Hello fellow lampers, do any of you use the VLC., media player and If so, do you have any problems with it? I find it to be very fussy about which DVDs., it will play, it's on my PC., which has Windows 8.1 as it's operating system, 8.1 does have Windows media player on it, but for some reason Microsoft have not included DVD., playback in this version of their Media player. Because VLC is so fussy I usually watch DVDs., on my older PC., which has XP., on it and Power DVD., Jeff.
Hi Jeff, so far I didn't have any problems with VLC on my Windows 8.1 machines. I installed VLC 2.1.5 and it opens DVD per autostart once you insert them. However I've got a DVD here which won't get opened at all, neither with VLC nor with Explorer/Mediaplayer. Seems to be some kind of copy protection on the disc. However my Linux machine doesn't seem to like VLC. I don't get it running, but there is also no correct version to install (maybe I should try to compile it from the sources). BR, Martin
Thanks Martin, I opened the VLC media player and clicked on the help tab and then the check for updates tab and then downloaded the version which you mentioned, but it's still fussy about which DVDs., it will play, so I shall have to watch those disks which it rejects on my XP., machine using Power DVD., they play on it! I did look into using Power DVD., with Windows 8.1 but they are not compatible, Jeff.
You can also try to download the newest version of PowerDVD for your Windows 8.1 machine. It is available e.g. at Softonic or other distributors, or you'll find it via Google. Maybe you'll need to register/buy the new version, but in case you still have the original installation medium the included SW ser.-no. might work as well... BR, Martin
I really can't understand why Microsoft nclude such a worthless piece of software or have the nerve to call it "media player" when it does anthing but! On one of my PCs I use VNC to play files that have been recorded on my PVR in an odd file format. I don't use it for anything else or on my Windows 8 machine. The laptop came with an app that so far has played everything I've thrown at it... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_Clear.fi I'm not sure if it will work or is even downloadable on other machines but it works flawlessly for me.
VLC is now working okay thanks and as far as I know Microsft did not include DVD., playback in their latest media player as they would have had to pay a licence fee for the DVD., player code. They do sell software which enables playback.
I find this odd. Normally I recommend VLC to anyone who's having playback problems as it gets around a multitude of format/codec problems between systems. Admittedly though I tend to be looking at it from the POV of playing media files rather than DVDs.
