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

[Nazmus Shakib Khandaker]

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.

[Nomad_]

I've been using Media Player Classic - Home Cinema to play DVDs for years.

[The Teej]

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?

[WaveZero]

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!

[TheLegendOfMart]

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.

[KillTheIrishman]

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!

There is nothing wrong with VLC. Why the hate?

[lt8480]

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.

[bjoswald]

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.

[KomaWei]

The only problem with VLC is it has a crappy music interface for it. Otherwise it is perfectly fine.

[McKay]

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.

[Guest]

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!

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

[Ambroos]

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.

[ArialBlue]

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).

[Ambroos]

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.

[c3ntury]

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?

[Ambroos]

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.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

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

[.Blaze]

I use Potplayer myself. Works perfectly.

[Lamp0]

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.

[Princess Katie Pixie]

VLC Player isn't that great since it lags alot. I use UMplayer. =D

May not support alot of codec but it works perfectly

[Slammers]

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.

[remixedcat]

J-River media center... it's not free but it's a HARDCORE MEDIA PLAYER!!!!!!!!!

[Nazmus Shakib Khandaker]

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

No, you cannot play DVD video either in the Developer Preview or the Consumer Preview, even though Media Center is included.See the screenshot below.

[remixedcat]

windows media center hates you but j-river media center likes you

[zhangm Supervisor]

Can't remember the last time I watched a movie off a DVD...