C-200 - Blu-ray & DVD backups

[peterjcat]

So one thing I and a number of other people are keen to know is whether the C-200 will be able to play not just physical Blu-ray discs but also Blu-ray movies backed up to the hard drive or network storage, whether in ISO or folder format, as if they were discs, ie with full menu support, picture-in-picture and so on.

There can be no doubt that the hardware is capable of doing this, so my guess is that it will come down to licensing and perhaps, to a lesser extent, unforeseen firmware complications. Certainly the very idea of backing up Blu-rays for convenient personal use may not be popular with the licensing bodies and is technically illegal in some (but not all) parts of the world.

I wonder whether any playback of Blu-ray backups might somehow be locked to C-200s with physical Blu-ray drives installed? Could that be how they're dealing with the licensing issue, since all Blu-ray drives seem to come with some kind of playback licence? If so -- will we be able to play backups if we don't install a Blu-ray drive in the C-200?

It may be that this is a "bonus" feature that will never be heavily advertised for fear that it may be seen to encourage piracy. Or it may just be a feature that Syabas is working on and doesn't want to announce before the firmware is closer to completion. I expect the feature is included somehow, especially considering what the HDi crowd are doing. But I look forward to finding out for sure.

I don't expect any answers soon, but I would expect some kind of indication before the C-200 goes on sale. I trust that someone will let us know in the fullness of time, and I invite them to use this thread, so people don't have to trawl through the other ones.

[Mysteriouskk]

I would definitely like to know this as well.

Can it stream blu ray isos?

[chris57]

Right I've added DVD Playback aswell to the title as these are the two main queries.

Please everyone now just wait for the answers. Do not start any conspiracy theories or make an assumptions based on any feelings etc.

[northpole]

You meant DVD playback or DVD backup?
The thread title still reads 'C-200 - Blu-ray & DVD backups'!

I'll be happy to replace my (obsolete!?) A100 with this but still not certain if I should use C-200 with a BDROM or stick to my plans of upgrading my old and buggy dvd player with a standalone commercial BD player. I guess like me many favor the former idea more. And I still have tons of retail movie DVDs.
Besides I am skeptical of getting it spouse-certified since hearing so much rant on my fav A100 an year ago.

[chris57]

Good point, we definately mean BD backups but DVD playback is the one rather than DVD backup.

I'm hoping for a proper detailed list of what types of discs (BD, DVD, CD, etc.) and image files (BD ISO, DVD ISO/IMG, etc.) can be played and from where (HDD, Optical Drive, USB, Etc.) and how (encryption removed/not needed). Basically to try to answer everyone's differing setup queries.

[SirNickity]

Interesting legal catch... if the encryption weren't removed from the disc, it's a crapshoot whether it is still technically illegal to backup one's (legally owned) media. On the one hand, the studios and forums have always complained about people removing the encryption (circumvention), while US DMCA for e.g. specifically allows a backup copy of the media (provided no copy-protection was circumvented, which wasn't often possible.)

Real Networks got into this one with a media server which copied images of the discs, encryption intact, to a HDD. Not sure if it's even possible for average consumers to image a DVD/BD with CSS/AACS still enabled (why bother?), but that might be a method that makes it legally doable if various worldwide laws don't object.