You Can Still Use VLC to Play DVDs in Windows 8 for Free


Recommended Posts

People seemed to be upset to hear that Windows 8 won't play DVD video natively. But why the panic when VLC does it for free? Yes, guys, it works. I hear people saying that since Windows 8 won't support DVD codec natively, VLC won't play DVDs. That isn't true. VLC plays DVDs fine in Windows 8; I know from my experiences with Windows Developer Preview and Windows 8 Consumer Preview. If you want to play DVDs on Windows 8, you don't have to pay for Media Center. Just download VLC here.

People seemed to be upset to hear that Windows 8 won't play DVD video natively. But why the panic when VLC does it for free? Yes, guys, it works. I hear people saying that since Windows 8 won't support DVD codec natively, VLC won't play DVDs. That isn't true. VLC plays DVDs fine in Windows 8; I know from my experiences with Windows Developer Preview and Windows 8 Consumer Preview. If you want to play DVDs on Windows 8, you don't have to pay for Media Center. Just download VLC here.

I'm pretty sure DP and CP came with the codecs though?

People seemed to be upset to hear that Windows 8 won't play DVD video natively. But why the panic when VLC does it for free? Yes, guys, it works. I hear people saying that since Windows 8 won't support DVD codec natively, VLC won't play DVDs. That isn't true. VLC plays DVDs fine in Windows 8; I know from my experiences with Windows Developer Preview and Windows 8 Consumer Preview. If you want to play DVDs on Windows 8, you don't have to pay for Media Center. Just download VLC here.

It has nothing to do with no DVD playback, its the fact that you have to now pay for Media Center which people use to watch and record TV.

I'm pretty sure DP and CP came with the codecs though?

If it came with the codecs then surley MS would be paying the royalties for every download. I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want to do this and consequently wouldn't have supplied the codecs.

It's just annoying. If you want to open all archives, you need a third-party application. If you want to edit photos, you need an app for that too. Downloading torrents, downloading games, and now watching movies - you need an app for all of them.

I always use VLC to play my DVD's. Because unlike Media Player it skips past all the copyright bull**** and commercials and jumps instantly into the DVD Menu with no hassle.

  • Like 2

There is nothing wrong with VLC. Why the hate?

VLC plays everything, but VLC plays a lot of things badly. It screws up the luma range quite often, which makes blacks look gray. It does a crappy job at upscaling or downscaling content. Doesn't matter very much on DVD-like content, but when watching 720p or BluRay content the difference isn't hard to see.

Media Player Classic Home Cinema with MadVR is the best quality you can possibly get for playback. If your PC can't handle MadVR (it requires some power) then you'd be best off with Haali renderer. Very efficient and still good quality, better than you'll ever get with VLC.

Seriously, just Google "VLC vs MPC" and you'll see tons of examples that show how VLC messes up files all the time.

This one for example: https://forums.playf...8607c5800bfe1e3

You can see how blacks turn gray in VLC, and how whites (look at the clouds) get less bright. This results in a loss of contrast, and VLC does it on a lot of videos.

Then we have this one: http://i90.photobuck...tdizzle/2-2.png

It's not hard to see that about every single line in the image lost a lot of sharpness, and that's because VLC is utter crap at upscaling or downscaling video. In MPC-HC it depends on what renderer you use, but even with the default settings it'll look a lot better than it ever does in VLC.

SK[' timestamp=1336245621' post='594847075]

Or install VLC and have an awesome player that will never fail you!

VLC fails me all the time. It's slow and it's quality sucks. MPC-HC plays about everything and is a lot more stable. The only thing MPC-HC doesn't do as well as VLC is streaming. But I can't imagine many people using that a lot.

  • Like 3

Media Player Classic is the way to go.

EDIT: VLC might be a good idea for Linux, but for Windows... no, thats like arguing that Open Office is better then MS Office 2010.

VLC is utter crap, use MPC-HC with CCCP, LAV filters, or MadVR and you have yourself an awesome player that will never fail you!

CCCP does the same thing as LAV, just LAV gets updated more often; installing both is dumb practice.

MadVR is fully irrelevant to any normal person. EVR:CP is the way to go.

MavVR requires more CPU and GPU power and is just a bad idea on W8 tablets.

It also makes no sense to advise "LAV filters, or MadVR" considering that one is a performance destroying renderer (MadVR) while the other is a collection of AV codecs and a splitter (LAV).

Media Player Classic is the way to go.

EDIT: VLC might be a good idea for Linux, but for Windows... no, thats like arguing that Open Office is better then MS Office 2010.

CCCP does the same thing as LAV, just LAV gets updated more often; installing both is dumb practice.

MadVR is fully irrelevant to any normal person. EVR:CP is the way to go.

MavVR requires more CPU and GPU power and is just a bad idea on W8 tablets.

It also makes no sense to advise "LAV filters, or MadVR" considering that one is a performance destroying renderer (MadVR) while the other is a collection of AV codecs and a splitter (LAV).

So because I'm a quality freak and like to use MadVR I'm not a normal person :p ? MadVR runs just fine on my laptop, the only downside is it drains the battery in half an hour. Haali still beats EVR:CP in my opinion. But EVR:CP isn't too bad and is probably the way to go for most people.

People seemed to be upset to hear that Windows 8 won't play DVD video natively. But why the panic when VLC does it for free? Yes, guys, it works. I hear people saying that since Windows 8 won't support DVD codec natively, VLC won't play DVDs. That isn't true. VLC plays DVDs fine in Windows 8; I know from my experiences with Windows Developer Preview and Windows 8 Consumer Preview. If you want to play DVDs on Windows 8, you don't have to pay for Media Center. Just download VLC here.

This is true, but will your average say... 13 year old girl looking to watch a DVD have heard of VLC? No.

Can't they just do what Ubuntu do with restricted-extras and just include it in an update instead?

I'm quite sure many OEM's will include the necessary codecs for you anyway. Anyone who doesn't buy an OEM-PC will be smart enough to install a proper video player themselves.

  • Like 2

I'm quite sure many OEM's will include the necessary codecs for you anyway. Anyone who doesn't buy an OEM-PC will be smart enough to install a proper video player themselves.

exactly, most OEMs already include a 3rd party dvd video player and set it as default, and I doubt (especially now) that will change

VLC is utter crap, use MPC-HC with CCCP, LAV filters, or MadVR and you have yourself an awesome player that will never fail you!

oh you're so cool. :rolleyes:

There is nothing wrong with VLC. I have used it for years and had no memorable problems.

MPC > VLC all day. Vlc's video filters are not as good as other programs, especially de-interlacing support.

VLC was the **** about 7 years ago when it had better compadibility then everything else, but now there is much better alternatives, people just don't realise.

I'm not saying VLC isn't great, its just not the best.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Opinion. All you did was blame Democrats for everything. You offered nothing but a hit piece to support your pro Trump, anti union right wing ideology.
    • Excuse me for having an opinion, fella'... (Why am I not surprised?...) Congrats on your very informative post however...
    • By the sounds of that wall of Fox News propaganda gibberish attacking the Democratic Party you've already had plenty of "juices" flowing this morning. You've ruined what could have been a productive comment thread.
    • (Topic to get the juices flowing this Sunday morning!...) Actually, the situation has almost nothing to do with "lack of skills", especially since assembly-line skills can be taught to anyone, including Americans, certainly. Rather, the inadequacy-to-impossibility of large-scale tech manufacturing in America today, and the reasons why America finds tech manufacturing completely onerous in the 21st century, has to do with politically driven laws amid a plethora of non-scientific, utterly politicized "science-fact" that is patently false, punitive business taxation at every turn, an array of judicial fines of unimaginable scope and complexity, and, last but not least, American unionization strictures that serve to actually slay job creation and hobble all such manufacturing endeavors in America before they can get off the ground. Globalism emerged, they tell us, as the needed answer to American hubris and an unholy American drive to excel. Unless one is buried under mounds of political propaganda, it's easy to see the absurdity of labeling the employees of SpaceX, for instance, as "unskilled labor"... Etc. ad infinitum. At one time in the recent past, American manufacturing prowess was the envy of the world in a wide variety of technical fields! The current federal and state government roadblocks against America becoming competitive globally in tech manufacturing are considerable, it's true, as anyone with a working brain knows. But remarkably, that is only half the story! The other half of the story is, of course, the corporations themselves... Chinese tech manufacturing is simply unassailable in terms of profits, because the Chinese government wants to see its tech manufacturing second-to-none globally so that no companies/nations can compete in terms of ROI, and China has completely succeeded in that goal. Let's tic-off a few things: *Chinese tariff policies are set according to what is considered best for Chinese business, Chinese employees, and the Chinese people. Huge difference with how things are done with tariffs in the US--as the US government (SCOTUS in this case, Congress in others) plainly feels that tariffs are "unfair" for the limited number of citizens who may pay them, whereas nothing is "unfair" when Congress considers the Personal Income Tax rates to be infinitely hike-able, along with infinitely enlarging annual budget deficits. *The Chinese government boldly subsidizes Chinese companies to artificially amplify their profits. *The Chinese government deliberately refuses to avidly demonize Chinese businesses and does not consider Chinese businesses "the enemy", so very unlike American (D)s these days. *Chinese labor laws and businesses are allowed to set their own labor policies according to what Chinese companies consider is best for companies and their employees... Simply put, American workers in tech manufacturing are not allowed to set their own labor policies! * One additional problem corporations have that I also do not sympathize with is they don't want to pay to train their American employees. They could easily do so, but would rather not have to pay for it. I find that pathetic, actually. It is the height of hypocrisy for Americans to decry working conditions in China while simultaneously ensuring that American products are manufactured in China, not in the US, simply to maximize profits. There is nothing wrong with making a profit, of course, absolutely nothing. But there is plenty wrong with attempts to normalize hypocrisy of this kind! But rank hypocrisy and the (D) party in the US are longtime bedfellows... The current government in Washington is working overtime to see if it can toss out the horribly poor, failed economic policies of the past, while the (D)s still in Washington work very hard to bring back the stupidity whenever possible. With the right policies in place, America can be an infinitely competitive manufacturer.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Conversation Starter
      jessse3334 earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • Reacting Well
      JuvenileDelinquent earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • One Month Later
      Excellence2025 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Excellence2025 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      508
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      198
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      152
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      73
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      62
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!