Hi mommyx6kids1977,

Commercial Blu-ray movies have native digital content protection which doesn't allow related screen or video capture feature during the playback.

Therefore, the video snapshot feature of PowerDVD is not available for the Blu-ray movies playback.

Greetings
Chuck

Hi Mommy,
(oh, that sounds a bit weird! ; )
It's not just due to Blu-ray, but to Cyberlink's implementation of the standard.

If you need to do screen caps from Blu-rays, i would suggest using the VLC Media Player from videolan.org. It's free, and can play most Blu-rays -- though I suggest PowerDVD is a better solution for actually watching the film, VLC will let you take screen captures.

@Branais although VLC cant play AACS protected blurays (at least not legally)

Thanks for that, My1. Yes, you're no doubt correct -- I knew it wouldn't play every BD, which is why I said "most". So maybe it's fair to say "if it'll play the disc, it'll take a screen capture" -- though I guess that doesn't help the OP.

The Nero suite included a dedicated BD player for a while, that took no account of region coding or AACS (it didn't let you copy the discs, just play them), and it allowed screen captures. But Nero ditched it, largely because the licence just to support the BD format is reportedly exorbitant. (Some say the reason the format hasn't taken off the way DVDs did is because the Consortium has lawyered and fee-gouged it to death.)

well the whole AACS problem especially with the ability of nuking old keys and stuff which is pretty much the only reason why people keep buying new pdvd versions. also we get unskippable ads, language settings we cannot change ourselves, screenshot prohibition, the inability to make backups, etc etc.

while CSS (the DVD copyprotection) was heavily burdened by the US export crypto laws, it's effectiveness can certainly be doubted (the practical effectiveness is zero since half an eternity but in law it's usally a bit different but when CSS has been cracked since about 17 years [decss released 1997] and VLC can literally bruteforce the discs open instantly with just 5 bytes which are already stored on the disc itself and not even needing one single player key, because the algo is weak, outdated and full of flaws and even back in 1997 with a 366 MHz celeron it took only 17 hours to crack a CSS Player key. Later ALL CSS player keys were released, making a revocation impractical [would you like to explain to every DVD player owner that they have to buy new DVD players just because someone hack the keys] especially since the new player keys could be found out just as quickly or even quicker due to the fact of the quick rising of computation power) and in Finland the legal effectiveness has been officially dropped already back in 2007, 9 whole years ago, making it at least there completely legal to circumvent that and any annoyances that come along. while AACS is also pretty much down due to AnyDVD (others already mentioned it so I dont think it's against the rules to name it) but since it uses modern crypto (AES).


and with AACS 2.0 they make it even possible to enforce an online connection just for watching the disc.
http://www.myce.com/news/sony-hack-reveals-aacs-2-0-ultra-hd-blu-ray-copy-protection-details-75833/

honestly I would have no problem for example after getting my bas version of PDVD that I for example could pay like 10€ per year for AACS updates, I dont care about new features but powerDVD 10oem wont let me play new discs and the drive which got that PDVD version is iirc less than 2 years old, stupid, right?

but why do you suggest that VLC plays "most" blurays, especially without relying on third party software that I wont mention for now bwcause depending on the place where people live it may be illegal.

My comment about it playing "most" blu-rays was based solely on personal experience, not technical knowledge. Can I assume that you've had a different experience, My1?

I hear what you're saying about the constant revision of AACS and the difficulties it causes. It also affects the ability of an optical drive to play the discs, regardless of any other circumstances; I had to replace my optical drive in my PC when its firmware could no longer cope, and the manufacturer had moved its development efforts on to other models. It's like one of those Chinese circus acts spinning plates on bamboo poles and keeping them all balanced.

I confess I do have one of those third-party utilities myself, that sidesteps the disc protection. I have zero interest in piracy, and only have commercial BDs that I've bought myself, but all the restrictions make it almost essential, not least because I collect BDs from more than one region, and the limit of five changes of region within PDVD is pretty pathetic. I've already come across AACS 2 discs that require an internet connection to play -- utterly obscene -- so bloody-minded choices like that by the Rulers Of The World make dodges necessary just to cope.

well reading your small confession it starts to make sense. out of the box VLC can only codec-wise play Blurays. from the DRM side of things certainly not.

I am also not intrested in piracy but especially with the whole AACS DRM and PDVD EOLs this is NOT funny.

I probably dont need to say much about how I feel about these feature-protections like unskippable ads, blocking of options etc, especially when all it needs to get around is a player that doesnt care like macgo where you can make screenshots, go to any title you want with your favorite language options etc.

I have nothing against blocking piracy, as long as the legal buying user is not affected but for the movie industry as it is now it is more like this:
http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/news2/US-Government-Issues-Two-New-Anti-Piracy-Warnings-for-DVD-and-Blu-Ray-4.jpg
the pirate gets rid of ALL the stupid junk and can just watch the film on ANY device while legit buyers have to be annoyed with the BULLSHIT (sorry but seriously) and also they cant just make themselves a copy for watching on a mobile device or WHATEVER