I don’t recall if I have previously watched any DVD’s on our office PC or our laptop since installing Windows 10, but much to my surprise when I tried to do so yesterday, it would not work.
Both computers tried to use Media Monkey, an audio app, to try to play the DVD, and after I unstalled Media Monkey from the PC, it then went to the Microsoft Store.
I had expected that Windows Media Player would have handled it as it was selected as the default video app under “settings” but after some checking, it turns out that it won’t play DVD discs.
After reading an article which recommended VLC as a superior option, I have now installed VLC for free.
What a retrograde step when Windows cannot play DVD or Blu-ray discs as standard in 2020.
I think this comes down to licensing agreements. I can imagine they save a good amount of money (and in turn the customer) by not having licensed DVD player software included in the OS.
In saying that, Windows DVD Player costs $22.45 in the Microsoft Store. I think this way they get around having to pay licensing costs when they know people are probably using better free software instead of their own.
I looked at the Windows DVD Player but also read a tech help article which was very unflattering of it and which recommended that the free VLC player was much surperior.
A few DVD player software comparisons for Windows 10 have also listed VLC as their top choice.
It has some amazing capabilities if you are prepared to dig into all the menu options and/or look up some online guides. I generally only use it to play video, but it can do all sorts of other stuff too. If you can hook your DVD player up to your phone, you’ll find that VLC comes in a mobile version as well. (I’m not entirely sure whether the mobile version will recognise DVDs.)
I did first use VLC many years ago for video formats that Windows Media Player could not handle, but I am sure that Windows 7, 8 & 8.1, if not early versions of 10 did actually play DVD discs when I converted old VCR tapes to DVD and then burnt the discs.
Nothing like progress in 2020 with Microsoft’s 20/20 vision test to gouge consumers.
I have used K-Lite Codec pack for years, which includes Media Player Classic Home Cinema (MPC-HC) Player, (Standard - Full - Mega).
I use the MEGA codec pack as it will play just about Any Audio or Video File. Works with Windows XP,Vista, Windows 7,8,8.1,10 etc.
Win 10 in Beta at first did support DVD playing but this function was removed very early in the beta program. It has never supported Blu-ray playing as they did not want to pay the licencing fees to Sony for the Blu-ray codec. Also remember MS actually had their own version of what was termed HD DVD which they released on their X Boxes in competition with Sony PlayStation and their supporters.
Because there was an outcry about the DVD playing MS relented and produced a pay for program/app that allowed DVD/Blu-ray playback. But they are required to pay fees to Sony for this Blu-ray capability is my understanding and why they have the payment to use the App. VLC like others cleverly uses non-licence fee attracting means to playback Blu-ray media among a myriad of other format type media. Some of the media they support has copyright on the processes used but is free to use as long as they do not alter the codec behind the playback. K-lite has similar to VLC.
