Blu-ray "unsupported format"/optical drive letter silliness

Russ

Newbie Joined: Apr 18, 2010 14:25 Messages: 2 Offline

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Apr 18, 2010 14:46

I did a quick search and didn't find any other posts about this, so here goes...

I just bought a Blu-ray drive for my computer, and it came bundled with PowerDVD 8. It refused to play Blu-rays giving the "unsupported format" error. Long story short, it came down to the fact that I had assigned the Blu-ray drive to the letter B. B is available since floppies are a relic, and Windows 7 has no issue with the assignment (that I have seen), so why not.

If the drive is B, PowerDVD will play DVDs fine, and the computer can browse Blu-rays through widows explorer also. If I assign it to any letter after C, it will play Blu-rays. It's not exactly a big problem, but it sure is a nuisance when you don't realize what is really going on.

Does the code have some leftover assumptions from days gone by or what?

David_H

Member Location: U.S. Joined: Jan 08, 2009 16:19 Messages: 72 Offline

Apr 18, 2010 17:46

Hi Russ,

Thanks for sharing the interesting observation about the drive letter. As for the cause of the blu-ray problem that you experienced, my guess is that the blu-ray security requirements probably preclude a drive with letters A or B from being used. That's the sad side of copy protection---it can produce some silly results sometimes.

If you are interested, you could do a test. Install SlySoft's AnyDVD HD on your computer and see if PowerDVD 10 Ultra will let you use your blu-ray drive if it is assigned letter "B". AnyDVD HD defeats the blu-ray security system. If it clears up the problem, then you'll know that the issue is indeed security related. (Note: AnyDVD HD has a 21-day demo period during which you can test it for free.)

Kind regards, David

Russ

Newbie Joined: Apr 18, 2010 14:25 Messages: 2 Offline

Apr 19, 2010 00:56

I gave it a shot. Either I don't know how to run AnyDVD or it still doesn't change the quirk. I tried AnyDVD with the default settings and with everything that looked applicable turned on.

Thanks for the suggestion.

David_H

Member Location: U.S. Joined: Jan 08, 2009 16:19 Messages: 72 Offline

Apr 19, 2010 10:20

Hi Russ,

The default AnyDVD HD settings should have done the job if it was a security issue. It sounds like PowerDVD Ultra is designed to ignore drives "A" and "B" for blu-ray playback. Strange!

It may be a requirement forced on CyberLink by their blu-ray decryption license (the license that allows them to legally sell a progam like PowerDVD Ultra). Or it could simply be an oversight by the CyberLink programmers. But I doubt the latter since you reported that drive letters "A" and "B" worked okay for DVD playback.

At this point, you'll probably have to contact CyberLink Tech Support if you want to pursue the matter further.

Kind regards, David