Question about playing blu-ray movies via PC

[Daigohji]

I'm considering buying an internal blu-ray drive for my PC so I can import Region A blu-ray movies from the US. However, my graphics card only has a DVI output, not HDMI. I use a DVI to HDMI cable to connect it to my TV and twin RCA cables from my sound card for the audio, and this works fine for normal use.

Nvidia control panel states that my graphics card and TV are both HDCP-capable, but what I want to know is if blu-ray movies will send the audio through my sound card as normal, or if HDCP content requires the audio to go through HDMI.

My system is:
Vista 32-bit
Core 2 Quad Q9300
4Gb RAM
Geforce 9800 GTX+
and my TV is a Panasonic TX-L37G20

Also, what software is best to use for playing blu-ray movies on PC?

Any help appreciated.

[Fudoh]

Audio wil be downmixed to either stereo or you get the DTS-Core, both through your standard sound card.

Still, watching encrypted Blu-Rays on a PC is a REAL pain the ass, because of the HDCP restrictions (and because you need a commercial BD playback software like PowerDVD). You're MUCH better off by just ripping the BD to a MKV file and watching this instead - either on your PC with any media player you like or on any media player connected to your TV set. MakeMKV is free and it just created a container without reencoding your movie.

Also your system specs are definitely on the lower end for software based BD playback, but that's because HDCP requires so much CPU within the player. Ripped all your BDs will play like a charm.

[ZellSF]

AnyDVD HD allows you to watch blu-rays with any media player, it is on the expensive side though (63.20€ now). Anything I want to watch frequently I rip first with MakeMKV, like Fudoh suggests. Unless you have a really fast blu-ray reader, you probably don't want to do that for everything you watch.

[system11]

Easier to just buy a region modified blu-ray player. Not the cheapest option but it is the best - multiregionmagic.co.uk sell them pre-modified.

[Daigohji]

I shelved this issue for a while, but have started considering a modded blu-ray player again. Does anyone know if the ICOS mod would cause any limitations to the Smart TV functionality of the player? I know that modded consoles can be blocked from online services, so I was wondering if it's the same with these. I've got my eye on a Panasonic DMP-BDT230, specifically.