Bluray experience on XPSM1530

Hi...One of the key features for me buying the XPSM1530 is to watch blue ray movies.

Can anybody share their experiences? Also,

1. Can you change the bluray region (like you could with DVD's?) for X number of times?
2. Does the laptop come with any software to watch blueray movies? If not, what are you guys using?
3. Do you get 1080p experience on the laptop screen?
4. Does connecting a HDMI lead from the laptop to a HD TV will automatically send the bluray movie out to the HD TV?

Thanks.

 

Although Ive yet to buy a BD Movie and try it on my laptop myself, I'll try to answer the best I can!

1. Not 100% sure, but I believe BD Movies are region coded like DVDs, but the region coding is different to standard DVD coding. Ive not tried it on my laptop yet, so Im not sure if it gives you a number of tries....

2. I think you can just use Windows Media Player to watch a BD Movie, although most people tend to use PowerDVD.

3. Only if the resolution of your screen is high enough. 720p is HD, and if you have a resolution of 1366x768 or above, you can view in 720p. If you have a resolution of 1920x1080 or above, you can view in 1080p. So for example, my resolution is set at 1920x1200, so I will be able to view movies in 1080p (although bear in mind the difference between 720p and 1080p is not majorly noticable to the naked eye anyways).

4. You need to send the image through the output on your laptop. Once the cable is connected and the HDTV is set take its input from the HDMI port, you press 'Fn + F8' on your laptop and it will switch the display to your external source.
Bear in mind, I dont think HDMI carries audio. So you will need to connect an audio cable between your laptop to the TV, or to your external speaker setup.

 

Thanks for that! That was especially useful knowing that even the "15.4" UltraSharp™ Widescreen WSXGA+ (1680x1050) TFT Display with TrueLife" on the XPSM1530 wont be able to display 1080p.

As for point 1. BD movies are ABC region coded whereas DVD use 1-6.

Thanks again.

 

Yeh I think you need a 17" or above to get the 1080p resolutions....

 

There are a few 15.4"s with 1920x1080 resolution.

 

^^
The text and icons on them, with max res, would be insanely unreadable! lol

 

i thought you can output audio with the hdmi. thats like one of the reasons for hdmi!

 

HDMI certainly does carry audio. There are multiple threads here detailing how.

 

You should still be able to output 1080p no problem, but wont see 1080p resolution on your 15" screen.

I've read due to some copyright HDCP stuff you may still have to use a program like anydvd to remote the copyright protection to get the full resolution on your TV. Not sure the circumstances, maybe search the forum for anydvd or hdmi.

Do you mean you have to do something special to get the audio out of the HDMI port? That would be weird.

 

i've changed regions once - and no warning popped up about limited number of changes (like it does with a dvd). so i'm hoping it's unlimited - but yet to fully try it out.

i use dell media direct for watching bluray - works fine for me.

my laptop screen is 1280x800 - but i output to my tv at 1920x1200 to get the 1080p experience.

hdmi works well for both video and audio - you'll need to press fn-f8 to get the video to the tv, and also select hdmi audio as the default in the sound control panel (and might need to check/uncheck a few boxes in the sound format screen to get it to work properly, depending on your tv).

 

I'd be very much surprised if it's unlimited. That basically kills the whole purpose of region codes. It would be nice to know for sure...

Anyway, where can you change it? Control panel or device properties, etc..?

 

i change it in dell media direct - there's an option for bluray drive settings - a pull-down selection for region a/b/c. no warning popped up when i selected region b - but i haven't changed it since (region b is for australia).

 

I just received my m1530 and the BluRay plays well on a 1680x1050 screen. The only thing you'll notice is that it's a bit loud when loading/unloading the disc. But once playing it's quiet.