I won't address the first part of the question because... decrypting a BD is illegal where I live.

Second part - Intel CPU's have internal hardware for decoding/encoding. Newer versios are pretty good:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video#Hardware_decoding_and_encoding

I'm kinda with Sonic on this.

Editing BluRay is easy. But cracking the BluRay's built-in copy protection will be your challenge. PowerDirector doesn't do it, so you'll need to find software that does and that saves the video in an editable format.

Just buying the DVD or BluRay doesn't give you ownership of its content.

Quote I won't address the first part of the question because... decrypting a BD is illegal where I live.

Second part - Intel CPU's have internal hardware for decoding/encoding. Newer versios are pretty good:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video#Hardware_decoding_and_encoding

Quote I'm kinda with Sonic on this. Editing BluRay is easy. But cracking the BluRay's built-in copy protection will be your challenge. PowerDirector doesn't do it, so you'll need to find software that does and that saves the video in an editable format. Just buying the DVD or BluRay doesn't give you ownership of its content.

Not to have this all spiral into debating on intellectual property rights versus legitimate consumer user rights, but I really love the movies I buy and the revamped home theatre system which I'll be spending serious money on to enjoy them with this year. Sure, some physical violence and loud sound are essential to the plot of some movies in my collection but I usually screen these for myself and don't need to see or hear what I'd rather delete or attenuate to enjoy the rest.

As for the legalities of decrypting, my understanding is while illegal in some countries (why?), we in the USA are allowed to make one (1) "back up" copy of any commercially produced CD, DVD or BD. That works fine for my purposes. Redfox, I was told by most JRiver player users, makes decrypting pretty straightforward.

Glad to hear that "editing Blu Ray is easy"!

So regarding hardware, yes I heard that at least the Icelake mobile processors-and certainly the desktop versions-are efficient enough (low TPDs?) to do on-CPU video decoding/encoding. But using a dedicated GeForce or Radeon video card instead and with something as lightweight as PD18 (lighter than Vegas?) will likely run even more coolly and quietly while allowing even faster rendering.

A membership problem here:
https://membership.cyberlink.com/prog/member/service/index.do?lang=ENU

From here how do you get to your profile page?

And when there what do you click on to see your posts and messages?

Quote
As for the legalities of decrypting, my understanding is while illegal in some countries (why?), we in the USA are allowed to make one (1) "back up" copy of any commercially produced CD, DVD or BD. That works fine for my purposes. Redfox, I was told by most JRiver player users, makes decrypting pretty straightforward.

Not that I like to defend the greedy, self-absorbed, grand-standing, Hollywood.
Just for your information - you can make a copy... if the original is not encrypted. Note that in US you are not allowed to decrypt/bypass encryption, or even own decrypting software.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act

Look at the exceptions list. "Back-up personal copy" is not one of the allowed exceptions.

I didn't buy a DVD in a long time, and I don't even own a BD player. I watch some shows by streaming, and trying hard to avoid movies with certain actors. I have a personal ban list if you like.

Interesting about the Digital Millennial Copyright Act that you can't make a personal use/fair use copy of a BluRay you "own." Kinda undoes the Supreme Court decision on Fair Use from back in the DVR days.

Anyway, as a philosophical point about life in the US - sometimes you have to "break" a law to show in court that it was a bad law in the first place.

Quote Interesting about the Digital Millennial Copyright Act that you can't make a personal use/fair use copy of a BluRay you "own." Kinda undoes the Supreme Court decision on Fair Use from back in the DVR days.

Anyway, as a philosophical point about life in the US - sometimes you have to "break" a law to show in court that it was a bad law in the first place.

Besides the encryption issue - you don't "own" the program (video/music/software).
The material is "licensed" to you, for personal use, in certain conditions. One of them is not to make a "back-up" copy without their approval. The money you pay it is just a licencensing fee.

The industry lobbied hard to go around the VHS analog "hole". Even on VHS, you are not allowed to by-pass the protection (Macrovision) to make that "allowed" copy.

Yeah, I know about our (strange to me) concept of "licensing" software. To me it's like licensing a hammer, with the contract that I can only use it to hammer so many nails. Abstract.

Interesting that the Oddyessy, the Iliad, the Bible, etc. weren't licensed under IP.

Quote Interesting that the Oddyessy, the Iliad, the Bible, etc. weren't licensed under IP.

That's because they're ancient and were in the public domain long before IP became a concept.

Try using any audio or video of MLK's "I have a Dream" speech and see how long it takes YouTube to flag it for copyright infringement. The King family owns all of the rights to it and will only allow use if you pay for a license. You can also buy an official DVD to watch, but obviously aren't allowed to use its content anywhere else.

If IP rights-rather than consumer rights-are the central issue here, then why are countless US software makers-including Cyberlink, I believe-allowed to sell software that lets you rip music CDs-even the hundreds I have in my personal collection? But then I guess it's a no-brainer that the political power and megabucks of Hollywood trumps songwriter's guilds hands down. How can this be anything but a clear IP rights double standard?

Justifiable? Why, only because it costs more money to make a movie than to write, produce, record and distribute a song or an entire album on a CD?

Ditto with copying low-res mp3s from iTunes or the high-res 24 bit downloads audiophiles purchased from hdtracks.com. That's no less permissible either. Hooray for Hollywood.

Nope. The answer is here: https://www.lifewire.com/is-cd-ripping-legal-2438422 . The ripping is legal and distributing it to others is not.

Quote Nope. The answer is here: https://www.lifewire.com/is-cd-ripping-legal-2438422 . The ripping is legal and distributing it to others is not.

Exactly my point. There’s no excuse for any double standards between copying music CDs that you own and BD movies that you own, so long as you do so for your own personal use, and that no profit from doing so ever occurs. Case closed.