Free DVD players

I have done some searching today for any free DVD players (for my computer) which are legal for use in the United States. The reason I have been is because in December of this year I plan on getting a new laptop with Windows 8 Home Premium on it for Christmas. Since Windows Media Player on Windows 8 Home Premium won’t play DVDs, I’ve been looking for a free, legal alternative. I am aware of VLC media player but am not convinced that using it in the U.S. is legal.

I also looked at two players I’d have to pay for, which are PowerDVD and WinDVD. From what I’ve read, support for a version of PowerDVD lasts two years. (I’d be having my new laptop for at least four, so I’d have to pay more money to upgrade to a newer version.) WinDVD from what I’ve read doesn’t have official support for Windows 8. Even if eventually it did I still don’t know if it has a lifetime license for a particular version or not. (I’d personally rather pay $50 or less for unlimited updates, including across different major versions, such as from 5.x to 6.x for example.)

If anyone here is aware of any free DVD players that are legal for use in the United States please let me know.

VLC not having a CSS decryption license is not as important from a legal stand point as what you may choose to play on it. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is useless from this standpoint. DVD decryption is done through the libdvdcss library within VLC. Unlike DeCSS, libdvdcss has never been legally challenged, and unlikely it will. Libdvdcss is optional in many open-source DVD players, but without it, only non-encrypted discs will play.

http://dvd-player-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

If I were going to invest money this would be my choice.

Thanks for taking the time to post. Are you saying that VLC media player is legal to use in the U.S.?

No I’m not saying that it’s legal, but the Libdvdcss library used for decryption has never been challenged under the DMCA. Using VLC to playback your legally owned DVD’s is not a issue that should concern someone much from a legal standpoint. Keep in mind this is just my opinion.

You might want to read:

Followed by:

I doubt you’ll find a free player that can be guaranteed legal in the US, but as Sayer said, no one will worry about individuals using players like vlc for personal use. However, it’s your choice.

I did some research today and found what I think might be two legal free software DVD players. They are BlazeDVD Free and Zoom Player. According to the official website for BlazeDVD Free it is supported with a banner ad. I don’t know about Zoom Player. I contacted Zoom Player’s vendor asking if their software was legal in the U.S. I’m waiting for a response back.

If their software isn’t legal in the U.S. I’ll keep looking and if I’m unable to locate any free software DVD players that are legal for use in the U.S. I’ll ask for paid DVD player software for Christmas.