Windows 7 Media player will not play back BluRay disc's

Well it's all non-Microsoft, since Microsoft does not have a single blu-ray player software.

The 3 main contenders are, I actually mean the 3 only contenders are:

• CyberLink PowerDVD 11

http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdvd/overview_en_US.html

• Corel WinDVD Pro 2010

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1189528458632

• Arcsoft TotalMedia Theater 5

http://arcsoft.com/totalmedia-theatre/

I use the Arcsoft player, it was the only one that could playback Blu-ray discs ripped on a hard-drive. By ripped, I mean the full content of the BD in a folder in readable form, not an ISO image of the BD or a compressed version of the BD.

But when choosing one player, take also into account how they integrate into Windows Media Center or whatever features may be important to you. To me, it was mostly being able to read ripped BDs, so I can build a movie library on the computer and never insert a DVD or BD anymore, only once to rip it (using Slysoft AnyDVD HD.)

Be very careful when selecting a product, all these players also come in DVD-only version (no Blu-ray playback) usually under a very similar name and the same version number.

Your computer or Blu-ray drive might also come bundled with a demo version of one these three, or even a different player software.

One feature that's not always easy to enable and might require even another software is the ability to view your movie collection in Windows Media Center as thumbnails. This feature requires downloading the proper dvdid.xml file for your movie, usually from sites such as http://dvdxml.com/, that seems rather dead now. Just from the movie identifier in this small XML file, Windows Media Center will be able to retrieve and display the poster of the movie and all information such as director, country, year, actors, synopsis, and so on.

So basically I need 3 different non-integrated and very costly pieces of software just to be able to play Blu-rays on the computer. That's why I said earlier it's still a technical challenge and we need Microsoft to jump in and provide a smart integrated solution in Windows 8 Ultimate or something.

If you're watching Blu-ray movies or TV shows on a laptop, maybe a better solution for you is to use a Blu-ray ripper that will convert your Blu-ray discs into smaller compressed files on your hard disk using normal extensions such as .avi that you can read in Windows Media Player or any other player.

I have no experience in such Blu-ray rippers, but there are many of them, most will try to disable the stupid copy protection measures so you can watch your own movies you legally purchased.

what is NON microsoft that can be purchased to play bluray disc?

You need a Blu-ray drive and a third party Blu-ray player. Several are mentioned in this thread.

Your computer needs to be recent and powerful enough, as Blu-ray playback is a very intensive task. An internal drive will work more smoothly than an external one, unless you use fast USB 3.0 or eSATA. All recent monitors and graphic cards are compatible with Blu-ray copy protection schemes, so that should not be a problem. But if yours are not, or if you want to rip your movies on the hard drive to build your Windows Media Center movie library, you need to strip out the copy protection bits with a software such as AnyDVD HD or a dedicated Blu-ray ripper.

As you can see, right now Blu-ray playback on the computer is rather cumbersome. It may be more convenient to buy a Blu-ray drive for your TV or receiver, so you can also use a 5+1 or 7+1 sound system, without which half the experience of DVD or BD playback is lost.

Are you serious Microsoft? SHAME ON YOU! I can't believe this!