How To Watch A Dvd Windows 10

You can play a DVD in Windows 10 for gratuitous with a little assistance. Only that help'southward probably best if it doesn't come up from Microsoft. I'll tell you lot how Microsoft's solution sort-of works for some people. And then I'll tell yous near the much improve culling chosen VLC that anyone tin employ and gets regular updates. All-time of all, information technology's free!

Updated March 22, 2019, with a second look at the Windows Store app.

When Windows 10 came forth in 2015, it left behind Windows Media Center, a utility for home theater PCs that let you play DVDs on your computer. Windows 8 didn't come with information technology either, but users running Windows 8 Pro could nonetheless install Windows Media Center.

Even that workaround is now gone. Windows Media Center simply doesn't work. Microsoft offers an official solution for DVD playback, but, well, it's bad.

Windows DVD Player from Microsoft is a $xv Windows Shop app. It's a no-frills utility that should just work, only when I tested the app it did annihilation but. I'm not the only one who experienced this. Checking out the latest reviews, it appears the problems with Windows DVD Player persist since its launch.

Windows DVD Player: Hit or miss

Users who upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7, or from Windows 8 with Windows Media Heart, should've received a free copy of Windows DVD Actor. Check the Windows Store, and you should exist able to download it for gratuitous. If you've got a new PC, however, you're out of luck for this freebie.

A word of alert: I got Windows DVD Player for free after upgrading from Windows 8.1 with Windows Media Center in 2015. Once I did a clean install of Windows x after upgrading, notwithstanding, I lost the right to download Windows DVD Player for gratuitous.

That said, if you lot practice fork over the $15 y'all tin can install the app on whatsoever of your Windows devices.

I tested Windows DVD Role player with an Acer Aspire Due east fifteen laptop running Windows 10 Home version 1803, an internal DVD actor/burner, and five commercial DVDs.

Microsoft offers a seven-day gratis trial in order to test the app. That'southward helpful, given that Microsoft doesn't offer refunds for its DVD role player, only the trial version doesn't allow you lot to play movies. Instead, information technology but checks your system for "compatibility," a process that takes a few minutes.

The idea that DVD software in 2019 needs to run a compatibility bank check is ridiculous, but at that place it is. In my tests on the Acer Aspire, the compatibility bank check didn't work. Instead of showing a "go/no get" consequence, the app just kept crashing.

With no luck on the Acer, I turned to my trusty Lenovo X220 and an external Transcend standard DVD histrion/burner. This combo worked with Microsoft'due south DVD Actor app in 2015 and, as it turns out, still does. So to recap, my seven-year-old Sandy Bridge PC as well running Windows x 1803 was uniform, while an Acer Aspire with the more modernistic Kaby Lake processor wasn't. Way to move with the times, Microsoft.

windowsdvdplayer resized — Windows DVD Player in activeness

And so now that I know the DVD player works with the Lenovo, it'due south time to invest $fifteen of PCWorld'south hard-earned money to see how it plays actual movies. All five DVDs I tested worked, ranging from studio movies to exercise videos. In one case I inserted a disk all I had to exercise was fire up Windows DVD Player, and the disc started playing later a few minutes. Controls are like shooting fish in a barrel enough to dispense with a mouse, and information technology covers all the basics: play/suspension, fast forward, rewind, and chapter skipping. There are also controls hidden under three dots to jump back to the DVD menu.

I encountered one annoyance, where some DVD menus couldn't be navigated properly. You'd click on the option to play the full moving-picture show, and end up on a settings screen instead—the menu choice correct below the one y'all wanted. This didn't happen with every DVD, but I did see it once or twice.

Because I now had a total version of the DVD thespian I decided to exam it on the Aspire E15 again, just in example the compatibility test was faulty. All those multiple crashes were correct, however, and the Acer failed to play the same five discs used on the Lenovo. That compatibility check is a key test if you're because purchasing this app. Even so, I wouldn't recommend wasting your coin even if it does piece of work.

For starters, the app is very blank-bones. The features and interface oasis't inverse much, if at all, since it first rolled out in 2015. Taking a wait at the current reviews in the Windows Shop, some users are also still experiencing playback problems. It'southward not fifty-fifty worth $0.99, let alone $fifteen.

The expert news for those of you who still want to play DVDs in their PC is there's a much better free option available for PCs.

VideoLAN VLC for the win

If yous're using a pre-built, boxed PC from a vendor similar Dell or HP, your PC may already have a gratis commercial DVD playback solution installed.

If non, a better alternative to Microsoft's Windows 10 DVD Player is to turn to the free and always reliable VLC video player. Make certain you download the desktop app and non the Windows Store version, which doesn't support DVDs or Blu-ray.

Once information technology's installed, open up the program, insert a DVD, and click on Media > Open Disc to scout your DVDs.

It's really that simple, though VLC packs surprising hidden powers for anyone who wants to swoop a piddling deeper. VLC iii.0, for example, added the ability to cast videos and music to Chromecast devices, 360-caste and HDR video support, high-definition audio codec passthrough, and more than.

Additional reporting by Brad Chacos

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/422753/how-to-play-dvds-in-windows-10-for-free.html

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