DVD Pro – User Guide

Play DVDs, Blu-rays, Audio CDs and video files on Windows – in one clean, fast player.

On this page

Welcome to DVD Pro
What you can play
Getting started
The player window
Menu reference
Disc playback
Media library
Disc page
Settings
Keyboard shortcuts
Troubleshooting
Files & support

1. Welcome to DVD Pro

DVD Pro is a desktop player for Windows that handles both the discs on your shelf and the files on your hard drive. It is built on the VLC playback engine (libVLC 3.0), so it opens DVD-Video, Blu-ray, VCD/SVCD, Audio CDs, ISO images and virtually any video or audio file – without codec packs, without extra installs, and without a cluttered interface.

All your discs DVD-Video, Blu-ray, VCD/SVCD and Audio CD – detected automatically when inserted.

Blu-ray decryption built in Bundled AACS (libaacs) and BD+ (libbdplus) libraries plus a built-in key database.

Every common file type MKV, MP4, AVI, MOV, WMV, TS, M2TS, WEBM, FLV, MP3, FLAC, WAV and more.

ISO images Play DVD and Blu-ray disc images directly – no burning, no virtual drive.

Full subtitle support Load external subtitle files, switch tracks, and nudge the timing to match.

Real player controls Audio/video track selection, equalizer, aspect ratio, rotate & flip, picture tuning.

Media library Keep favourites in one place with automatic video thumbnails.

4 languages, 2 themes English, 中文, 日本語, 한국어 – with dark, light or follow-system appearance.

2. What you can play

Video files

Container	Extensions	Notes
Matroska	.mkv	Most common format for HD rips and remuxes; full chapter support
MPEG-4	.mp4 .m4v .mov	Phone and camera recordings, web downloads
AVI	.avi	Legacy DivX/Xvid files
Windows Media	.wmv	Recorded TV, older downloads
MPEG transport stream	.ts .m2ts	Broadcast captures, Blu-ray stream files
MPEG program stream	.mpg .mpeg .vob	DVD content, camcorder output
Web formats	.webm .flv	Downloaded web video

Audio files

.mp3 .flac .wav .m4a .aac .ogg .wma .ape .opus

Discs and images

Media	What DVD Pro reads
DVD-Video	A disc in the drive, a `VIDEO_TS` folder, or a DVD ISO image – with full disc menus and chapters
Blu-ray	A disc in the drive, a `BDMV` folder, or a Blu-ray ISO image – HDMV and BD-J titles
VCD / SVCD	A disc or folder containing `VCD` / `MPEGAV` directories
Audio CD	A music CD in the drive – track list, automatic advance to the next track

3. Getting started

There are five ways to start playing something:

Play Video – the button on the start screen opens a file picker for any supported video or audio file.
Play Disc – the button next to it plays whatever disc is currently in your drive.
Drag & drop – drop a file, a folder or an ISO image anywhere on the window. The drop hint on the start screen tells you when it is ready.
File menu – Open File, Open Folder, or pick a specific disc type (DVD / Blu-ray / VCD / Audio CD) from the drive list.
Media library – double-click anything you have already added.

Tip: When you open a file that belongs to a disc – VIDEO_TS.IFO, a file inside BDMV\STREAM, or a .cda track – DVD Pro recognises the disc structure and starts the whole disc rather than just that one file, so menus and chapter navigation keep working.

When a disc is inserted while DVD Pro is running, a disc detected banner appears on the start screen so you can begin playback with one click.

4. The player window

Control bar

The bar at the bottom of the video area holds everything you need during playback. In fullscreen it fades out after a few seconds of inactivity – move the mouse to bring it back.

Control	What it does
Play / Pause	Starts or pauses playback. On a disc menu, the same button acts as the OK key for the highlighted item.
Stop	Stops playback and returns to the start screen.
Previous / Next chapter	Jumps one chapter back or forward. On an Audio CD these become previous track / next track.
Timeline	Shows elapsed and total time. Click or drag anywhere on it to seek.
Volume	Click the speaker for a slider (0-200%; above 100% applies software gain). Scroll the mouse wheel over the icon to adjust, click the speaker symbol to mute.
Speed	Choose 0.5x, 0.75x, 1.0x, 1.25x, 1.5x or 2.0x. The `-` / `+` keys fine-tune in 0.25x steps.
Play mode	Toggles repeat (loop) on and off. The icon turns blue while looping.
Disc menu	Opens the disc menu panel – title list, chapter list, audio/subtitle/angle menus and remote-style navigation. Only enabled for disc media.
Fullscreen	Switches to fullscreen and back. `F11` or `Esc` work too.

Right-click menu

Right-click anywhere on the video for a compact menu with the commands you use most: play/pause, stop, chapter skipping, 10-second jumps, audio and subtitle track selection, aspect ratio, snapshot and fullscreen.

Subtitles

Load a subtitle file – Subtitle → Load Subtitle, then pick a .srt, .ass, .ssa, .sub or .vtt file.
Switch tracks – Subtitle → Subtitle Track lists every embedded track on the disc or file.
Fix the timing – Subtitle → Subtitle Sync nudges the subtitles earlier or later; Custom… takes an exact millisecond value (positive = subtitles earlier).

Note: Subtitle changes apply to the current playback only. They are not saved as a permanent preference for that file.

5. Menu reference

The menu bar sits at the top of the window and is available both on the start screen and during playback. The first click on a top-level item opens it; after that, hovering moves between menus. Menus close on their own when the mouse leaves the menu area for a second.

File

Item	Description
Open File `Ctrl`+`O`	Pick any supported video or audio file.
Open Folder	Play a folder – useful for disc folders and multi-part recordings.
Open DVD / Blu-ray / VCD / Audio CD	Lists every drive that currently holds a disc of that type. Discs are shown with their drive letter.
Open URL	Play a network stream (http, https, rtsp, rtmp, mms).
Recent Media	The last 10 files, folders and discs you opened. Clear empties the list.
Eject	Opens the tray of an optical drive.
Exit	Closes DVD Pro.

Play

Item	Description
Title	Every title on the disc. On a Blu-ray this includes the top menu entry; on an Audio CD it becomes the track list.
Chapter	Every chapter of the current title.
Playback Speed	0.5x to 2.0x. The current speed is ticked.
Jump Back / Forward 10 s	Skips ten seconds in either direction.
Play / Pause, Stop	Standard transport controls.
Previous / Next Chapter	Chapter navigation; track navigation on Audio CDs.
Play Mode	Loop and Single Loop are active in this version. Single, Order and Random are reserved for playlist support in a future update.

Audio

Item	Description
Audio Track	Every audio stream on the disc or file – languages, commentaries, stereo vs. 5.1.
Audio Output Device	Choose which sound card or output to use when you have more than one.
Audio Sync	Shift the audio earlier or later to fix lip-sync drift. Custom… accepts exact milliseconds.
Equalizer…	10-band equalizer with preamp and presets.
Volume Up / Down, Mute	Same as the control bar, for keyboard-free operation.

Video

Item	Description
Video Track	Switch between video streams (e.g. multiple angles on a disc).
Fullscreen `F11`	Toggle fullscreen.
Always on Top	Keeps the player above other windows – useful while taking notes.
Aspect Ratio	Default, 16:9, 4:3, 1.85:1 or 2.35:1.
Rotate / Flip	Rotate 90° left or right, reset, or mirror horizontally / vertically.
Video Adjustments…	Brightness, contrast, saturation, hue and gamma.
Snapshot	Saves a PNG of the current frame to `Pictures\DVD Pro`.

Subtitle

Load Subtitle · Subtitle Track · Subtitle Sync (earlier / later / custom) · Turn Subtitles Off. See The player window for details.

6. Disc playback

DVD-Video

Insert the disc and click Play Disc, or choose File → Open DVD. The disc menu appears as it would on a standalone player.

Navigate the menu with the arrow keys and confirm with Enter or Space.
Use Title and Chapter in the Play menu to jump straight to a scene.
The disc-menu button on the control bar brings up the title, chapter, audio, subtitle and angle menus.

Blu-ray

Blu-ray discs are usually protected. DVD Pro ships with the decryption libraries and a key database, so most discs play straight away:

AACS – handled by the bundled libaacs library together with keydb.cfg, a community key database covering tens of thousands of discs.
BD+ – handled by the bundled libbdplus library.
Keys – on first launch the key database is linked into your user profile (%APPDATA%\aacs\KEYDB.cfg) where the decryption library expects to find it. Nothing is written to the program folder.

BD-J titles: Some Blu-rays use Java-based menus (BD-J). Those menus need a Java runtime installed on your PC. If none is available, DVD Pro automatically plays the main feature instead of the menu and tells you so – you lose the menu, not the movie.

Blu-ray titles appear in the Play → Title list, and the disc-menu button jumps back to the top menu at any time.

VCD and SVCD

Video CDs play like DVDs but without menus. Use File → Open VCD for a disc in the drive, or open the folder that contains the MPEGAV directory.

Audio CD

Insert a music CD and DVD Pro switches to a dedicated view: a track indicator replaces the video area, the progress bar shows the length of the current track, and playback advances to the next track automatically when one finishes.

Next / Previous track – the control-bar buttons, or Ctrl+→ / Ctrl+←.
Jump to a track – Play → Title lists every track on the disc.
Audio CD tracks cannot be seeked as precisely as files, because the drive reads them in real time – this is normal.

ISO images

DVD and Blu-ray ISO images play without mounting. Drop the file on the window or open it like any other file – DVD Pro inspects the image and picks the right playback path. If the image turns out to be a DVD after all, it retries automatically.

7. Media library

The Media Library page is your shortlist: films, series episodes and albums you go back to often, all one double-click away.

Add File – pick one or more files (multi-select supported).
Add Folder – adds every supported media file in that folder, including subfolders.
Tabs – All, Video and Music filter the list.
Play – double-click a row, or use the play icon on the row.
Remove – the X on a row removes that item; Clear empties the whole library after a confirmation.

Video entries get a thumbnail generated in the background, so the list stays responsive even with hundreds of files. Adding a file that is already in the library is ignored, and you are told so.

8. Disc page

The Disc page shows every optical drive that currently holds a disc, with the disc type detected from its structure – BDMV for Blu-ray, VIDEO_TS for DVD, and Audio CD or VCD for the others. Click a disc to play it.

Refresh – re-scan the drives after inserting or swapping a disc.
Eject – opens the tray of the selected drive.

9. Settings

Appearance

Follow system – DVD Pro matches your Windows light/dark setting and switches live when you change it.
Dark – always dark. This is the default.
Light – always light.

Language

English, 中文, 日本語 or 한국어. On first launch DVD Pro picks the language that matches your Windows display language and falls back to English. Changing it here applies immediately – no restart.

Playback

Skip Blu-ray menu and play the main feature directly. When this is on, Blu-ray discs start playing the longest title instead of showing the disc menu, including Java-based (BD-J) menus. This is useful on machines without a Java runtime, or when you just want to get to the film.

Restart required: the Blu-ray menu setting is read when the player engine starts, so DVD Pro must be restarted before the change takes effect.

10. Keyboard shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Play / Pause	`Space`
Skip back / forward 5 seconds	`←` / `→`
Previous / next chapter (track on Audio CD)	`Ctrl`+`←` / `Ctrl`+`→`
Slower / faster playback	`-` / `+` (0.25x steps)
Fullscreen on / off	`F11`
Leave fullscreen	`Esc`
Open a file	`Ctrl`+`O`
Show the disc’s top menu	`Shift`+`M`
Disc menu navigation	`←` `↑` `↓` `→`
Confirm the highlighted menu item	`Enter` or `Space`

Tip: While a disc menu is on screen, the arrow keys move between menu items instead of seeking. Close the menu (or press Resume in the disc menu panel) to get normal seeking back.

11. Troubleshooting

Q: A Blu-ray disc says libaacs.dll or libbdplus.dll is missing.

A: Both libraries ship with DVD Pro, next to the program file. If you see this message, they have usually been removed or quarantined by security software. Reinstall the app (or restore the two files from quarantine) and try again.

Q: DVD Pro says it cannot decrypt this Blu-ray disc.

A: The disc’s key is not in the bundled key database yet – this happens with very new or very obscure releases. The database is updated with new app versions, so keep DVD Pro up to date.

Q: A Blu-ray plays the movie immediately and tells me the menu needs Java.

A: That disc uses a BD-J (Java) menu and no Java runtime was found on your PC. You can install a Java runtime to get the menu back, or turn on Settings → Skip Blu-ray menu and let DVD Pro go straight to the main feature – which is what it did automatically.

Q: A commercial DVD shows a black screen or an error mentioning libdvdcss.

A: Some commercial DVDs are protected with CSS, and DVD Pro does not include the optional CSS decryption library. Unprotected discs, home-made recordings and DVD ISO images are unaffected. If you need CSS support, place a matching libdvdcss.dll next to the program file.

Q: There is no sound when playing an Audio CD.

A: Check Audio → Audio Output Device and make sure the right output is selected, then check the volume slider – a muted state or 0% volume also silences CD audio. If the drive itself is external, confirm it is connected and detected on the Disc page.

Q: My ISO file will not play.

A: DVD Pro supports DVD-Video and Blu-ray images. Images of data discs (software, backups) are not video and cannot be played. If an image is unusual, DVD Pro first tries Blu-ray and then retries as DVD before reporting an error.

Q: Subtitles do not appear, or they are out of sync.

A: First check that a subtitle track is selected under Subtitle → Subtitle Track – if the list is empty, the file has no embedded subtitles and you need to load an external one. To fix timing, use Subtitle → Subtitle Sync; positive values make subtitles appear earlier.

System requirements

Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit)
Any Direct3D-capable graphics adapter – hardware decoding is used automatically where available
An optical drive, for disc playback (file and ISO playback need none)
A Java runtime is optional, and only needed for Blu-ray discs with BD-J menus

Need more help?

If something is not covered here, visit the product page at unitepage.com/dvdpro, or leave feedback through the Microsoft Store listing – DVD Pro on the Microsoft Store. Bug reports are easiest to act on when they include the disc or file type, what you expected, and what happened instead.