While most DVD players we buy for our computers come with either PowerDVD, WinDVD or some other DVD playing software, you may find that the cheaper drives or the OEM versions do not come with the necessary software to play DVD’s.

Most media players do not play DVD’s out of the box, but rather use the codecs from the DVD programs above to decode the movie.

VLC Media Player will let you play DVD’s for free. It is put together by a group of volunteers, and if my memory serves me correctly, it started off being a class project.

I first heard about VLC many years ago when I was playing around in the Be operating system. It was the only option for playing DVD’s as commercial products were not available. This was around 5 years ago. Back then, VLC had a few problems playing DVD’s as the program was in its infancy. The movies were generally unwatchable as they were still working on the DVD decryption.

VLC has now evolved into a great and well known Media player. It is also skinable so you can change its appearance and there are versions for many different operating systems. There is not a great deal more I can say about VLC, it is very simple and it does what it is meant to, no questions asked.

If you do not have any DVD software or would like to to try another media player, check out VLC Media Player. It is free and can play just about anything you throw at it, including DVD’s.

Visit them and download it from Videolan.org.