Recommended Posts

Microsoft ejects DVD playback from Windows 8

Digital media playback in Windows 8 has fallen casualty to the savage economics of the PC industry and changing tastes in consumer viewing.

We knew Windows Media Center would be sold at extra cost in Windows 8, but Microsoft now says you won?t be able to play DVDs on Windows Media Player in Windows 8.

If you do want DVD playback, then it?ll be a case of shopping judiciously and picking a PC whose manufacturer has licensed the codecs from a third party.

The twist? Windows 8 customers will end up paying more than others, as PC makers will likely be compelled to license the required codecs themselves to enable DVD playback.

from http://www.theregist..._playback_dead/

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1075087-more-bad-news-for-windows-8/
Share on other sites

I'd say cue the trolls, but what exactly is the past tense version of the word cue?

Let's just look at this though shall we.... your beloved XP didn't include DVD playback either. It was introduced in Windows Vista, an OS which you no doubt hated. It wasn't free, you paid for it in the cost of the OS as there was a license fee Microsoft had to pay.

Giving people back the choice of which DVD playback app they want to use, and lowering the cost of the OS as a byproduct is a good thing. (assuming of course it does result in a price reduction for the OS. If it doesn't, then BOOO to Microsoft :) )

Every PC I have ever bought was bundled with 3rd party DVD playback software. So why would I pay more when I was getting it for "free" in the past?

Where has anybody said you'd have to pay for it? Perhaps you're unaware that there is a myriad of media players out there that DO still include DVD playback codecs, including the excellent (icon aside) VLC.

  • Like 2

Where has anybody said you'd have to pay for it? Perhaps you're unaware that there is a myriad of media players out there that DO still include DVD playback codecs, including the excellent (icon aside) VLC.

I didn't say that anyone would need to pay for it. What I did say is that when you buy a PC, it always has DVD playback software bundled. If you want to use a free alternative from the web or the one that is bundled, go ahead. But to make it sound like the end of the world because people will be forced to pay more, like the linked article, is foolish.

In my opinion they should be adding a Bluray codec not removing a DVD codec. But whatever.

Yes, let's increase the cost of windows for something less than 1% uses, that makes perfect sense... You know instead of making it an optional addon for those few that want it.

They'll never add a blu-ray codec for the simple reason they're taking it out of Windows (unless you want it via the media center pack and you pay for it or use one of the other players out there), OEMs don't want the cost anymore. It's not just MS, OEMs don't want to pay extra when they install Windows on a device that can't play back DVD/BD anyways (like a tablet or a netbook without a optical drive).

Besides, for those who want to use WMP still, after you install the DVD codec wouldn't it then support DVD playback again? Or have they actually locked it out of WMP in some form? In any case, when you buy a new PC with a dvd/bd drive you get the software you need, or even when you buy the drive yourself to make your own system it comes with the software as well. No real issue, and if the OS price goes down then I'm all for it.

Nope... TONS of people use it for media center stuff. why do you think the HTPC market is pretty huge and is growing right now?

According to Microsoft only 6% of users use Windows Media Center. I would hardly say that's 'TONS'.

As for me, I literally use WMC every day to record tv so it'll be the first thing I purchase, and I can honestly say I don't care that I have to buy it separately. If software is worth purchasing I'll buy it, I have literally not found any software that can compare to WMC for ease of use in timeshifting tv.

  • Like 1

Nope... TONS of people use it for media center stuff. why do you think the HTPC market is pretty huge and is growing right now?

If it's Media Center and HTPC you want you can still get that, it's just something you'll have to install after the fact now instead of everyone having it installed by default even if they don't use it and having to pay for it regardless. I thought people around this forum hated bloatware? In that case them making something like Media Center optional for the niche that use it is best. Also I think they're probably going to slowly get off of Windows Media Player in favor of the new metro apps and whatever the new "zune" client software turns out to be for the rebranded service later this year.

Yes, let's increase the cost of windows for something less than 1% uses, that makes perfect sense... You know instead of making it an optional addon for those few that want it.

Windows will cost the same regardless. If you think removing this DVD Codec will affect the cost of the OS when it hits store shelves you're deluded. They'll pocket the difference as extra profit.

Nope... TONS of people use it for media center stuff. why do you think the HTPC market is pretty huge and is growing right now?

No they don't, there are a lot of people using it, but it's, an extremely small sub percentage. Remember MS has telemetry from tens of millions of users.

Just because you use it does not mean tons use it or that it's the most super I portent thing in the world.

And the HTPC market isn't growing. Heck I use a HTPC and love it, but even as good and stable as it is I wouldn't recommend it to a regular user. Not with the good set top boxes out today, I'm still not sure if I'll replace the DVB-c card in mine with a DVB-s or just get the new awesome set top box from my provider, both options have their pluses. For anyone else though, it would be no doubt that I would recccomend the set top pvr box.

HTPCs are a enthusiast niche market, and not suitable for the average users, and it's a small and stable niche. The only growth in that market matches the growth, of the computer market as a whole, and is far less than the growth of the PVR market, which is really taking off.

And over here it doesn't matter anyway since WMC doesn't support most European cable networks and you can't manually configure them, I do believe they support canal digital satellite though. So I could use it for that, but I don't think I could switch away from MP and webepg anymore.

Windows will cost the same regardless. If you think removing this DVD Codec will affect the cost of the OS when it hits store shelves you're deluded. They'll pocket the difference as extra profit.

Maybe maybe not, but MS is in it to make money. For the, and oem's the important thing is to reduce costs for oem's though, which this will do. After all the large majority of sold windows licenses are OEM copies, not full retail or upgrade licenses.

In my opinion they should be adding a Bluray codec not removing a DVD codec. But whatever.

I agree. They should include it in WMC and only charge the users who want that functionality. I don't have a bluray drive, don't want a bluray drive and don't see why I should have to pay for the necessary codecs.

I don't have a problem with the decision MS have made. Everyone's always complaining about bloat and the price of Windows and this seems to be a sensible way of reducing one and lowering the other without causing anyone any pain.

VLC is always a good option ;).

And VLC works just fine in the Consumer Preview - it's what I myself use.

The codec problem is *not* Microsoft's fault. If anything, Microsoft is as big a victim as the customers.

Really though, WMC was MS's play for the living room through HTPCs, that's just not the case anymore. Now their living room play is clear and it's a bigger success to them than the whole WMC and MCE stuff has ever been, it's the Xbox. Though the Xbox doesn't have cable card and all that stuff what they're adding to it covers, IMO, the majority of consumers needs now and who knows what the next one will bring to the table?

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • It's amazing that anyone still uses this bloated trash.
    • @Sayan...I have defended you at various points as I hope you know. This headline however is utter trash...shame on you sir!
    • An actual cosmic "Eye of Sauron" had been looking straight at us all along by Sayan Sen Image by Kovin P. Vasquez via Pexels | Not representative An international team of researchers has solved a long-standing mystery surrounding a distant blazar known as PKS 1424+240, helping explain why it produces some of the brightest high-energy gamma rays and cosmic neutrinos ever observed despite appearing to have a relatively slow-moving jet. The findings were published on June 6 in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters. The study addresses a broader challenge in astrophysics: understanding how extreme cosmic objects accelerate particles to very high energies and produce very high-energy (VHE) photons and neutrinos. PKS 1424+240 is located billions of light-years from Earth. It has attracted attention for years because it is both a powerful source of VHE gamma rays and the brightest known neutrino-emitting blazar in the sky, according to observations by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. It is also associated with one of the strongest peaks in IceCube's nine-year neutrino sky map A blazar is a type of active galactic nucleus powered by a supermassive black hole that pulls in surrounding matter and launches jets of plasma moving close to the speed of light. What makes blazars unique is their orientation. One of their jets points almost directly toward Earth, making them appear exceptionally bright across the electromagnetic spectrum and allowing scientists to study some of the most extreme physical processes in the Universe. The scientists exclaimed it's like the 'Eye of Sauron' in deep space. Usually, the brightest gamma-ray-emitting blazars are expected to have jets that appear to move very quickly. However, radio observations of PKS 1424+240 suggested that its jet was moving much more slowly, creating a contradiction that became part of a long-running problem known as the "Doppler factor crisis." To investigate, researchers analyzed 15 years of observations from the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), a network of 10 radio antennas spread across the continental United States, Hawaii and St. Croix. Using a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), astronomers combine signals from widely separated radio telescopes to create a virtual Earth-sized telescope capable of revealing extremely fine details. The team combined 42 polarization-sensitive radio images collected between 2009 and 2025, creating a much deeper and more detailed view of the jet than had previously been possible. The observations were carried out as part of MOJAVE (Monitoring Of Jets in Active galactic nuclei with VLBA Experiments), a long-running program that studies the brightness, polarization and magnetic field structures of jets produced by active galaxies. The project aims to better understand how activity near supermassive black holes is linked to high-energy radiation and neutrino emission. “When we reconstructed the image, it looked absolutely stunning,” said Yuri Kovalev, lead author of the study and Principal Investigator of the European Research Council-funded MuSES project at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. “We have never seen anything quite like it — a near-perfect toroidal magnetic field with a jet, pointing straight at us.” The image revealed an unusual geometry. The researchers found that Earth lies almost directly in line with the jet, with a viewing angle of less than 0.6 degrees. In simple terms, astronomers are looking almost straight down the jet. This turned out to be the key to the mystery. Because the jet is aimed almost directly at Earth, a relativistic effect called Doppler boosting dramatically increases its apparent brightness. The study found that this effect boosts the emission by a factor of about 30 while also making the jet appear slower than it actually is. “This alignment causes a boost in brightness by a factor of 30 or more,” said Jack Livingston, a co-author at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. “At the same time, the jet appears to move slowly due to projection effects — a classic optical illusion.” The nearly head-on view also gave scientists a rare look at the jet's magnetic field. Using polarized radio signals, they detected a clear toroidal, or doughnut-shaped, magnetic field component. The observations suggest the jet carries an electric current and that its magnetic field helps launch, shape and stabilize the flow of plasma. Researchers believe this magnetic structure may also play a key role in accelerating particles to energies high enough to produce both gamma rays and neutrinos. “Solving this puzzle confirms that active galactic nuclei with supermassive black holes are not only powerful accelerators of electrons, but also of protons — the origin of the observed high-energy neutrinos,” Kovalev said. The research was conducted under the MuSES (Multi-messenger Studies of Energetic Sources) project, which investigates how active galactic nuclei accelerate particles and generate different cosmic signals, including light and neutrinos. Scientists say understanding how protons are accelerated and linked to neutrino production remains one of the major unanswered questions in astrophysics. The findings help explain why some blazars can appear to have slow jets while still producing extremely bright high-energy emissions. More broadly, the study strengthens the link between relativistic jets, magnetic fields, gamma rays and high-energy neutrinos. Researchers say the results provide new clues about how some of the Universe's most powerful natural particle accelerators work and offer important insights for multimessenger astronomy, which combines different types of cosmic signals to study extreme events in space. Source: European Research Council, EDP Sciences This article was generated with some help from AI and reviewed by an editor. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, this material is used for the purpose of news reporting. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
    • Gotenks98 is right... Outlook (new) is absolute trash. Doesn't Mozilla have an Enterprise Version of Firebird?
  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      lamborghiniv10 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      lamborghiniv10 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Reacting Well
      X-No-file earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • One Month Later
      pestcontrol46 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      pestcontrol46 earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      511
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      273
    3. 3
      Skyfrog
      75
    4. 4
      +Edouard
      72
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      68
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!