One of the key components in any home theater PC is the ability to play Blu-ray discs. For years there have been two many options that people have used: Cyberlink PowerDVD and ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre. ArcSoft’s offering was the overwhelming favorite for the DMZ contributors, as seen in our recent post detailing our Media Center PCs.
Unfortunately, we’re now down to one option. With no warning ArcSoft has completely removed TotalMedia Theatre from their site. A reader first pointed out to us that the software was no long available on the site. Later, an ArcSoft employee stated the following in their support forums:
TotalMedia Theatre is currently unavailable for sale on our site. This is intentional.
Later, the same employee added this:
Official statement is it’s been “discontinued for strategic business reasons”.
We’ll keep a close eye on the situation to see if they reverse course. We’re also looking at what other options exist for users that might not be as well known. In the meantime, what are you using for Blu-ray playback on your home theater PC?
Thanks to Curt for the tip!
Sources: Twitter and ArcSoft Forum
