Playing a DVD on my laptop

[Alex2507]

Usually I just ask BSA or wait for him to bail me out. I know at least 3 other guys who would know how to solve my issue here (adk, jinjuku and pantergask). I could probably handle this solo but I figure, why struggle? Advice from other members is always welcome.

So I have Cyberlink Power DVD 12 on my laptop and it's saying to get the current version. I'm trying to play the Avia II calibration disc on my laptop to calibrate my 2.1 desktop system. I was just wondering what would be the easiest way to get from here to there. My laptop will play DVD's but not Blu-ray. It's probably old enough to no longer be supported by updates but is Windows 10 IIRC.

TIA

 

[TLS Guy]

Usually I just ask BSA or wait for him to bail me out. I know at least 3 other guys who would know how to solve my issue here (adk, jinjuku and pantergask). I could probably handle this solo but I figure, why struggle? Advice from other members is always welcome.

So I have Cyberlink Power DVD 12 on my laptop and it's saying to get the current version. I'm trying to play the Avia II calibration disc on my laptop to calibrate my 2.1 desktop system. I was just wondering what would be the easiest way to get from here to there. My laptop will play DVD's but not Blu-ray. It's probably old enough to no longer be supported by updates but is Windows 10 IIRC.

TIA

Most Windows 10 computers later than 2018 can be updated to Windows 11, but not all.

You can upload Cyberlink Power DVD 12 to Windows 10 as long as you have the original OEM installer.

 

[dolynick]

If your laptop only has a DVD drive and not a BD-DVD driver, there's no way you'll get it to play at Bluray without replacing the drive or getting a USB BD-Drive. If it is a BD-DVD drive, then all you need is software that can decrypt the Bluray content protection. IE, a player suite or other software that allows access to the video files.

 

[TLS Guy]

If your laptop only has a DVD drive and not a BD-DVD driver, there's no way you'll get it to play at Bluray without replacing the drive or getting a USB BD-Drive. If it is a BD-DVD drive, then all you need is software that can decrypt the Bluray content protection. IE, a player suite or other software that allows access to the video files.

He wants to play the Avia II calibration disc, which is a DVD. So, I think this hinges on whether he has the original OEM installer.

 

[dolynick]

He specifically mentioned Bluray in his post so it wasn't clear.

If it's just a DVD, then almost any media player (including the free ones) can, at minimum, play the .vob files on a DVD. Even Windows Media Player (Legacy) should be able to do that. If you want full menu support, you might need a player that specifically can "open disc" rather than just play the video files. But again, there are a number of free ones like VLC, Media Player Classic (Home Cinema or BE), etc

 

[Alex2507]

Doing this from my phone makes editing quotes difficult so I'm skipping that.

I could just get the current version of cyberlink. That option was available but I thought to ask here for direction before doing so.

My computer is older than 2018. I opened Windows Media Player and didn't see a way to play the DVD. I thought that was odd too.

I know my laptop won't play Blu-ray Discs. I'm not trying for that. Maybe the next one. It's funny that my g/f slash wife bought a laptop because it was "cheap". $400 without asking me so I didn't have a chance to ask about it here but it won't play any discs. I had taken our one laptop to a different residence so she found herself computerless. The thing is that she knows less about computers than I do.

I just woke up but I could be doing this from that machine instead of my phone. Duh.

EDIT:

Okay, so here I am on her laptop. I'm away from the cellar dweller residence that has the laptop/2.1 audio rig that I was trying to work on. Anyway when I get back there I'll just get the current version of Cyberlink that was offered to me if there are no issues going that route.

Thanks for the help

 

[dolynick]

The easiest thing would to just grab and install VLC player:

Official download of VLC media player, the best Open Source player - VideoLAN

images.videolan.org

It's open source, free and generally one of the most popular players. I know for certain that it can open a disc to support DVD playback with menu support.

If you prefer a paid player, by all means purchase a current license of Cyberlink. I'm sure they'll be happy to take your money too It's a fairly well-known name in that segment of the software business. It'll probably come with a lot of extra bloat and other apps though which you may or may not have use for.

 

[Alex2507]

The easiest thing would to just grab and install VLC player:

Official download of VLC media player, the best Open Source player - VideoLAN

images.videolan.org

It's open source, free and generally one of the most popular players. I know for certain that it can open a disc to support DVD playback with menu support.

If you prefer a paid player, by all means purchase a current license of Cyberlink. I'm sure they'll be happy to take your money too It's a fairly well-known name in that segment of the software business. It'll probably come with a lot of extra bloat and other apps though which you may or may not have use for.

Oh, I didn't get to the 'give me money' part.

I'll look into that in a couple of days when I get back to the cellar dweller residence.

Thanks.

 

[dolynick]

It wasn't a criticism of wanting a paid product.

It was more a commentary that the free players are good enough and have enough codec support built in to manage most of these needs just as well or better. Although in some cases you might have grab a separate codec for stuff like 4k/HEVC support.

 

[Alex2507]

It wasn't a criticism of wanting a paid product.

It was more a commentary that the free players are good enough and have enough codec support built in to manage most of these needs just as well or better. Although in some cases you might have grab a separate codec for stuff like 4k/HEVC support.

I didn't take it as a criticism but I don't want to spend money. It’s an old laptop but it has a dvd player. I feel like it shouldn't cost anything to play dvd's.

I'm confident that I'll be able to sort it out when I get back there.

I don't think Cyberlink will cost anything though. It seemed like an update to an existing product. We'll see.

 

[Alex2507]

The easiest thing would to just grab and install VLC player:

Official download of VLC media player, the best Open Source player - VideoLAN

images.videolan.org

It's open source, free and generally one of the most popular players. I know for certain that it can open a disc to support DVD playback with menu support.

No go with that for me after 30 or so minutes trying this and that. It said something about Vista SP2 ... I uninstalled it. Media Player ain't doing it either. Cyberlink did in fact want $59.99.

I might have to get a dvd player hooked up to this thing ... ugh.

 

[dolynick]

Oh. Vista is pretty old and was more business/enterprise oriented. It's possible that DVD support was not included there. Not sure as it was a long time ago now.