Broadcom technology allows low-end computers to play Blu-ray movies

[BR7]

[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']With Blu-ray now the winner of the HD format wars, the time for PC makers to get Blu-ray technology into the hands of consumers is here. The catch is that for a computer to handle the Blu-ray playback, requirements typically include either a dedicated discrete GPU or a high-end CPU.>>[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']In the price range most computer shoppers are buying, you don’t commonly get fast CPUs and discrete graphics. You get low-end CPUs and integrated graphics incapable of Blu-ray playback. Broadcom has introduced new products that allow these low end computers that are already in the marketplace and new systems that will be released to playback Blu-ray films with lower specs.[/FONT]

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[admin]

Reminds me of the old days with Sigma RealMagic DVD hardware decoder cards. Now those were really necessary since even the fastest PCs back then barely had enough power to decode a DVD stream.

These decoder cards would be a good alternative to getting a fast/loud CPU/GPU combination, if gaming is not a priority.

[BR7]

Here I thought I would be able to use a BR drive
WRONG
I used the Cyberlink advisor and this is what it told me (i put it in the attachment)

[admin]

PowerDVD's GPU requirements are quite high, since many cards are capable of decoding Blu-ray but it won't let you use it. The minimum I think is a Radeon X1600 and a Nvidia 8xxx series, whereas WinDVD Plus 9 does not have any such requirements (even my old Radeon 9800 works). There is the HDCP requirement, but WinDVD still allows you to play movies at reduced resolution if you use the analog VGA output. You can try the WinDVD version of the advisor tool to see if you have more luck:

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Content/1193332030582