Question: Will PowerDVD Ultra 9 play Blu-ray folders from hard drive?

Nick Hope

The PowerDVD 7.3 that was bundled with my LG Blu-ray burner will not play my authored Blu-ray folders from my hard drive. I would like to do this for testing my menu structure etc. before wasting discs, but I understand the studios got the feature taken out at version 7.2/7.3. I can do it by writing an ISO image with ImgBurn and mounting this with Virtual CloneDrive software but it's a lengthy and clumsy extra step in my workflow.

I understand Nero Showtime will play the folders from hard drive, but I'm not keen on buying the whole Nero suite for this. Can anyone confirm that the latest version still does this?

I prefer PowerDVD but I have had mixed reports regarding PowerDVD Ultra 9. Some say it still won't play the folders but one report said that the index.bdmv or MovieObject.bdmv files in the BDMV folder can now be opened in version 9 and trigger playback of the Blu-ray. Anyone know if this is true?

Thanks!

zaina

No, PowerDVD9 will not play from Blu-ray folders.

I just tried opening index.bdmv and MovieObject.bdmv, it will not open it.

I can recommend ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater 3, it will play from folder and able to screen capture (which PowerDVD can't). It is faster when opening Blu-ray movies and smaller footprint (no "extra" like MoovieLive in PDVD9).