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DVD player software
DVD player software lets you watch ordinary DVD video discs on your computer. It turns your computer into an advanced DVD player, playing DVDs that you’ve bought or rented in great quality. It’s versatile too - you can watch movies on your laptop in bed or on your normal computer monitor.
DVD player software comparison chart for 2024
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Cyberlink PowerDVD 23 Ultra |
Corel WinDVD Pro 12 |
Zoom Player Pro |
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Overall
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Setup
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Features
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User experience
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Ease of use
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Help & support
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Autoresume
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Closed captioning
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Karaoke
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Parental controls
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Pan & scan
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Playback smoothing
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Region settings
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Subtitles
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Laptop mode
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Time stretch
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Video clip capture
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Video on top
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Video desktop
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Zoom
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DVD-Video
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H.264
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HD
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MPEG-1
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MPEG-2
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MPEG-2 HD
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MPEG-4
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WMV-HD
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AAC
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Dolby Pro Logic
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Dolby Digital 5.1
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Dolby Digital EX/Plus
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DTS
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DTS ES
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MP3
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SRS
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PAL
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NTSC
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Telephone support
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Email support
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Live chat
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Manual
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Knowledge base
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Windows 11
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Windows 10
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Windows 8
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Windows 7
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DVD player software explained
Although many computers have DVD playing functions built in, these tend to be basic. DVD player software should give you extra control over picture and sound settings. It can make video look much better on a standard computer monitor, and you usually get lots of other features too.
DVD player software can play DVDs through any type of display or projector connected to your computer. It’s ideal if you want to watch DVDs on your laptop. But if you hook your computer up to a projector or compatible big-screen TV, it can bring a new dimension to your in-home viewing.
What’s more, DVD player software is a cost-effective way to get features that are only available with top-of-the-range DVD players. Notably, DVD player software can often perform upscaling. This improves the quality of video when played on a high-definition display, like a flat screen HDTV.
More capabilities and control
You may be able to use DVD player software to watch DVDs recorded in different formats, including home-made discs recorded at a lower quality to fit more footage onto a single DVD. It can even help you get the best out of these recordings by adjusting colors, sharpness and audio to fit your display and speakers or headphones.
Some DVD player software can play DVDs from parts of the world which use alternative systems or DVD regions. And parents will appreciate controls to prevent children viewing age-restricted films.
Most people use DVD player software to compliment their main DVD player. It brings more flexibility to your viewing by allowing you to watch DVDs in other ways and places.