Windows 10 DVD Store App Details

Discussion of getting WMC to work on Windows 10 (unsupported)
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TheOsburnFamil

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Windows 10 DVD Store App Details

#1

Post by TheOsburnFamil » Tue Aug 11, 2015 1:32 am

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insi ... 084&auth=1

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3081704


Getting the Windows DVD Player app

We are releasing a DVD player app for Windows 10. Here are some common questions you may have about the DVD app:


1. Q: What Windows editions are eligible for the free Windows DVD Player app when upgrading to Windows 10?
A: Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate, and Windows 8/8.1 with Media Center.

2. Q: What’s a quick way to know if I’ll get the free app before upgrading to Windows 10?
A: If you have Windows Media Center, you’ll get the free app. If you have Windows Enterprise edition, you will not get the free app. If you’re still unsure, you can check which edition of Windows you’re running by following the steps outlined here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind ... ing-system

3. Q: What if I already upgraded to the Windows 10 Insider Preview from an eligible Windows 7 or Windows 8 edition before the final version of Windows 10 was released?
A: The free Windows DVD Player app is tied to your Windows 7 or Windows 8 installation. To get the free app, you’ll have to use your installation media to re-install Windows 7 or Windows 8 + Media Center, and then upgrade to Windows 10.

4. Q: What do I have to do to get the free app?
A: Soon after upgrading to Windows 10, the free Windows DVD Player app will be automatically downloaded via Windows Update, but you can speed up this process by going to Settings from the Start menu, selecting Update & security, and then click Check for updates. You should see a new KB3081704 update available that begins to download, which will install the free Windows DVD Player app.

5. Q: If I have Windows 7 or Windows 8 with Media Center, but I want to perform a clean install of Windows 10, will I still get the free app?
A: You must upgrade your PC to Windows 10 to get the free app. If you perform a clean install by formatting your disc rather than upgrade, you will not get the free app. You will still get the free app if you perform an upgrade and choose to delete files, apps and settings during Windows 10 setup.

6. Q: Can I get the app if I don’t have one of the Windows editions eligible for the free app?
A: Yes, the Windows DVD Player app will be available for purchase in the Store. There are also many other popular DVD player apps already available on the web that will continue to work on Windows 10.

7. Q: Will the free app also be available on my other PCs?
A: The free Windows DVD Player app is tied to your Windows 7 or Windows 8 installation, so it is bound to a single PC. If you pay for the Windows DVD Player app in the Store, you are entitled to install the app on your other Windows 10 PCs just like other paid apps.

8. Q: Will I keep the free app if I reinstall Windows using update and recovery?
A: The free Windows DVD Player app is tied to your Windows 7 or Windows 8 installation, so any action that reinstalls Windows over the top of an existing Windows 10 installation will break this tie and remove the free Windows DVD Player app. To recover the free app, you’ll have to use your installation media to re-install Windows 7 or Windows 8 + Media Center, and then upgrade to Windows 10.

9. Q: Does this change anything if I already have a DVD player app that I like?
A: If you already have a DVD player app installed, it will continue to work when you upgrade to Windows 10.

10. Q: I’m an enterprise IT professional and the Windows PCs I manage at my company will need to play DVDs when I upgrade to Windows 10 – will we get this free app?
A: If the PCs at your company have an eligible Windows edition installed, you will get the free app if you upgrade to Windows 10. Windows Enterprise Edition is not eligible for the free app. If you perform a clean install of Windows 10 by formatting your disc rather than upgrade, you will not get the free app. The app will be available for purchase in the Store. There are also many other popular DVD player apps already available that will continue to work after upgrading to Windows 10.

11. Q: I currently play my DVDs from a file backup, does the Windows DVD Player app support this?
A: No, the app currently only plays DVD movies on optical discs.

12. Q: Does the app play Blu-ray discs?
A: No, it plays DVD movies. If you already have an app that plays Blu-ray movies, it will continue to work on Windows 10.

13. Q: I see that the free DVD app offer is only available for a “limited time” – how long will it be offered?
A: The timing has not been finalized yet. It will end at or before the free Windows 10 upgrade offer.
Matt O. ...tivo what? ...dish dvr--uh... huh? ...cable dvr fees--you're kidding, right?

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#2

Post by adam1991 » Tue Aug 11, 2015 1:43 am

IOW, just get VLC.

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#3

Post by cncb » Tue Aug 11, 2015 1:19 pm

What is annoying is that you lose it after a clean install and there is no way to get it again other than going through the whole upgrade again which defeats the purpose of a clean install. It should "remember" that you upgraded from WMC. Does VLC give you an MPEG2 decoder that you can use in "apps"?

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#4

Post by TheOsburnFamil » Tue Aug 11, 2015 3:24 pm

adam1991 wrote:IOW, just get VLC.
To be clear the purpose of the post was simply to provide the official details that I found from Microsoft. I have it from one of my upgrades, opened it, then 30 seconds later closed it. Nothing special.
cncb wrote:What is annoying is that you lose it after a clean install and there is no way to get it again other than going through the whole upgrade again which defeats the purpose of a clean install. It should "remember" that you upgraded from WMC. Does VLC give you an MPEG2 decoder that you can use in "apps"?
I agree it should remember... but I can confirm it doesn't from personal experience (hence the post).

VLC does not provide a mpeg2 decoder that can be used as a directshow filter. That said, there are a couple options. dscaler or ffdshow will provide an mpeg2 decder for dvd playback.
Matt O. ...tivo what? ...dish dvr--uh... huh? ...cable dvr fees--you're kidding, right?

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#5

Post by mdavej » Tue Aug 11, 2015 3:37 pm

14. Q: I see that the DVD app is supposed to replace Windows Media Center. How do I record TV, watch Netflix, or play my music/video/photo files with it? Do I buy a DVD recorder and put everything on DVD first?

15. Q: Since WMC was ever only used to watch DVDs, why does the EPG Cutover thread have over fifty-thousand views yet the WMC DVD thread doesn't even exist even though that functionality has been missing since Windows 8 was released?

16. Q: Who still watches DVDs?

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#6

Post by Pixelz » Tue Aug 11, 2015 5:41 pm

For me, the Windows 10 DVD Player app doesn't even replace the DVD player functionality in Media Centre. When I try to play a DVD it fails with "Error: video cannot be decoded". Microsoft MPEG2 splitter, video decoder and audio decoder are all showing correctly in Graph Studio, and DVDs will play successfully on the same PC using MPC-HD, so it seems like a problem with the app itself.

From looking at the app store reviews, DVD Player gets a very sorry 1-star average, and I can't say I'm surprised.
In fairness, the rest of my Windows 10 installation went quite smoothly, though.

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#7

Post by Ed  » Tue Aug 11, 2015 6:09 pm

Is the MPEG2 codec it contains exclusive to the app alone, or available to the entire OS, is all I'm curious about.

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#8

Post by Venom51 » Wed Aug 12, 2015 12:03 am

Should be available to anything in the OS. However the DVD was a back handed smack in the face to MCE users. I'm just about to start recommending a Linux installation with VLC to people when they ask.

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#9

Post by Shark007 » Wed Aug 12, 2015 12:30 am

Ed  wrote:Is the MPEG2 codec it contains exclusive to the app alone, or available to the entire OS, is all I'm curious about.
It is a Media Foundation codec. To the best of my current knowledge, there is no other Windows 10 player besides WMP that can use Media Foundation decoders. It would also seem that WMP is blocked from using this codec because it has its own mpeg2 Media Foundation/DirectShow decoders.
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#10

Post by 3rob3 » Wed Aug 12, 2015 1:10 pm

Shark007 wrote: It is a Media Foundation codec. To the best of my current knowledge, there is no other Windows 10 player besides WMP that can use Media Foundation decoders. It would also seem that WMP is blocked from using this codec because it has its own mpeg2 Media Foundation/DirectShow decoders.
I thought they removed the mpeg2 and dolby decoders starting in Win8? I thought that was part of the deal with making WMC a paid add-on.

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#11

Post by Shark007 » Wed Aug 12, 2015 1:25 pm

In Windows 8 and 10, these decoders come in both Media Foundation and DirectShow flavors.
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