I don’t see how a Blu-ray player connected over HDMI to a TV is supposed to look dramatically different than a PC hooked up the exact same way, I think your calibration comment is moot in this instance.
If your TV is calibrated for rec.709 for your Blu-ray player, but it isn’t calibrated for RGB for your PC, then it very much will look different, and the Blu-ray will be better. Since most calibrators only calibrate for rec.709 anyway, it’s very non-moot.
I’m not saying the point is not a good one in general, but I’m pretty sure the guy who can’t settle on one option to play the DeEd and can’t format a USB drive isn’t going to have a screen that’s already specially calibrated for one HDMI source over another. I meant it is moot to him, and even bringing it up could confuse him further.
And since my original general rant has now ended up laser focused on Joey, we should really focus on figuring out what he’s wanting. Is he wanting this just for personal use, or to share with friends/family, is he seeing buying a burner and/or player or formatting a USB drive (have we even figured out what he was trying to plug it into?) as his only hope to watch it on a TV? Does he have a computer he can use temporarily (or permanently), if he JUST wants to watch the movies? Does he want a pretty BD case? …Is his TV professionally calibrated?
All this talk of calibration or the ways you guys might like to archive stuff or make boxes, etc. is not coming from anything he’s said, but what you like to do. Let’s get his actual requirements first, and then see if any of our preferences fit his needs before we push anything else on him.