How to Hook up a Blu-Ray to Your Desktop

Print this articleIf you have a Blu-Ray player and want to watch videos through your computer monitor, you must use a capture device. Capture devices plug into the USB port or the PCI slots on your computer. You can play Blu-Ray through composite, component or HDMI, but HDMI connections block recordings of copy-protected discs using High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection encryption. Not all capture devices use all formats, so make sure the one you choose supports the connection you want.

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Connect your video capture device to your computer. USB devices simply plug into an open USB slot. PCI cards plug into the PCI slots on your motherboard. Refer to your computer's documentation for instructions on how to open the case and install PCI cards.

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Install the software that came with your capture device. Refer to the documentation for instructions.

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Determine what type of connection you want to use. HDMI gives the best picture quality and is the only method that can play video in 1080p, but you cannot record copy-protected materials. You can capture copy-protected video using component or composite connections. Component video can transmit in 1080i and 720p. Composite is limited to 480i.

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Plug the cables from your Blu-Ray player into the input ports on your capture device. HDMI has one cable for both audio and video. Component and composite use separate cables. The jacks and connectors are color-coded. Plug the connection into the corresponding colored jack.

Tips & Warnings

To play Blu-Ray discs with HDMI, your video card and monitor must support HDCP copy protection. Other connections do not require HDCP support.

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