How to play a Bluray with Free VSO Media Player

What to do when your Blu-ray won't play

Having troubles playing a Bluray disk /or DVD?

To troubleshoot, start by checking these points:
1) Does your optical drive support Blu-ray disks? Use VSO Inspector (free) to see if your drive supports blur-ray disks.
2) Is the disk you are trying to play protected? (help provided below)

How to tell if a disk is protected:

- A disk is protected if you see a folder named "AACS" when looking at the contents of the Blu-ray disk (Go to where your drive/burner is listed and when the Blu-ray disk is inserted, right click on the drive/burner and select "Open" - image 3 below.)

- When you try and play the disk in VSO Media Player and you see the contents of the disk listed on the left in a playlist, but double clicking on some or all of them, does not result in the file being played. All you see is "Please wait . .." appear but with no real action happening afterwards.

How to play a protected disk:

In order to play the contents of a protected disk you must have a decryptor software tool installed and active.

Here are three decrypting tools:
- DVD43 v4.6.0.0 freeware - for DVD disks (not compatible with 64bit nor Windows 8)
- AnyDVD HD - for DVD + Blu-ray
- Passkey for Blu-ray - for Blu-ray
*Make sure legally you are allowed to use these software products in your country.

How these tools work:

When the decrypter is running, it works as a background process, making the disk readable so that software or you can access the contents directly. Without a tool like this the contents of the disk cannot be seen.

Once your decryptor is running and "active" you should be able to load the video into your video player and play the contents without a problem. If the playback is slow or choppy this could be due to the fact your computer is not powerful enough to handle this process or problems within the video player software itself (try a different player for comparison).

Using DVD43 (only for DVDs not Blu-ray disks):

(not compatible with 64bit nor Windows 8) Once DVD43 is installed, launch DVD43 and in the bottom right hand corner of your computer you see a little icon in the shape of the head a smilie. The smilie will bee in a different color depending on the status of the decryptor

Yellow = no disk detected
Angry = working to remove protection on detected disk
Green= ready for use, decryptro active and running

Using AnyDVD:

Once AnyDVD is installed, launch AnyDVD so that in the bottom right hand corner of your computer you see a little icon in the shape of the head of a fox.

If the icon is not in color that means AnyDVD is not running actively. To have it run, right click and select "Enable AnyDVD"

Image 1

Now the VMP will be able to access and read the contents of the disk.

To see if AnyDVD has removed the protection of the disk, go to where your drive/burner is listed and right click on your drive where the Blu-ray disk is inserted, and select "Open"
drive

Image 2

If you see a folder with the name "AACS" then the protection has not been removed. Close and reopen AnyDVD to try and refresh it so that it detects and scans the disk again (make sure you are using the latest version of AnyDVD)

aacs

Image 3

If you see a folder named "ANY!" that means the protection has been removed and you will be able to convert the contents of the disk or read with a video player such as FREE VSO Media Player
any

Image 4

Using DVDFab:

Once DVDFab Passkey is installed, launch it so that in the bottom right hand corner of your computer you see a little icon in the shape disk with a key laying over it.

If the icon is not in color that means Passkey is not running actively. To have it run, right click and select "Enable DVDFab Passkey"
enable passkey

Image 5

Now the VMP will be able to access and read the contents of the disk.

To see if DVDFab has removed the protection of the disk, go to where your drive/burner is listed and right click on your drive where the Blu-ray disk is inserted, and select "Open"
drive

Image 6

If you see a folder with the name "AACS" then the protection has not been removed. Close and reopen DVDFab Passkey to try and refresh it so that it detects and scans the disk again (make sure you are using the latest version of DVDFab Passkey) .

aacs

Image 7

If you see a folder named "FAB!" that means the protection has been removed and you will be able to convert the contents of the disk or read with a video player such as FREE VSO Media Player
passkey working

Image 8