Windows 8 drops DVD playback

[xxMATTGxx]

Windows 8 drops DVD playback, only available with paid Media Center upgrade

You might have heard that Windows 8 won't come with Media Center, but that's not the only missing multimedia piece of the puzzle. This week, Microsoft revealed that the new operating system won't have any kind of DVD playback, unless you specifically purchase Media Center or use third-party DVD software.

At the official Building Windows 8 blog, the company justifies the move by claiming that television and DVD use on personal computers is "in sharp decline," and says that it would have to spend "a significant amount in royalties" to offer support for optical media going forward. Microsoft says online media is the focus for Windows 8, and will include H.264, VC-1, MP4, AAC, WMA, MP3, PCM and (as announced earlier today) Dolby Digital Plus codecs, as well a variety of container formats to make that work, but oddly the primary use case for Dolby — those DVDs — won't be supported out of the box.

How do you play DVDs on a Windows 8 PC, then? Actually, it probably won't be very hard: if Windows 8 machines are anything like Windows 7 ones, every consumer PC that comes with an optical drive will probably have bundled DVD software. The other alternative is what the rest of the Building Windows 8 post is about: if you buy an add-on pack for Windows 8 (either the Pro Pack, or the Media Center Pack) via the new "Add Features to Windows 8" control panel, you'll get DVD support in Media Center as well as broadcast TV recording and VOB playback. Microsoft hasn't mentioned any prices for those add-ons quite yet, but says they "will be in line with marginal costs," which sounds promising.

www.theverge.com/2012/5/4/2998106/windows-8-drops-dvd-playback-media-center-upgrade?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WinRumors+(WinRumors)

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Not actually sure why they have done is really. I mean I guess we can all just install VLC and if we wish to play DVD's then that's how we would do it unless we forked out for the Media Centre Edition. Will this lower the cost of Windows 8? Who knows. Is this stupid? Probably but that depends how many people actually use their computers to watch DVD's - Not like it can't be done.

[Recursion]

... another moronic decision in the Windows 8 development process.

[peteyt]

Wait a minute aren't we supposed to be improving technology and giving people more options instead of limiting people's choices

[xxMATTGxx]

Wait a minute aren't we supposed to be improving technology and giving people more options instead of limiting people's choices

Well you could say more people have turned to streaming than sticking a DVD movie into their computer and start watching it. I don't really under the reason to be honest.

Taken this from an article:


Make no mistake about it: this decision is about the money. Specifically, it’s about the desire of OEM partners to want to keep costs down. In previous versions, technologies like the Dolby decoders that are part of Windows Media Center were included in premium editions. The decision to drop them completely from the base edition and make them a paid upgrade means those who want them will pay more, while OEMs will be able to cut a few bucks off the cost of each Windows license. Multiply that by millions of PCs and you see why big PC makers are content with this option.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/microsoft-media-center-not-part-of-the-future-of-entertainment/4944

[FlyingJesus]

I guess for every handful of people who see this and think "oh well I'll just download something else" there'll be one or two people like my mum who will instead think "WELL I'D BEST BUY THAT PART TOO", so they'll be able to fleece a few people for the whole lot while keeping their own base costs down. A minor annoyance I guess but nothing too sinister

[Chippiewill]

Whilst I could understand this for windows 9 when the DVD format will be properly dead, but this is just a dumb decision that'll confuse consumers.

[peteyt]

I hope we see a difference in the price of windows 8 then. Does anyone know when the pricing will be announced?

[xxMATTGxx]

I hope we see a difference in the price of windows 8 then. Does anyone know when the pricing will be announced?

Closer to the release date.

[peteyt]

Closer to the release date.

Just hope there is an evident price drop then. I'd hate them to just decide to not really lower the price much so they could sell a product at a similar price than they used to with less features which would make them more profit due to costing less.

[Richie]

I didn't think many people used their pc to playback dvds. I assumed those who buy dvds buy them and watch them on a dvd player anyway. Either way it was still handy when burning dvds for the playback feature to make sure everything is okay before sitting down to watch it :(

[GommeInc]

I'm confused, is it just Media Centre which is gone or both Media Centre and Player? :S It's an odd decision either way, but I guess computers are becoming decreasingly used as Media PCs.

[xxMATTGxx]

I'm confused, is it just Media Centre which is gone or both Media Centre and Player? :S It's an odd decision either way, but I guess computers are becoming decreasingly used as Media PCs.

Media Centre won't be included, Windows Media Player will but it will not have the functionality of DVD playback. Paying the extra few quid for that will make the centre have playback functionality or users can use other software such as VLC.

Also there is some more news on this matter:


Windows 8 DVD playback issues: It's all about the money

On Thursday evening, Microsoft announced that the regular version of Windows Media Player, which will be in all versions of Windows 8, won't be able to play DVDs anymore like it can with Windows 7. Users would have to upgrade to a paid version of Windows Media Center to enable DVD features.

This decision has been slammed by many Windows users. Now the official Windows 8 blog has posted an update that attempts to answer some of the questions raised by the decision to remove DVD playback from Windows 8's Media Player.

Microsoft confirmed that for Windows 7, it had to pay royalties to Dolby and to the owners of the MPEG-2 decoder to enable DVD playback in Windows Media Player. The blog states:


In Windows 7, we decided to make these codecs available broadly in most editions, except Windows 7 Home Basic (available in some emerging markets) and Windows 7 Starter editions (available for netbooks and some emerging markets). That means royalties related to DVD playback in Windows 7 have been paid broadly, regardless of whether or not the PC has an optical drive. Based on sales and usage, we supplied codecs to a very large number of PCs that were not capable of playing DVDs or simply did not ever play DVDs.

The FAQ also claims that licensing those technology for Windows 8 would cost a lot of money. It states:


So when you add all this up and apply to all Windows PCs, it is an ongoing cost of hundreds of millions of dollars per year to the PC ecosystem, well over a billion dollars over the lifecycle of the operating system and yet by most predictions the majority of PCs will not even be capable of playing DVDs.
Microsoft believes that if a new PC with Windows 8 has some kind of optical drive installed, it's "most likely" that it would have some kind of DVD software included.

But what if you have Windows 7 and still want to play DVDs when you upgrade your PC to Windows 8? Microsoft says, "If there is existing third-party playback software the Windows Upgrade Assistant will help determine if this software is compatible with Windows 8 and you will have the option to keep it during the upgrade to Windows 8." Otherwise you will be out of luck with the upgrade to Windows 8 unless you upgrade it with the Windows Media Center pack (or use free third-party software).

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-8-dvd-playback-issues-its-all-about-the-money

Also...

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http://mattgarner.net/upload/images/OpTj5.png

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[Tomm]

I don't really see the problem here considering there is freely available software that will enable you to watch DVDs anyway. Plus can't remember the last time I actually watched a DVD and at any rate I don't have a optical drive installed in my computer anyway since I basically never use optical media anymore.

[Recursion]

I don't really see the problem here considering there is freely available software that will enable you to watch DVDs anyway. Plus can't remember the last time I actually watched a DVD and at any rate I don't have a optical drive installed in my computer anyway since I basically never use optical media anymore.

Which is fine for "techie" people like us, but I'm willing to put money on the fact many consumers will get bitten by it.