How To Watch Dvd On Windows 10

You tin can play a DVD in Windows 10 for costless with a little aid. Just that assist's probably best if it doesn't come up from Microsoft. I'll tell you how Microsoft'south solution sort-of works for some people. Then I'll tell you about the much better alternative chosen VLC that anyone tin apply and gets regular updates. Best of all, information technology's free!

Updated March 22, 2019, with a 2d wait at the Windows Store app.

When Windows ten came forth in 2015, it left behind Windows Media Middle, a utility for home theater PCs that allow you play DVDs on your figurer. Windows viii didn't come up with it either, but users running Windows viii Pro could notwithstanding install Windows Media Center.

Even that workaround is at present gone. Windows Media Center simply doesn't work. Microsoft offers an official solution for DVD playback, but, well, it's bad.

Windows DVD Thespian from Microsoft is a $fifteen Windows Shop app. It's a no-frills utility that should just piece of work, just when I tested the app it did anything but. I'one thousand non the only one who experienced this. Checking out the latest reviews, it appears the problems with Windows DVD Player persist since its launch.

Windows DVD Player: Hit or miss

Users who upgraded to Windows ten from Windows 7, or from Windows 8 with Windows Media Center, should've received a free copy of Windows DVD Player. Check the Windows Shop, and y'all should be able to download information technology for free. If you've got a new PC, notwithstanding, yous're out of luck for this freebie.

A give-and-take of warning: I got Windows DVD Histrion for gratuitous after upgrading from Windows viii.i with Windows Media Centre in 2015. Once I did a clean install of Windows x after upgrading, however, I lost the correct to download Windows DVD Histrion for complimentary.

That said, if y'all do fork over the $fifteen you tin install the app on any of your Windows devices.

I tested Windows DVD Player with an Acer Aspire Eastward 15 laptop running Windows 10 Dwelling version 1803, an internal DVD player/burner, and v commercial DVDs.

Microsoft offers a vii-day complimentary trial in order to test the app. That'southward helpful, given that Microsoft doesn't offering refunds for its DVD histrion, but the trial version doesn't allow you to play movies. Instead, it just checks your system for "compatibility," a process that takes a few minutes.

The thought that DVD software in 2019 needs to run a compatibility check is ridiculous, merely there it is. In my tests on the Acer Aspire, the compatibility check didn't work. Instead of showing a "go/no go" result, the app just kept crashing.

With no luck on the Acer, I turned to my trusty Lenovo X220 and an external Transcend standard DVD histrion/burner. This philharmonic worked with Microsoft'south DVD Player app in 2015 and, as it turns out, withal does. And so to recap, my 7-year-old Sandy Bridge PC as well running Windows 10 1803 was compatible, while an Acer Aspire with the more modern Kaby Lake processor wasn't. Way to motion with the times, Microsoft.

windowsdvdplayer resized — Windows DVD Role player in action

So now that I know the DVD player works with the Lenovo, it'due south time to invest $15 of PCWorld's hard-earned coin to come across how it plays actual movies. All five DVDs I tested worked, ranging from studio movies to exercise videos. One time I inserted a deejay all I had to do was fire up Windows DVD Player, and the disc started playing later a few minutes. Controls are piece of cake enough to manipulate with a mouse, and information technology covers all the basics: play/intermission, fast forward, rewind, and affiliate skipping. There are also controls subconscious nether three dots to jump dorsum to the DVD menu.

I encountered i annoyance, where some DVD menus couldn't be navigated properly. You'd click on the option to play the full motion picture, and terminate up on a settings screen instead—the menu choice right beneath the one you lot wanted. This didn't happen with every DVD, just I did encounter it once or twice.

Because I at present had a total version of the DVD histrion I decided to test it on the Aspire E15 again, simply in case the compatibility test was faulty. All those multiple crashes were correct, however, and the Acer failed to play the aforementioned five discs used on the Lenovo. That compatibility check is a central test if you're because purchasing this app. All the same, I wouldn't recommend wasting your money even if it does work.

For starters, the app is very blank-bones. The features and interface oasis't changed much, if at all, since it first rolled out in 2015. Taking a wait at the current reviews in the Windows Store, some users are also still experiencing playback problems. It's not fifty-fifty worth $0.99, let lone $15.

The good news for those of you who yet desire to play DVDs in their PC is in that location's a much ameliorate costless selection available for PCs.

VideoLAN VLC for the win

If you lot're using a pre-built, boxed PC from a vendor like Dell or HP, your PC may already have a free commercial DVD playback solution installed.

If non, a better alternative to Microsoft's Windows 10 DVD Player is to plow to the free and always reliable VLC video role player. Make certain you download the desktop app and not the Windows Shop version, which doesn't support DVDs or Blu-ray.

Once it'due south installed, open up the programme, insert a DVD, and click on Media > Open Disc to lookout man your DVDs.

It'southward really that uncomplicated, though VLC packs surprising hidden powers for anyone who wants to dive a little deeper. VLC 3.0, for instance, added the ability to cast videos and music to Chromecast devices, 360-caste and HDR video support, high-definition sound codec passthrough, and more.

Additional reporting by Brad Chacos