HP MediaSmart DVD, Windows 7 & Blu-Ray

[crlowryjr]

I installed the HP provided Windows 7 upgrade to my S5160F that came pre-installed with a blu-ray drive and SW.

Now that I'm on Win 7 the provided version of HP Mediasmart DVD will not play my Blu-Ray disks.

The error I get is 'unsupported format, please insert a movie'.

In speaking with HP support, the 'suggested solution' is to purchase the Cyberlink Power DVD SW.

I'm puzzled ... I purchased this system with the blu-ray DVD and SW preinstalled. I availed the free HP Upgrade to Windows 7 and followed the directions provided. Nowhere in the instructions or forums have I found a warning, that installing the HP provided upgrade and supplimental drivers / updates would remove my ability to play Blu-Ray discs.  I have tried loading every single SP and update on the HP FTP site and nothing works ... they all seemed stripped of their Blu-ray playing capability.

Does anybody know of a solution to this ... 

---Rob

[tobias1]

I have the same problem.  I was informed to remove the software and now can't get it back.  I am working with HP to see if they can help me.   

[MFS]

I have been fighting this same issue for several days. I too have tried multiple HP sp's to no avail, and in fact, I  couldn't even play regular DVD's for a while.  But, now I do have at least a temporary free solution for you.  The problem in a nutshell seems to be that the MediaSmart Bluray DVD software that HP provides is actually an HP version of Cyberlink Power DVD player.  To be more specific, I believe that it is version 7 of the Cyberlink DVD player, and despite HP's claim that their DVD player is Windows 7 compatible, Cyberlink says that version 7 is NOT compatible with Windows 7.  However, Cyberlink's newer versions, DVD8 DVD9 are fully Windows 7 compatible.  So I went to the Cyberlink website and downloaded a free 30 day trial verison of Cyberlink Power DVD9 Ultra http://www.cyberlink.com/downloads/trials/powerdvd/download_en_US.html?affid=2581_578_504_6939_0_ENU... .  After I installed it , everything is now working fine.  I can play both regular DVD's and Blueray Disks with no problems.  DVD9 also has some nice enhancements to imprve picture quality.   I now have at least 30 days for HP to come up with a truly Windows 7 compatible version of their software, or I can buy a license to convert my trial DVD9 player to the full version.  IMPORTANT NOTE: if you want to play Bluray Disks you MUST install the "Ultra" version of DVD8 or DVD9,  the Deluxe and Standard versions do NOT support Bluray.  For the record, my HP Laptop is a Pavillion dv7-2173cl.  I did a Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Upgrade from my previous Vista Home Premium 64 bit.  Also, if you did not uninstall your original HP (Cyberlink) MediaSmart DVD player before you did the W7 upgrade, you may not be able to uninstall it after the upgrade.  There is some problem with the uninstall for this software in W7.  The good news is that does not seem to matter.  My DVD9 player still seems to work OK, even with the old HP software lurking in the background.  If someone knows how to manually remove the old player, please let me know.  Hope this helps!

[Grizalo]

Same problem on 2 different HP's that I installed Windows 7 on. This was a free upgrade from HP. All other functions seem to work except:

No blu-ray player - did the same thing and downloaded a trial version of Cyberlink

No 2 way communication to my wireless HP photosmart printer/scanner/fax

After spending an hour and half with customer service he stated the blu-ray is a known isssue, solution he gave me was to restore from back-up disks and go back to Vista 64 bit.

Since I like having full function of my computers I am going back to Vista. One is a laptop the other is our entertainment PC hooked up to our 52" LCD TV and surround system.

I'll just upgrade later on after HP works out a solution.

[crlowryjr]

I'm begining to believe this is an OEM Licensing problem ... the reason I say this, is that brand new systems from HP have a working copy of Media Smart DVD (I have gone to Fry's and Best Buy and verified the Blu-Ray does work on prebuilt win7 systems).

I'm guessing HP (and I do mean I'm just guessing) is only allowed to put the product they are licensing from Cyberlink on a new system. Why else would we be getting such a run around from HP on something that is as simple as giving us the same version they are pre-installing on the new Win7 builds?

It's horrible support from HP to not mention this ANYWHERE and for us to waste incredible amounts of time speaking to their support staff.

---Rob

[vscof]

I did a clean install on an HDX18 laptop from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional downloading all drivers from the HP website. Everything worked except the DVD/Blu-ray. It would refuse to play either format no matter what.  After trying everything I knew and could find from others on the internet including installing the trial version of Cyberlink PowerDVD 9 Ultimate, I stumbled across a link http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7pictures/thread/a5bf1f3f-33c4-4502-ae2e-42cbd8f9d... pertaining to the same problem. Even though I disabled and checked for blockage of the program due to the firewall I was using (I had COMODO - just the firewall piece), this link mentioned that this firewall application was not compatible with Cyberlink at this time. I uninstalled the firewall and both dvds and blu-rays now work on my system. (The link also mentioned to try updating the video card). Hopefully this will help you in getting yours to work.

[crlowryjr]

Interesting read ... thanks for the pointers.

In my testing I have already verified with the trial version of Power DVD that everytthing 'under the covers' works, as well as a couple other 'pay' Blu-Ray player applications. The Media Smart DVD app that comes std is the app that no longer works, and I'm being a little stubborn about this ... I see no reason I should have to buy a $79 piece of SW to fix a problem that is quite clearly HP's.

Again, thanks for reading the post and offering help : )

---Rob

[vscof]

Sorry I wasn't clearer, but I did get the HP Media Smart DVD  to work - the version from HP download site. I too, do not feel I should have to pay for the commercial version of the software when I have already paid quite a bit for it in the first place. I guess, my point was to look for programs that you have added, be it a firewall or such, that is conflicting with HP Media SmartDVD/Cyberlink Power DVD anything, no matter how unlikely. Windows 7 (Vista7 ;0)  ) seem to work very well, but no doubt there are still issues with so-called compatible drivers, programs, etc. Good Luck.

[pauly212]

I too have tried cyberlinks power dvd suite trial and media suite trial both work so why doesn't  the HP version work?.

I bought this PC to play Bluray discs on it. Surely HP have a duty to supply working software for this purpose?

Why can't HP supply the original Cyberlink DVD suite software if their own won't work with windows 7.

If anyone else would like to try the media suite trial it's here

http://www.cyberlink.com/products/cyberlink-media-suite/overview_en_US.html

[crlowryjr]

Just got off the phone with a 2nd level HP 'case manager'...

According to her, this is a known problem with certain HP systems and a fix is still being put together.

The ETA she gave was mid to late Jan.

While it's nice to hear that the problem is 'known' it's bothersome that HP would waste the time of so many of its customers and that I would have to get jerked around by the 1st level support team for so long. Definitely soured me on HP all-together. Not being naive though ... as every large company is like this. My money is going elsewhere for now ... no more HP recommendations to my friends as I no longer see them being 'better quality or better support' than anybody else. You'd seriously think there would be some kind of warning 'if you install the update, on xxx model, you're BD Player SW will no longer work'.

---Rob