No Native Disc Playback on Windows 8

[TheDickWard]

Microsoft says that people rarely play discs on their PCs, and when they do they use 3rd party players.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/str...indows-8-27186

[Krawk]

Excuse Me?? How the hell can you call it a "media center" on their most advanced operating system and ignore disc playback? Do they have a vested interest in a cloud medium too? Are they just pissed off that they banked on HD DVD and it lost out to Blu Ray, a SONY cooperative effort?

I can't believe they did not license or get permission then to have something like XP Codec Pack (by a different name - Super8 Codec Pack or something) come standard. This is just plain laziness. Seriously, how much could they have seriously paid for decoder licensing per copy of Windows when you can download so many freeware codec packs? Fifty cents per copy? A Dollar?

A side note to the cloud medium - although my 18Mbps DSL has been quite reliable since after the first month of service, there have been some speed/routing hiccups from time to time on specific regions or sites, and I could hate to want to watch something and be DENIED due to connectivity issues.

[Doctorossi]

This is just plain laziness.

It's not laziness; it's greed/desperation.

[Boston007]

It's not laziness; it's greed/desperation.

Exactly.
When I heard this that was the first thing I thought. What complete BS on Microsoft's part. Ridiculous.

[Juio]

Oh, I thought they were going to eliminated disc playback completely but it's only within their applications. This does not worry me. I always rely on free codec packs and Nero for any disc playback. Windows 8 is turning out like crap with each passing month, I'm sticking with Windows 7 as long as possible.

Isn't Ultraviolet service the worst piece of shit out there?

[JAC35]

If you purchase media center separately it will include a DVD decoder. Every Dell I have ever purchased over the years has always come with Cyberlink PowerDVD anyway. Most folks wont even notice this change.

[*TL]

Native BD playback was the only reason I would have purchased Win 8 for my HTPC. Thanks for saving me $90, Microsoft!

[onthecake]

I have technet and I don't see 1 compelling reason to spend time upgrading to 8 for free.

[gravis778]

This actually makes sense to me. I mean, how many people really use Windows Media Player to play back DVDs and Blu-Rays? I heard someone say something about Media Centers, and that is what I use my PC for, but I am still not using it to play DVDs and Blu-Rays - I RIP the movies into an MKV or something, then play them back in Media Center. Sounds like Windows 8 will still have that functionality.

So, yeah, no loss here. This is a smart move on Microsoft's part.

That being said, I don't plan on upgrading to Windows 8, as my understanding is that they are dropping the classic and Aero UIs and going solely with Metro. If that's true, Windows 8 is going to flop big-time.

[*TL]

I heard someone say something about Media Centers, and that is what I use my PC for, but I am still not using it to play DVDs and Blu-Rays - I RIP the movies into an MKV or something, then play them back in Media Center. Sounds like Windows 8 will still have that functionality.

I get you, but I don't want to waste time ripping a MKV for a disc I get from Netflix, and I certainly don't want to add terabytes of disk space to my system to rip hundreds of Blu-rays.

I use my Media Center HTPC as a one-stop solution for discs, TV, and digital files, and it just doesn't make sense that MS would cripple the functionality and force me to continue to use something like TotalMedia Theater, which is fine as far as it goes, but inelegant and expensive.

[Gray Wolf]

incredibly disappointing move by Microsoft

[eastx]

I use my Media Center HTPC as a one-stop solution for discs, TV, and digital files, and it just doesn't make sense that MS would cripple the functionality and force me to continue to use something like TotalMedia Theater, which is fine as far as it goes, but inelegant and expensive.

I use TotalMedia Theater for Blu-Ray playback as well, but it's annoying that we'll all be forced to do so on Windows 8.

[Blueguy]

I'm confused. I don't think I've ever been able to play a DVD right away. I've always needed to download DVD playing software in order to get it to work. How is this any different from before?

[pedram]

I'm not really going to miss this feature. Most Blu Ray drives come with software to play Blu-Ray discs, and people can just use a stand alone Blu-Ray player. I have a HTPC sans optical drive for that very reason; I'd rather just stick it in my BR player and not have to worry about remote compatibility or anything else like that.
If you have a laptop with a BR disc it will most likely come with the software pre-installed.
So yeah, not such a big deal to me.

[eastx]

If you have a laptop with a BR disc it will most likely come with the software pre-installed.

The pack-in software is never any good. It's just a sampler for a proper, full-featured version that costs money.