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

It is well within Microsoft's capabilities to add native BluRay support to Windows Media Player. Why havent they? Cost. BluRay data disks are supported by Windows, because the technology needed to read a BluRay data disk doesn't have any licensing issues associated with it. The technology to play a BluRay movies on the other hand require a "license". Every company that makes a standalone BluRay player bought the rights to use the technology, as did every (legitimate) company that makes a BluRay movie playing software. The costs for these license is recovered by the company when they sell you the player/software. Microsoft could, of course, also by the rights to include native BluRay movie support, but they would then have to pass on the cost to you. In your case, this would probably be fine, but think about all the people that don't watch BluRay movies on their PCs... BluRay drives are still rare to find in computers, and even those who have BluRay hardware, don't always want to watch movies on their computer. Why should they pay $20 for Windows for a "feature" they never use? Unfortunately you are in the minority at present. As soon as that changes (meaning that a significant portion of Windows purchasers have the hardware ability and desire to play BluRay movies), you can bet support will come with Windows.

The rep is suggesting that as a way to do what you want, you should look into third party software. He is however also cautioning that since it is third party, any problems you have will need to be resolved by contacting the third party.

And the reason Microsoft doesn't have a W7 blu-ray edition with the associated cost is absurd.

I din't understand why this codec thing is only bad with windows 7. I forward to my old machine with XPservice which is also micro soft and have no trouble opening things. Can you please answer this for me?

No, Windows 8 does not have native Blu-ray playback either.

This whole thread was raised in the hope that even if Microsoft didn't fix it for Windows 7, it would at least take account this feedback for Windows 8, but there hasn't been any change in the Blu-ray licensing model or in Microsoft policy that people would switch straight from DVD to streaming. They just don't communicate about Blu-ray at all.

I hope Blu-ray will be replaced for 4K by something faster and of course bigger capacity, license-free, with some features integrated into the CPU/GPU and with a toolkit to seamlessly upgrade any DVD or BD to this new format, even for individuals who want to upgrade their ripped DVD/BD library. Even if there is no new physical disc media, it still makes sense for movie producers to have a digital format to wrap the movie with audio tracks, subtitles, extras, interactive menus, etc., while letting the user access the raw movie or a specific series episode or season directly. One can dream...

My friend recently purchased a Sony Vaio laptop, and it has software that plays blu-rays (remember that Sony supports blu-ray in their devices.)

The cost of his laptop: $600.

The cost of my Windows 7, plus the desktop I built to support it: about $1300.

Now, of course, I didn't build a desktop system just to watch blu-rays. But at that price, it damn well should. Microsoft, suck up the cost and buy the license!