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

Yes, BD-J is the Java specs for the Blu-ray interactive menus and other features, but since Blu-ray is the single worldwide standard for HD physical media, Microsoft would probably have legal grounds to renegotiate the agreement with Sun to include BD-J, assuming the agreement covered that in the first place. Even Sun might prefer to license BD-J to Microsoft for that matter. Or Microsoft could do as some software do already, let the user download and install the Java virtual machine engine straight from the Sun website and provide everything else.

I don't think Microsoft would have let such an argument stand in their way, and it's the first time I read of it as an excuse for not implementing native Blu-ray playback. The usual excuses I have read from Microsoft (and Apple) people were that Blu-ray is already an obsolete format, and Vive le Streaming!

Most of the Java files on the discs are probably data files that can be read and interpreted from any high end programming language, and the bulk of the files are .m2ts files that Windows Media Player can already play, but there are some compressed .jar Java libraries that prevent from using a different language altogether. Binding Blu-ray disc to a specific language instead of a specific data format was really a bad move. This and the licensing issue is really blocking the widespread adoption of Blu-ray, compared to what it could have been now 4 years later.

I will try to explain the situation.

Microsoft is legally banned from implementing Blu-Ray playback in any of its product; Windows and Xboxes.

This happened because Microsoft agreed to not to include Java in its product default as per the terms of 2001 Microsoft vs Sun Java lawsuit. Blu-Ray playback requires Java runtime and Microsoft cannot include it in its product.

When the Hollywood studios, mainly Time Warner, choose to back Blu-Ray exclusively back in 2008, they understood the implication that their chosen disc format will never be played by Windows PCs(without a 3rd party playback software) and Xboxes, and it was OK with them. The other rival format, the HD-DVD had no such restriction.

So the reason HD movie discs cannot be played in brand new PCs out of box is because of above legal restriction; that Microsoft cannot include in Windows or even sell separately a Blu-Ray playback software.

And no, Windows 8, Windows 9, Xbox 720 will continue to not play back Blu-Ray movies.

Digiarty DaPlayer looks very unstable, it couldn't play the 2 first BD I threw at it, Criterion's Black Orpheus and How To Train Your Dragon, either from the BD drive or from the BD ripped on the hard drive. Arcsoft TMT5 can play the same movies just fine, from either the BD or hard drive.

It displayed an error message both times, well, a different one each time, last movie had a very explicit message as you can see: "Access violation at address 007FE3BA in module 'DaPlayer.exe'. Write of address 00000064."

If it's free, I wonder if it's even legal, as I suppose the Blu-ray license committee would not allow this, or all other Blu-ray software players would be free too.

@LancePelissier I think even $50 is way too much money when I already paid for a BD drive on my computer, another one on my TV and a decoder software to remove the stupid copy protection and region info for legit personal playback. These licensing companies have been paid back on their R&D and made hefty profits long ago already, it's time for these licenses to disappear.

It's the only thing that prevents BD from successfully replacing DVD as a format. That and the slowness of the media, maybe.

But it's really not just a matter of price, it's more a matter of features for me, namely how does the software integrates with Windows Media Center, and if it is able to play Blu-ray discs ripped on the hard drive, like Arcsoft and Digiarty players do, but Power DVD does not.

Will Windows XP needed 3rd party decoders to play back SD-DVDs (aka DVD) in Windows Media Player so and the same is true with Blu-ray on Windows 7. http://www.macblurayplayer.com/ has an Windows version and for only $50 it's better then paying $100 for something like Power DVD Ultra.