Disc Won't Play in VLC

[koberulz]

I tried opening the recent Sony Blu-ray of D.E.B.S. and it just displays the small jpg image that usually shows up while a disc is loading. It's been an hour now...

There are no errors or anything, as usually happens if I have the wrong region or accidentally open it as a DVD instead of a Blu-ray or something. I can rip it fine with MakeMKV, but with no access to the menus I'm not sure what anything is.

[Sayaka]

Have you tried mounting the ISO file as a virtual drive and opening the virtual drive as a Blu-ray in VLC, as well as updating Java (in case an outdated version of Java could be preventing you from accessing the menus ?)

EDIT : To clarify, have you tried this ?

1) Make a *full* decrypted backup of the disc with MakeMKV (not an MKV rip),
2) Turn the resulting folder into a proper ISO file (you have to use UDF 2.50 I believe) with a tool such as IMGBurn,
3) Mount the ISO file as a virtual drive,
4) In VLC, do Media -> Open Disc -> Disc -> Tick "Blu-ray" and select the virtual drive as a device, then click on "play" ?

[koberulz]

I updated Java and now when I open the disc I get an error saying Java isn't detected on my system so the disc will play without menus...

[Sayaka]

I get an error saying Java isn't detected on my system

Odd. Could you please confirm the following things :

1) You have a 64-bit Windows operating system,

2) You are using the latest 64-bit version of VLC,

3) You are using the latest 64-bit version of Java.

(Mixing CPU architectures - namely 32-bit and 64-bit - is unlikely to work).

[koberulz]

I don't know how to check/confirm those things. I ended up installing both 32- and 64-bit versions of Java, which I vaguely recall having done in the past for something (and indeed when I updated the installer said I had two older versions currently installed). So it really ought to be fine regardless of which VLC it is.

[koberulz]

Interestingly, when I open a disc with MakeMKV it says it's using Java from C:/Program Files/Eclipse Adoptium/jdk-17.0.4.101-hotspot/bin/java.exe, but when I run the Java installer it installs to C:/Program Files/Java/jre1.8.0_491

[Sayaka]

Having several versions of Java installed on your system may not be such a good thing, as there can be conflicts.

I don't know how to check/confirm those things.

The Windows one can be done simply by going into System Information. Windows will tell you whether you have a 32-bit or a 64-bit OS. Also, if you know you have Windows 11, you have a 64-bit OS and there's no need to check.

The easiest way to check the VLC one is by checking the installer file, if you've still got it. If there's a "win32" in the name it's the 32-bit version, if there's a "win64" in the name it's the 64-bit version. I would recommend installing the version with the architecture that matches your OS's (32-bit or 64-bit). You can check whether you have the latest version of VLC by clicking on "Help" -> "Check for Updates" in VLC.

As for Java, at this point I would recommend uninstalling every version of Java on your system and re-installing the latest version of Java with the architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) that matches both your OS's and VLC's.

EDIT : Manual Java download : https://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

[koberulz]

The Windows one can be done simply by going into System Information. Windows will tell you whether you have a 32-bit or a 64-bit OS. Also, if you know you have Windows 11, you have a 64-bit OS and there's no need to check.

The easiest way to check the VLC one is by checking the installer file, if you've still got it.

Both 64-bit.

As for Java, at this point I would recommend uninstalling every version of Java on your system and re-installing the latest version of Java with the architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) that matches both your OS's and VLC's.

I have no idea what Eclipse Adoptium is or why it's installed, but I'm assuming there's a reason. It must have been necessary for something at some point, so I'm reluctant to mess with it...not that I know how to uninstall it either. Going into “Add or Remove Programs” in the Control Panel and searching for “java” only returns the one result.

[Sayaka]

Let's give this one more try. Stolen and edited from this website : https://azimuahamed.medium.com/java-env ... fe71e43b5e

Set the JAVA_HOME Environment Variable:

Now, you need to set the JAVA_HOME environment variable to point to the JRE installation directory:

Right-click on the Windows icon in the taskbar and select “System.”
In the System window, click on “Advanced system settings” on the left sidebar.

In the System Properties window, click the “Environment Variables” button.

In the Environment Variables window, under the “System variables” section, click “New.”
For the “Variable name,” enter JAVA_HOME.
For the “Variable value,” enter the path to your JRE installation directory. For example, C:/Program Files/Java/jre1.8.0_491
Click “OK” to save the variable.

Set the JRE_HOME Environment Variable:

In the same “Environment Variables” window, under the “System variables” section, click “New.”
For the “Variable name,” enter JRE_HOME.
For the “Variable value,” enter the path to your JRE installation directory. For example, C:/Program Files/Java/jre1.8.0_491
Click “OK” to save the variable.

Edit the PATH Environment Variable

Next, you need to add the bin directory of your JRE installation to the PATH environment variable. This will allow you to run Java executables from any command prompt.

In the same “Environment Variables” window, find the “Path” variable under the “System variables” section and select it.
Click “Edit.”
Click “New” and then add the path to the bin directory inside your Java installation directory. For example, C:/Program Files/Java/jre1.8.0_491/bin
Click “OK” to save the changes

[koberulz]

Yep, that fixed the Java issue; it was still set to the folder of the previous Java version.

Now the ISO mounted with Virtual Clone Drive is exhibiting the same behavior as the disc, just displaying the image indefinitely.

[Sayaka]

Hmm. I trust if you go to Help -> About in VLC it does say "3.0.23 Vetinari", yes ? Just this once, could you please try using 64-bit Kodi (https://kodi.tv/download/windows/) instead of VLC and let me know how that goes ?

(You would then likely have to select "Movies" in Kodi, then the easiest way would be to right-click on the virtual drive in order to attempt to play the movie.)

[koberulz]

It doesn't work in Kodi either, although I'm using an older version. If I right-click on it and select Play, nothing happens.

If I have a disc in my physical drive, right-clicking on the virtual drive and selecting Play plays the physical disc.

[Sayaka]

It doesn't work in Kodi either, although I'm using an older version. If I right-click on it and select Play, nothing happens.

If I have a disc in my physical drive, right-clicking on the virtual drive and selecting Play plays the physical disc.

So, let me get this straight :

With Kodi, playing the physical disc works just fine, including the Blu-ray menus ? But it doesn't work with the backup ? If so, that's really odd.

EDIT : Is updating Kodi a valid possibility for you ? Theoretically you shouldn't lose your settings.

[koberulz]

With Kodi, playing the physical disc works just fine, including the Blu-ray menus ? But it doesn't work with the backup ? If so, that's really odd.

No, a different physical disc just happened to be in the drive, and kept playing when I tried to play the virtual disc.

EDIT : Is updating Kodi a valid possibility for you ? Theoretically you shouldn't lose your settings.

Yeah, I don't actually use it I just installed it way back when I was playing with various media server options and never got around to uninstalling, so I had it lying around.

That I'm having issues in both suggests it's not an issue with the player software, though.