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Upgrading my laptop. It has Media Center under Win 7. I don't use Media Center, but would like to source a replacement that will at least let me watch Blueray movies. I don't listen to music on this machine.

Thoughts, ideas?

VLC plays (almost) anything.

What are you looking for it to do? Do you just want to play media files from the desktop or do you want a ten foot interface a la Media Centre?

Not sure if this is what you're looking for or whether or not it runs well under Windows 8, but have you considered XBMC?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... ture-packs

Looking for free, I guess? I was just thinkin', if you're used the Media Center as a UI and all that, maybe stick with it?

Too bad you don't have some OEM copy of WinDVD or PowerDVD or something that you can install for Bluray stuff.

XBMC @ http://xbmc.org/

Hi guys. I owe you all an apology for being so obtuse in my original question. I was in a hurry and I did a poor job of asking my question.

I will go through your responses and will check out the link(s) provided, but first; a bit more:

This laptop, an Asus G73, has a big 17" screen and decent audio even through the speakers. It has Windows Media Center that came with Windows 7 from Asus. As I prepare to upgrade to Windows 8, I'm going through my mental checklist to try my best to not loose too much functionality, and it just came to mind that Windows 8 could remove my ability to play DVD and Blueray movies. I don't know for certain if the Windows 8 upgrade will end up disabling/deinstalling Media Center; I'm just trying to be prepared in case it does.

Background:

I use this laptop mostly as a mobile DAW when I'm travelling, and as an emergency diagnostics/download machine in case something happens to my desktop system at home.

If Windows 8 does end up disabling or deinstalling Media Center, then I'll want to at least be able to play movies on this laptop. Again, it's mostly only for when I am travelling and might want to watch a movie. I think that's all I really need at this time; the ability to play any DVD movie in the US zone/region, and because I haven't even had need to use Media Center in 2.5 years, I'd rather not spend a significant sum just to have the ability to watch movies. No need for ripping, copying, or backing up DVD movies; just watching is all I think I need.


EDIT: I have checked out the links for VLC and XBMC, and I think either one of them could very well serve my needs. I'm downloading XBMC at the moment to check it out this weekend.