With Blu-ray drives for PCs selling for less than $150 -- and only getting cheaper -- many HTPC fans are left wondering, what is the best HTPC Blu-ray software? While the old favorites were the first on the scene with PowerDVD and WinDVD, ArcSoft has recently been bragging how popular its TotalMedia Theater is with high end HTPC vendors like NiveusMedia and Vidabox. We assume the reason is because these companies are keen on Vista Media Center and ArcSoft works harder on integrating with Media Center than the rest. But Media Center integration isn't the end all be all for Blu-ray playback, and it isn't that difficult to integrate the other players yourself. So this left us wondering, which is the best Blu-ray player software for Windows?

While the vPad will certainly push the buttons of some home automation freaks, the in-wall TouchClient12 is likely to float the boat of just about everyone else. The unit is designed to be mounted flush within a wall, and aside from packing a predictable 12.1-inch color touchscreen (1,024 x 768 resolution), you'll also find Windows XP embedded within. Unlike most of the outfit's products, this one is available to the public right from its website, giving DIYers and headstrong homeowners the ability to bypass those pricey installers (and potentially mutilate their wall). As for connections, all that's needed is power and a CAT5 wire, after which you can program the panel to control anything controllable on your property. Sure sounds nice, but $2,499 nice? We'll leave that one to you.

Although Toshiba itself has walked away from HD DVD, it seems that some companies are still giving users the option to never let go (and understandably so). VidaBox is one such outfit, which has just announced that it's bringing Blu-ray and HD DVD storage and streaming capabilities to its growing list of Media Servers. According to the firm, "unencrypted titles can be copied onto a VidaBox server, and then streamed to VidaBox extenders." Interestingly, that's about where the details end, but feel free to peep the full release in the read link below.

This one's been around the block for a bit, but it's just now managed to sneak up on us. The VidaBox vPad comes from the same firm offering up those swank CableCARD-equipped HTPCs, and this home controller shares that very same pizazz. The 10.4-inch tablet rocks a 1,024 x 768 resolution panel, integrated 802.11b WiFi, a built-in speaker and a rechargeable Li-ion good for around 2.5 hours. As expected, this unit enables owners to control multi-room audio, climate zones, security cameras, garage doors and WiFi-enabled toasters, we presume. 'Course, you'll need Mirage software for VidaBox control or your own home automation hardware to really take advantage of the vPad, and unfortunately, we've no pricing / release details to share just yet.

[Thanks, JoeyChina]

Hey, we all knew good and well VidaBox was sparing no luxury when crafting the CableCARD-ready, HD DVD / Blu-ray supporting HTPC it affectionately dubs the Magnum, but even the well prepared may be a tad taken aback by the price. While the vendor's website still requests that you swallow a chill pill and calmly call for any pricing inquiries, AudioJunkies has apparently done us all the favor. Wrapped up in what appears to be OrigenAE's oh-so-sexy aluminum chassis, the VidaBox Magnum reportedly starts at a dollar under eight grand, and while we're sure the base configuration is more than plenty, why not throw in an extra stick of RAM and a few terabytes of HDD space to ensure your next media PC costs more than a new Kia Rio?

Hard to believe (well, maybe not so much) that you've had to twiddle your thumbs nearly half a year to see VidaBox actually ship those well-spec'd all-in-one media centers, but thankfully for those who've waited, deployment starts now. The firm's highly customizable LUX and MAGNUM rigs sport both Blu-ray and HD DVD support (via dual drives or in a single drive like another offering), CableCARD, 7.1 Dolby Digital HD and DTS HD surround sound, up to four OTA tuners, 4GB of RAM, and up to 9TB of onboard storage on select models. Unfortunately for those already whipping out the credit cards, placing your order won't be as easy as you'd expect, as we imagine that "call for price" bit really means "too enormous to list."

Like your home rolled media center do ya? Well tell us this, can yours throw down against dual integrated CableCARDs, Blu-ray, HD DVD and more than 3TB of RAID-5 protected storage? Definitely not since you haven't managed to skirt the CableLabs certification process... have you? Well, VidaBox's latest all-in-ones can, at least they will once they begin shipping in March 2007. Each new media center system will be engineered to record two HD shows while playing back your choice of a pre-recorded show from disk, Blu-ray or HD DVD media, high fidelity music, upscaled DVD, or digital picture slideshow. Not sure if those optical drives will be writers or read-only devices but we'll guess the latter -- just like their MAX and LUX dual-drive systems. While pricing or specific models were announced, you can expect 'em to drop for more than $5k as their new, top-o-the-line systems.

Update: Looks like Vidabox spoke too soon. Their press release neglected to mention that they have yet to receive a Microsoft license to enable CableCARD support in their box (which also leaves us wondering whether they received CableLABS certification, or if they're building that aspect of the process into their launch date). Either way, We're a little sketched that they'd announce before approval; we'll let you know what turns up.

Update 2: We heard back from Vidabox, they claim that they "are indeed receiving Microsoft licenses to enable CableCARD support in our VidaBox media centers" and that "the bottom line is that our VidaBox systems that will be released in March are fully licensed with Vista Ultimate & certified for CableCARD." Sounds like some licensor / licensee he said she said, but until Vidabox can confirm their license to vend CableCARD Vista boxes we may be inclined to take the word of the project manager in Microsoft's Windows group that contacted us. Either way, we'll let ya know.