Windows 8 Media Player

I recently bought a new desktop and it came with Windows 8. Can't say I really like the clunky new start screen (seems designed for touch screens) so I find myself reverting back to the more useable desktop.

The other day I decided I wanted to watch a DVD on my PC. Guess what, there is no media player in Windows 8 to do this. Apparently Microsoft no longer wanted to pay the licensing fees for the codecs, Dolby, etc. so it is now up to the user to go find his/her own media player and likely pay for it. It seems that Microsoft thinks optical drives (for DVD's, Blu-ray, etc.) are destined for the graveyard.

So I did a search through the various options for a third-party app and settled on the free version of VLC media player. Installed it and all works fine.

One other weird thing - the optical drive that came with the shiny new Dell I bought - has NO button to open the drive door with. WTF!!! Can only be opened under software control.

i use vlc in conjunction with realtek[sp?] audio manager

"One other weird thing - the optical drive that came with the shiny new Dell I bought - has NO button to open the drive door with. WTF!!! Can only be opened under software control."

are there 3 bumps to the right of DVD draw?

I see a lot of new laptops with an eject button, like the Mac's, on the upper right row of the keyboard.

Meantime, VLC is the best player. You can also install the K-Lite Code Pack http://codecguide.com/ to ensure that every type of audio and video format will play properly.

HelperGuy wrote:I see a lot of new laptops with an eject button, like the Mac's, on the upper right row of the keyboard.

Meantime, VLC is the best player. You can also install the K-Lite Code Pack http://codecguide.com/ to ensure that every type of audio and video format will play properly.

I've found that I can only play FLAC from a hard drive.

arbon wrote: are there 3 bumps to the right of DVD draw?

LOL!!! Yes there are .... and it works!

Good catch senor. You don't know how frustrated I was. I even phoned Dell tech support and they didn't even know this!!

Thank you so much. I feel really stupid that I wasn't able to figure this out. Never seen this before and there isn't even anything about it in the documentation.

arbon wrote:

HelperGuy wrote:I see a lot of new laptops with an eject button, like the Mac's, on the upper right row of the keyboard.

Meantime, VLC is the best player. You can also install the K-Lite Code Pack http://codecguide.com/ to ensure that every type of audio and video format will play properly.

I've found that I can only play FLAC from a hard drive.

You mean as opposed to a portable music player? That's because there are very few of them that play FLAC files... they have to be converted first to another format. Here are a couple of lists: reviews.cnet.com/8301-6495_7-57531378/best-mp3-players-with-flac/ and http://www.iflac.org/portable-flac-players/

Note that there are some apps that allow Apple devices to play FLAC stuff.

Included in Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro, but doesn't include DVD playback. Go to the DVD playback for Windows page to find out how to add DVD playback to Windows 8. For Windows Media Player 12 for Windows 8 N and KN editions, get the Media Feature Pack.


Z

My Windows 8 has media player included, there's just no obvious way to start it! Try this:

-Right click on the Start screen.
-Click on All Apps.
-Windows Media Player in under Windows Accessories.

Or you can Run wmplayer. There is also a Windows Media Center with a different UI for accessing media.

I put a shortcut to the Media Player on the desktop.

Eldergeek wrote:My Windows 8 has media player included, there's just no obvious way to start it! Try this:

-Right click on the Start screen.
-Click on All Apps.
-Windows Media Player in under Windows Accessories.

Nope, not there on the Windows 8 that came installed on this Dell.

Windows Media Player in W8 is in the desktop, not in the apps screen. Hit the Windows key and type Media Player.

Oh right! My Windows 8 is a "Media Center Edition."

Different versions have different features. Media version obviously works on DVDs.

Z