddisc. And to do so I would like to use the graphics chip as this will offload the CPU in a major way.

And I do not see any mention of the support for the ATI GPU or the competing nVidia GPU in the Nero product description.

PowerDVD and WinDVD do have such support, and AFAIK these are the only players that do. Since neither ATI or nVidia have opened the information needed, no opensource software like MPC can support it.

But I recall a news article on The Reg or The Inq I believe, that mentioned that the studios were not happy that these softwares played ripped BD and HDDVD files and in response to that, these programmes would be crippled to no longer play h264/VC1 material from harddisc.

Before I go out and buy either I'd like to make sure that this is not the case, or it would be wasted money.

[Jerry Jones]

I find that hard to believe.

If people couldn't even play their own HD camcorder movies, then there would be a revolt.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Apulo]

I do hope you're right. I've been reading on the features of the player softwares and it's rather confusing what is listed on the websites, what is part of the standard feature set and what requires an extra h264 pack etc.

Guess I'd better hunt for demo versions and simply give it a try. Making a ghost image of my system drive before that, naturally