The use of DVDs has indeed been declining over recent years, with content more readily available online and transmitted more often through flash drives. However, there are still a lot of us who would like to pop in a DVD at times and watch a movie. But this would no longer be possible with Windows 8’s default features which will be coming with absolutely no DVD playback, you have to buy paid Media Player Upgrade for that.
The primary reason why Microsoft has decided not to include DVD playback in Windows 8 is that it will have to pay hefty sums in royalties to provide some kind of support for the optical media. But the company simply thinks its not worth it, with more and more users abandoning the use of DVDs in favor of online content.
That is precisely why one of the main focuses of Windows 8 will be online content and it will be including WMA, MP3, PCM, MP4, AAC, VC-1, H.264 and Dolby Digital Plus codecs.
Does that mean we won’t be able to watch DVDs on a Windows 8 machine? Of course not. Most of the PCs that come with the OS will probably feature and optical drive and will also furnish a non-Windows DVD playback software. And that’s precisely what can be used to play DVDs, much to your heart’s contentment. One of the most popular third-party DVD players is VLC.
However, another option is to upgrade your Windows 8 with an add-on pack through the ‘Add Features to Windows 8’ control panel. This way, you will be able to get DVD playback support in Media Center. So far, we don’t know how much these add-ons are going to cost but they sure will have to be bought.
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