back to article 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 …

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            1. MrZoolook
              Thumb Down

              Re: Really??

              When I tried to resolve an issue I had with Ubuntu by asking in the forums, I was called a 'Windroid troll' and told that Linux didn't have any issues and that I must be doing something wrong?

              Windows might be more buggy then Linux, but at least the various help forums available for it actually, you know, HELP!

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Really??

            I can play SD and DVD content with XBMC on Ubuntu on a Shuttle XS35 (passive cooled Atom dual core with Intel graphics and cost $160).

            1. Linker3000
              Thumb Up

              Re: Really??

              Then there's XBMC on my £26 Raspberry Pi!

              1. Anomalous Cowturd
                Thumb Up

                Re: XBMC on a Raspberry Pi...

                Indeed. My daughter and I watched a 2 hour film last night, (using Openelec/XBMC), run from a SAMBA share on an Ubuntu 10.4 box. It didn't drop a frame!

                Bloody marvellous little baby.

                I'm not too sure how long that micro USB power socket is going to last though...

          2. spegru

            Re: Really??

            Have you cleaned the disc and or/is the DVD drive knackered?

            DVDs all fine on my (several) Mint setups....

          3. Not That Andrew

            Re: Really??

            Hmm, try using the official NVidia drivers. The open source Nouveau drivers often have issues with recent hardware. For full support its better to use an older card (2 or 3 years should do).

          4. JEDIDIAH
            Linux

            Re: Really??

            Stuttering on a "recent nvidia card" ?

            An Atom can playback BD rips with a recent nvidia card. Never mind DVD.

            Even the relatively ancient 6x00 generation of nvidia cards had partial HW acceleration for MPEG2.

      1. Chemist

        Re: Linux

        Something very wrong then.

        I use DVDs on all my various Linux boxes without any problems also I can play HD720p on an old Celeron laptop and edit/play mp4 1080/50p videos on an old 2 core AMD using Nvidia/ VDPAU using ~5% CPU.

        Sorry I can't really attempt to diagnose what's wrong but definitely something is.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Linux

        THe problem exists with some Nvidia drivers - the company does not provide them so someone has to hack and try and emulate, which unfortunately is often not ideal.

        1. Chemist

          Re: Linux

          "the company does not provide them"

          The company DO provide them but only as binaries. Hence the project to emulate them

        2. RAMChYLD
          Boffin

          Re: Linux

          > THe problem exists with some Nvidia drivers - the company does not provide them so

          > someone has to hack and try and emulate, which unfortunately is often not ideal.

          Erm, Nvidia /does/ provide Linux drivers. Problem is many distros do not agree with their licensing (specifically, the fact that there's a close-sourced binary blob smack in the middle of the drivers that NV refuses to open the source code to) and thus do not ship them with their default repos.

          This has also caused said Nouveau driver project to kick off.

          That said, the Nvidia official Linux drivers are far more mature than Nouveau, even supporting SLI and CUDA. Just a shame that some effort must be taken before they can be installed (and that they break as soon as a X or Kernel upgrade comes out) just because of NVidia's stubbornness.

          1. Chemist

            Re: Linux

            "and that they break as soon as a X or Kernel upgrade comes out"

            NEVER had that happen

            1. RAMChYLD
              Boffin

              Re: Linux

              > NEVER had that happen

              Well, I run OpenSUSE Factory and Debian Sid with self-rolled kernels :P

              You'll only see the drivers break when they come out with a new major XOrg release (usually because the ABI's too radically changed in the version), and the kernel break if you roll your own kernel and opt for the latest and greatest, and something changed in their structure too (iirc this happened in 3.1. Some of the kernel header's locations changed and as a net result it wreaked havoc on the driver's module source during compile-time).

        3. JEDIDIAH
          Devil

          Re: Linux

          > THe problem exists with some Nvidia drivers - the company does not provide them

          Just use the ones supplied from the vendor. Chances are that there's a nice "download vendor graphics drivers" here button on your desktop. Very easy. Even a Mac user can manage.

      3. A J Stiles
        Trollface

        Re: Linux

        I smell troll.

        Secondly, Ubuntu were one of the first to ship LibreOffice instead of OpenOffice.org; and firstly, nVidia have never made a decent graphics card.

        1. DryBones
          Trollface

          Re: Linux

          He who smelt it...

          AMD's OpenGL support is absolute pants, at least under W7. They artifact and goof up z-buffering, Nvidia doesn't. Hmm...

      4. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

        @Oliver

        I get good DVD playback on my EeePC 701 using a USB DVD drive running Ubuntu 10.10, and that is really an underpowered PC, being a Celeron clocked at less than 700MHz.

        Methinks you need to look at the graphics options. Sounds like you've either not installed the Nvidia restricted drivers (which would be strange, as if that adapter was in the system when Ubuntu was installed, it should pick it up automatically), or something has disabled hardware rendering, and the system is using software rendering. Try installing and using the Nvidia driver settings tool from the Ubuntu repository (no, that's no more difficult than installing drivers from CD that came delivered with your graphics card).

      5. JustNiz
        Angel

        Re: Linux

        You sound like a Microsoft stooge. Linux works fine playing DVDs (actually smoother than Windows) unless one or more of these apply:

        1) You have really ancient or ghetto hardware (which wouldnt play DVDs under windows either)

        2) Youre using a REALLY old version/distro of Linux, like maybe 5+ years old.

        3) You didn't install the display driver.

        Before you whine about Linux sucking more than Windows because you have to install a driver, please be aware that you have to install display drivers in Windows too.

      6. RAMChYLD
        Boffin

        Re: Linux

        Fascinating.

        I have a set of GTX260s in one gaming rig which I set up for Linux gaming testing.

        SLI not only works, I was capable of playing Team Fortress II on it quite well. And movie playback works fine as intended, even large HD movies.

        Of course, I need a better distro. OpenSUSE sucks, with all the packages being so badly outdated and all.

      7. h4rm0ny

        Re: Linux

        You might want to check if there's something specific to your set up. I would check your graphics card drivers for a start as stutter suggests the CPU is decoding things. (Not sure about Nvidia but my AIT card handles all the decoding on the card and I'm sure any recent Nvidia must provide the same). Just for reference, my Debian system can play DVDs with no problem (and Ubuntu is built on Debian). Now getting it to play Blu-Ray was a challenge, but I got there in the end.

      8. MrZoolook
        Mushroom

        Re: Linux

        I used Ubuntu for ages with no issues. I used Xine for DVD playback and it worked fine. The only problem I had was lack of driver support for my wireless card. UBU helpfully suggested I check online for a driver for it. *shrug*

        1. Chemist

          Re: Linux

          I'd suggest you use a Live-CD ( or USB if you can boot from one) of a modern distro like OpenSuse 11.4 or 12.1 ) and see before you install if the wireless problem is still there. If it is then your wireless system might be rather a rare one. Most wireless chipsets are now supported, some of them officially by the manufacturers.

      9. the spectacularly refined chap

        Re: Linux

        I get around 10FPS playing back DVDs full screen too - over a remote X connection limited to 100Mbps by the LAN. Either something is drastically misconfigured or that figure was made up on the spot.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Re: Linux

      How I wish that MS Office could work 100% under wine and without frigging about and without needing to run under VBox. I would happily stay with Ubuntu / Mint for ever and a day.

    2. Doug Glass
      Go

      Re: Linux

      So does mine. Same for my two backup/standby XP Pro SP3 boxes. This is just tough, very tough to figure out.

  1. Christoph
    Pirate

    How to stop piracy

    They are massively worried about piracy, so they are going to make it more difficult and expensive to play legitimately bought content?

    1. Aramando

      Re: How to stop piracy

      "They" may be, but Microsoft aren't massively worried about [media] piracy, as they're not a media company.

  2. Jesse G
    Pint

    duh

    Just run media center in "windows 7 mode"

    1. Steve Renouf
      Facepalm

      Dubble duh

      Why use anything other than VLC?!?

      1. jason 7
        Thumb Up

        Re: Dubble duh

        No idea why you are getting downvoted on that piece of logic. I'd love to know why.

        I havent used MS's native DVD playback or Media Centre in years. I just install VLC as standard on any PC I build.

        Although I also cant remember the last time I watched a DVD on my PC. Most of my PCs sit within 10 feet of the TV which is a better solution for playback.

        Once again this is another example of herd rage over nothing.

      2. CheesyTheClown
        FAIL

        Triple duh?

        Sandy Bridge and/or Ivy Bridge? When you disable the MS video codec and use a QuickSync codec included with Intel drivers, you use almost no power making it possible to cross and Atlantic watching DVDs the whole way on a single charge while your CPu is basically idle and the QuickSync decoder consumes milliwatts?

        VLC playback consumes about 20% of my CPU for DVD playback, Windows Media consumes about 2%.

  3. oldredlion
    Linux

    Microsoft will include Dolby Digital Plus 5.1

    It's not really included, is it?

    I mean, if you have to pay a third party provider before you can use it, it isn't part of the system, it is just something you can buy and then you'll get any additional benefits - a bit like any other piece of software.

    It won't look good on the marketing blurb so why do they bother? And if MS isn't adding all the extra bits and bobs that people apparently want, why should people pay for a MS OS? It's easy to stick a linux variant onto a PC nowadays and you'll end up with the same functionality.

    Patents and copyrights will slowly strangle MS. Ha ha.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Microsoft will include Dolby Digital Plus 5.1

      Correction.

      "Patents and copyrights will slowly strangle progress and innovation"

      It was Newton who said "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Just a shame that these days 'standing on shoulders' is seen as copyright/patent abuse.

  4. yossarianuk

    Its almost like they're trying to force people to use Linux. ..

    There are many distros where you get DVD codecs, etc out the box - Linux Mint/Mandriva, pclinuxos (my mum uses that one..) are examples - you have to do absolutely nothing....

    Oh well, total morons will stick with windows and I couldn't care less - they deserve Windows 8 - they're stuck in the matrix and need to wake up - I'm sure that Windows 8 customers enjoy being farmed.....

  5. Zog The Undeniable

    VLC Media Player. That is all.

    1. I'm Brian and so's my wife
      Thumb Up

      VLC FTW!

      My first thought was "who the hell still uses Windows Media Player when there are so many better alternatives?"

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: VLC FTW!

        Exactly, I don't think I've used wmp in about, oh, 12 years.

        1. FrankAlphaXII
          Trollface

          Re: VLC FTW!

          I actually still use WinAmp, but I like VLC. Last time I think I used WMP was under Windows ME to see how fast I could make it BSOD.

  6. AbortRetryFail

    VLC

    Presumably VLC will still run just fine on Windows 8 and still continue to provide support for pretty much every audio and video format out there including playing DVDs?

    1. yossarianuk

      Re: VLC

      Shame its not built into the OS (unlike some version of Linux..)

      Which all this opensource software surely your better off using an opensource OS - and one you can actually still get a real desktop for...

      Anyone who buys Windows 2008 on an ARM system has essentially just bought a brick (you can NEVER change)

  7. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So why can't you simply install the greatest media player of all time, the mighty VLC? Yet to find a standard video/audio format it won't have a bash at playing, that's on Linux, OSX and Windows platforms!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Any reason for the downvote?

      Downvoter - are you some sort of irrational WMP junkie?

      1. Kevin 6

        Re: Any reason for the downvote?

        Dunno about you but VLC(for windows can't comment on the linux one) half the time for me gets a ton of artifacts and broken audio I've tried it for the last 5 years and always experience the same exact thing. I've tried it on literally 30 different PC's with specs all over the place with AVI's OGM's,.MP3s, MKV's, and DVD's. The same exact files played flawlessly on MPC, winamp, and hell even windows media player on the same systems. So no the down vote isn't because of people being WMP junkies its because some of us don't have good experience with it.

        For the record I use MPC on my systems. It uses less CPU time, and plays files perfectly for me.

    2. Carrot007
      Unhappy

      VLC is great and I use it whereever I can. However there is something up with the OSX version.

      It may just be performace. When playing HD stuff (I only go for 720 since it is an original intel macbook) I get occasional pausing and stuttering. I also note the machien does not heat up so it appears not to be hitting anything near max cpu usage.

      i have recently installed mplayer instead and get no such issues, however at times the machine does get hot and the fan comes on as expected.

      1. Chemist

        Re : mplayer

        mplayer certainly seems to use less CPU on any of my Linux boxes regardless of whether the video is accelerated or not.

        Doesn't fit with your experience of hot or not but it's what I've noticed

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    Disturbing move...

    I'm not too pleased with the whole "marketplace development". I think its only a matter of time before more and more components are stripped from Windows where customers are left to fend for themselves using the Marketplace. Of course the price for the OS doesn't go down, even though it provides less functionality.

    And considering that developers need to pay to publish stuff through the marketplace and customers most likely will need to buy stuff from the marketplace leaves MS in the middle of the revenue; generating more income with less effort.

    Not too sure I like where this is going.

    1. Zack Mollusc

      Re: Disturbing move...

      Well, I am pleased with this development as it will mean that I don't have to delete Windows Media Thing after I have restored to factory default. Saves a step. If they get rid of the dvd-burning thing that never works right for me, that will save another step.

  10. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Facepalm

    MS generously bringing more fondeslab greatness to the PC version

    First the UI, now DVDs. Next week I look forward to news about keyboard and mouse support being removed from the PC version.

  11. Lee Dowling Silver badge

    Didn't this always used to happen with older Windows anyway?

    I have a whole bunch of CyberLink PowerDVD install disks and keys because every time we bought an 2000/XP laptop or PC, they didn't include the MPEG2 codecs and the workaround was that all manufacturers bundled "something" that would play MPEG2 for no cost - either with the machine or the DVD drive if you were upgrading. That "something" usually cost them pence in bulk and consisted of some DVD playback software that you didn't even install most of the time.

    I still have the pile for our XP machines here, still have the problem that Media Player doesn't play DVD by default on a clean Windows XP install (you have to install that bit of software first or - my solution that bettered my employer's - use VLC and just make sure you can prove you have the PowerDVD disks, and hence MPEG playback license, somewhere). Then the whole EU software patents things went a bit up the wall and basically the Fraunhoefer Institute's patents meant nothing any more so we could just use playback software at our whim.

    Isn't this just a return to an earlier policy rather than some shocking new omission from the OS?

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