Hey fellow freaks, I've been away for a few months and it's good to be back! I've been trying to modify the Windows XP Autoplay handlers in order to have PowerDVD autoplay entries for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray media upon insertion but without success. So far every time an HD-DVD movie is inserted I get a blank Autoplay window (see attachment below). When a Blu-Ray disc is inserted I get no autoplay at all; a windows explorer window opens to browse the contents of the Blu-ray disc. Autoplay works well for all other media types.

I searched through the appropriate autoplay locations in the registry but there was no media type for HD-DVD, so I don't know where the blank autoplay window for that media type comes from!

I also used Autoplay Repair and TweakUI bu they only allow manipulation of the handlers. There is no option to create a new autoplay media type with either of these programs, you can only add/remove/edit handlers to existing pre-defined media types. Any ideas?

By the way, my OS is WinXP SP2 x64

Thanks in advance for any replies

What happens if you right-click on the drive and select "open with"? Then choose PowerDVD. In my experience, Autoplay remembers the programs you use this way.

There is on Open With right-click menu available on any of my drives...

Autoplay for HD DVD

Regedit to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlers\Eve ntHandlers\

Add new Key: PlayHDDVDOnArrival
Add Strings:
- NeroAutoPlay7PlayDVD (Nero Showtime)
- PDVDPlayDVDMovieOnArrival ( Power DVD)

Then open Explorer, go to your drive and right click Properties. Click AutoPlay tab, pulldown menu HD DVD movie. You should see selections like below (attachment) to confirm correct registry edits.

For Blu-ray movies, unfortunately I don't know any fix yet, since windows detects some blu-ray type differently, ie BD-ROM and BD-R/RE. But if you insert a BDROM movie (store bought), in my case autoplay handlers will detect as "Pictures" thus as you said it will search for files. To fix BDROM handlers I simply go to the above regedit address and in the "ShowPicturesOnArrival" add new strings for Nero Showtime and Power DVD.

Please let us know if you need more info.

Thanks Zevia, it worked for HD-DVD! Blu-ray is still no good. I did as you adviced adding the entires to ShowPicturesOnArrival but the Explorer window still opens automatically upon disc insertion. This happens despite the fact that I configured Autoplay for all drives to always prompt me for all media types.

Nero 8.1.1.4 crashes everytime I try to play HD-DVD or Blu-Ray via ShowTime but I suspect this is probably a Nero bug. I play all HD content with PowerDVD anyway.

Also changed the NeroAutoPlay7PlayDVD string to NeroAutoPlay8PlayDVD in order for it to work with Nero 8.

Glad it works Cyberman.

I am using Nero 8 and the NeroAutoPlay7PlayDVD string works so I didn't change it.

For blu-ray, I observe that if the drive detects the title as BDROM (as opposed to the movie title), it will go to Pictures. Otherwise it will not do anything (no autoplay).

Anyway I'll try to look more for blu-ray autoplay. Please also post here if you find anything.

Slightly OT, but I'm curious. Has anyone seen any sort of autoplay installs of software on either HD or BD discs? We all know about issues with CDs and DVDs, just wondered if HD discs were a threat.

I run the latest Comodo Firewall v3.0.12.268 with Defence+ on Paranoid Mode (yep, I'm a control freak...). This feature blocks any crucial system modification and then alerts the user to choose what to allow or deny. Thankfuly I haven't encountered any discs that tried to modify any of the settings or install anything behind my back so far

If anyone has any ideas/solutions on how to add new media types in Autoplay please post here. There has to be a way!

CDan, do you mean InterActual Player that installs automatically in some DVDs?

In any case, from few BD and HD discs I've tried on PC, I don't see those kind of issues.

Yes, well let's not forget that Sony is behind BD.

any news on autoplay for BD?

I tried the fix for HD DVD and I still have nothing (at ALL) listed in the HD DVD options for autoplay...??