Last year, Microsoft released its new Windows DVD Player app for Windows 10 PCs. The company’s DVD Player app is not available for free — instead, you’ll have to pay $15 to be able to install it on your PC. Today, the company released a fairly major update to the app to those in the Windows Insider program’s Fast Ring. The update includes some much-needed features — firstly, it can now automatically detect and read a DVD when you insert it in the PC. Previously, users apparently had to manually tell the app to look for a new disc which is pretty weird. The update also makes the playback bar “simpler” and “easier” to use which hides the less used actions in an ellipsis menu. The user interface of the playback bar has also been improved to make it look similar to the playback bar on the Movies & TV app.
Most importantly, the update brings some much-needed shortcuts to the app — users can now double-click on a video to make it go full screen, hit the escape key to exit full-screen or use the spacebar to play or pause a video.
In addition to this, the update includes a couple of other improvements which are listed below:
- Now when you insert a DVD into the drive while the app is running, it will automatically read the DVD. No longer do you have to manually tell the app to look for a disc in the drive.
- Playback bar is simpler and more polished so that it’s easier to use.
- Less used actions are now hidden under the “…” menu
- The closed caption button is included in the playback bar
- The look and feel is modeled after the Movies & TV app
- Playback bar is now disabled when there is no DVD in the drive.
- If your DVD drive region does not match the region set in Windows, the app will prompt you to change the region of your DVD drive to continue.
- Basic keyboard interactions are now supported: double-clicking on the video will go full screen, escape will exit full screen, spacebar will pause/play.
- We improved the keyboard navigation and made Narrator strings clearer.
- If you have the N SKU of Windows installed, the app will recognize the lack of Media Foundation Package and prompt you to install it.
Once again, the latest update for the Windows DVD Player app is only available to those part of the Insider Programs’s Fast Ring. If you are interested in trying the app out, you can get it from the link below for $14.99:
Developer: Microsoft Corporation
