Play Blu-Ray on Windows (or NOT)
Commerical Blu-Ray movies have AACS DRM features.
Blu-Ray support is not included in Windows.
4K Blu-Ray discs are incompatible with existing standard Blu-ray players;
PC 4K Blu-Ray drives generally get poor ratings for durability and utility.
Intel’s Dropping of SGX Prevents Ultra HD Blu-Ray Playback on PCs
My WH16NS58 drive gets quite hot while playing Blu-Ray discs,
a task IMO best left to dedicated consumer players.
According to some Internet sources, these steps enabled VNC to play Blu-Ray discs,
but that did not work for me (6 Mar 2022, Windows 10 Home 21H2, Intel I7-8700K)
Blu-Ray discs depend on Java for menus; this procedure for installing Java and MakeMKV worked
- Windows Java installation automatically set its required environmental variable.
- after launching MakeMKV one time to
File > Open Disc
for some Blu-Ray disc:
- No need for MakeMKV to actually rip discs for VLC to play them..
- MakeMKV must be purchased within 30 days to continue working;
US$60 cost is greater than for many commercial Windows Blu-Ray disc player software packages..
Windows Blu-Ray player alternatives
- Leawo Blu-ray Player
- menu control was problematic, in my experience
- MakeMV claims that Leawo hacked their executible
- Blue-ray Master claims to sell one for $29.50,
- but the trial software downloaded is AnyMP4;
Blue-ray Master seemingly just hacked it;
Uninstalling it launched a 30% discount at AnyMP4
bringing its price down to $41.30
- but the trial software downloaded is AnyMP4;
- Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player appears to be a clone of GOM Player,
which did not work for me… - Aurora Blu-ray Media Player appears to be another clone of AnyMP4
- CyberLink PowerDVD 21 Ultra can be purchased at Amazon
US$60 cost approaches that of dedicated new consumer Blu-Ray players…