G73JH-A1 Blu-ray Player requires an update?

I have installed the "WinDVD BD for ASUS" Blu-ray player, but can't play any BD movies. Whenever I place a Blu-ray Disc into the drive, I get a big red window (inside WinDVD BD for ASUS) that comes up and says "WARNING Your Blu-ray Player requires an update in order to play this disc. Please visit your Blu-ray Player manufacturer's website and follow their instructions to update your Blu-ray Player."

The drive is set for Region 1, and plays DVD's just fine. According to the device manager it is a "MATA BD-CMB UJ141AS" unit. I did a google search for drivers and / or firmware updates, with no luck. I couln't find any info on this drive (other than it is made by Panasonic) let alone any instructions or updates.

This is all after I installed the SSD, did a clean OS install, and "Anytime" upgraded to Windows 7 Professional x64. I only installed the drivers that were suggested by Kalim here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=468027

Do I need to install something else, not ckecked off by Kalim's list, in order to get the Blu-ray player to work?

The original "factory" install had a "Cyberlink" player that played a Blu-ray that I tried out when I first got the notebook. I did not have to install the WinDVD player from the ASUS site. I can't seem to find this player anywhere on the ASUS Driver & Utilities DVD, or the ASUS site.

If it's of any consequence, the Blu-ray discs that I tried are "UP", "X-Men Origins Wolverine", and "Avatar".

 

Hmm, I don't see anything in the guide that would have any impact on playing Blu-ray discs on your G73. When you say you installed the "WinDVD BD for ASUS" Blu-ray player, is that the one linked from the guide? If not, you could try that one.

I don't have much experience with Blu-ray drives on a Windows platform. I purposely chose the G73JH-X1 because it doesn't have a Blu-ray player. For Blu-ray, I use a PS3.

I thought when WinDVD needed something, it simply phoned home to Corel and downloaded it. Could the application be blocked by your Firewall?

The drive is a Panasonic/Matshi ta (<-- forum censored the name, LOL) and I too couldn't find any firmware, not even the current version.

 

Did you update the AACS key after you installed WinDVD BD for ASUS?
Try this:
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satell...10274094&PID=3640576&SID=skim525X832&trkid=CJ

 

I just installed the WINDVD8 from Asus site and it asked to update itself once installed.

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?modelname=WINDVD&SLanguage=en-us

I played EARTH blu-ray w/o a hiccup.

 

All you have to do is make sure you are connected to the internet and:
- Right click WinDVD icon on the desktop
- Run as Administrator and it'll update the AACS key.

You only have to do this once.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. Yes, this is the WinDVD for ASUS version that I downloaded from the ASUS site. Yes, I right clicked on the shortcut and ran it as administrator to update the AACS key. It went to the Corel site, I logged in, and it updated successfully. Yes, I tried to temporarily disable the firewall and (Avast) antivirus. That didn't work either.

Just for giggles and grins, I tried all the discs from my entire BD collection, all (6) of them. These were the results:

District 9 - Plays fine
UP - Plays fine (I put in the wrong disc when I stated it did not play earlier)

X-Men Origins Wolverine - Warning message
Avatar - Warning message
Something, Something, Darkside - Warning message
Ice Age, Dawn of the Dinosaurs - Warning message

Now I'm really confused. Seems that it can play some BD's, but not others. Could this be some sort of codec issue? Does the WinDVD player need to be updated instead of the BD drive itself?

Can anyone successfully play any of the BD's (on their machine) listed here that I can not play (on my machine)? Just curious.

 

Keep in mind that, although the link I included in the guide for WinDVD comes from ASUS, it is not the same version you will find when you navigate the ASUS website. The guide version is newer.

I say this for clarification and not because I think the guide version would fix the issue you are having.

 

I just tried to play Avatar & X-Men Origins on my G73 and couldn't. I did go to Corel website and found this.

http://corel.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/764424/session/L3NpZC9jYzJHUjktag==/sno/0

 

OK, so at least I know it's not just me. I guess that the BD drive itself is working properly. It just seems to be a player issue.

 

Kalim, could you please give me the link to this "newer" guide version. Thanks.

 

Follow the link in my sig and go to the bottom of the "The Conclusion" section. However, based on the URL Gruvin2 included, it probably won't make a difference.

 

Thanks again, Kalim. I didn't realize you had that link in your walkthrough.

 

I tried playing Avatar on the Asus version of WinDvd and it would not work. No updates available according to the software. If you buy windvd 2010 pro it works great. Seems like the slow updating of older or OEM releases is just a way to sell the full version.

Cheers,

 

Thanks panzer06. I just purchased and downloaded the Win DVD Pro 2010 player. Yes, it does play ALL of my BD's without issue. It really sucks that the free version ASUS has is so obsolete that it is pretty much useless for most BD's. You would think that they would at least give you some sort of discount coupon or something when purchasing a new notebook, instead of wasting their customer's time with a version that they HAVE TO know will not be satisfactory.

 

Based upon what you wrote, I take it that the linked version in the guide didn't improve the situation.

In fairness to Corel/WinDVD, they posted the acknowledgment of the issue 5 days ago.

 

UPDATE--Corel site now states the software is at the end of its life-cycle and will no longer be supported--they offer a reduced upgrade to WinDVD10 for $39

 

I wonder what ASUS will do now that their modern laptops can't play modern discs.

 

Mine (version 8.0.20.100) doesn't play AVatar BD either. It says BD-J Error code 1000.

I searched for WinDVD BD 8 update/patch and found that both both Toshiba and Sony have released updates 8.0.20.185 for their laptops that fix this problem. I downloaded them and tried to run them but they insist I don't have the right hardware hehehe so will not update my copy of WinDVD BD for ASUS.

Now please Asus be nice and support us customers and release an update for WinDVD BD 8. It's not that difficult!

 

I got a G73jh-A1 the day before yesterday and the Blu-Ray (and standard) DVD playback wouldn't work. PowerDVD 9 would shut down immediately every time I tried to insert a DVD or start the program from the program list. I tried updating at the website, but that didn't help. This morning I spoke to a tech at ASUS who told me to reinstall all the software and drivers from a hidden partition by booting the computer and pressing the F9 key. Any personal data will have to be backed up first, or it will be lost. There's a choice screen that comes up in the process, asking which disks you want to restore. It's only the OS disk that needs to be restored (first option). After I did this, the Blu-Ray (and standard) DVD playback worked fine. However, I tried doing an update from the Cyberlink website again, and again the program stopped working, and I had to repeat the rather long restoration process, so be warned.

 

I have WinDVD on my Sony and it had playback problems with some blu-ray`s , but Sony have released an update, see below.

WinDVD BD - 10.0.5.164 - 34.28 MB 30/12/2009

 

I find it eerily coincidental that you tried to play the exact same movies I did. Made my own thread about this too:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/489679-any-real-blu-ray-players-oem-asus-g73jh.html