Even if we are now in the years of streaming, it cannot yet be said that the DVDs are outdated, especially for those who have bought many in the past and for those who can still rent them having a video rental near their home (these are increasingly rare). Microsoft, however, in its latest editions of Windows, has abandoned the support for watching DVDs and removed the Windows Media Center program from Windows 10 and Windows 8.1, mainly due to rights and copyrights that it did not want to pay.
We have therefore already written, in another article, How to watch DVD and Blu-Ray movies in Windows 10 and 8.1 .
To expand the discussion a little, we see here the best free programs to watch DVDs on Windows 7 PC and of course also Windows 10 and 8, which support the division into chapters, which also allow you to see any extra content, with the possibility to choose subtitles and choice of language for films, without any regional or geographical restrictions.
1) VLC Media Player is always the number one to use when looking for a program to watch all kinds of videos on your computer, including DVDs.
VLC can play DVDs on Windows 10 for free, with support for subtitles and also with the ability to record the video seen and save it on a PC.
From VLC you can open the DVD by going to the File> Open Disc menu and choosing the DVD as the disc type, so you can also see the chapters and subtitles.
2) PotPlayer is the one that a few years ago I elected as the best among the best programs to watch videos and movies on PC.
PotPlayer is an excellent free DVD player for Windows with hardware acceleration and support for 3D movies too.
The user interface is much more accurate than VLC and offers many customization options.
3) Media Player Classic Home Cinema, which in 2017 was also updated after a long time, is a historical program to open videos and DVDs on PC, which takes up the graphics of the old Windows Media Player, however adding numerous additional functions.
4) mpv is a very simple open source program for PC, completely free, to view all types of videos and also DVDs (region free).
5) Gom Player is a very popular program which is also excellent for watching DVDs on a computer and an excellent alternative to VLC for viewing videos and films without worrying about the type of file and format.
Compared to other DVD players, it offers a clearer picture when viewing, even if it is not an open source software like VLC is.
Therefore, pay attention to the sponsor programs being installed.
6) KMPlayer is a multipurpose DVD player program with its own internal codecs that allow you to play practically any multimedia file.
It is also one of the lightest DVD players available, therefore also suitable for older PCs with little space.
7) Kodi is the best program if you are looking for a media center to be connected to the TV, which obviously also allows you to open DVDs as if you were using an external player and organize them visually, by downloading covers and information sheets.
Finally, I remember that for those with old DVDs who are afraid of losing or ruining, it is always possible to use programs to copy (Rip) DVDs on PC in order to keep them on a hard disk.
