OEMs Could Be Including Cheap DVD Playback For Win 8 PCs

PC vendors who are concerned that the lack of DVD playback ability in Windows 8 could hurt their sales have a new opportunity to custom configure their PCs with such a feature.

AMD recently mentioned a blog post of James DePloy, founder of commercial app distribution platform AppAttach, which enables PC makers to access discounted OEM deals of apps with "reduced" volume commitments.

It appears that the lack of DVD playback support may have spurred some interest from DVD playback software makers to cater to PC makers. DePloy noted that CyberLink's PowerDVD 12 is available to OEM's as a "quality, cost-effective DVD playback solution at an affordable price." He did not reveal how much CyberLink charges for PowerDVD 12 via AppAttach. The retail version of PowerDVD 12 is currently offered by CyberLink for $40.

Microsoft removed DVD playback capability in Windows Media Player to save codec licensing fees that were required in previous Windows versions. For every Windows 7 version sold, Microsoft paid $2 to the MPEG-LA.

Windows 8 users, however, can easily add this playback capability by installing the Windows 8 Media Center Pack, which is offered by Microsoft free of charge until January 31, 2013. After that date, consumers could opt to play DVDs via software such as the non-profit open source media player VLC.

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