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Media playing software for Windows 8.1 that gives access to all locally hosted video content

Media playing software for Windows 8.1 that gives access to all locally hosted video content

Vote: (29 votes)

Program license: Free

Developer: Microsoft

Works under: Windows

Vote:

Program license

(29 votes)

Free

Developer

Microsoft

Works under:

Windows

Pros

  • Matches overall look and feel of Windows 10
  • Decent media playback capabilities and quality
  • Allows you to organize your media files and quickly find the ones you want
  • Offers suggestions of videos that may interest you

Cons

  • Doesn't support all video formats
  • Windows Store integration could be better

Organize and watch your videos with Microsoft's new media player.

Movies & TV is Microsoft's new media player program, included in both Windows 8 and Windows 10 operating systems. As expected from a media player, it lets you watch the videos you have downloaded to your PC. However, it also has a variety of other interesting features, such as letting you organize your videos and keeping track of movies you've purchased in the Windows Store.

Lean and Neat User Interface

Movies & TV fits in well with the operating system's Metro interface, so if you like the way Windows 10 looks, you'll probably like how this app is laid out. Everything looks pretty neat and learn, so you'll have no problems finding where all of the app's main functions are.

One of the top features of Movies & TV is that it lets you quickly organize the media on your PC. This is practical if you have hundreds or thousands of videos saved to your computer's hard drive. It organizes your media into three main categories: movies, videos and TV. These categories are shown on the left side.

There's a search function that allows you to rapidly find the specific video that you're looking for. Once you click on the thumbnail of a media file, it begins playing immediately.

Great Video Playback Quality

As a media player, Movies & TV seems to do its job quite well. If your PC is powerful enough, the videos will begin playing very quickly as soon as you open them. The player supports all of the most popular video formats and codecs, including MP4, AVI, WMV, MOV and ASF.

However, there have still been cases where the player has trouble opening a video file, most notably those in MKV format. Therefore, it's not as powerful and versatile as other media players, such as VLC.

Good App for Those Who Purchase Their Videos From Microsoft

If you often purchase your videos from the Windows store instead of downloading them from third-party websites, Movies & TV is a good app for you. It provides helpful suggestions, such as showing videos and movies that you may be interested in based on your past purchases. If you're missing episodes of a TV series, it will display them alongside the ones you currently own and offer you the chance to download them.

The app works together with the Windows Store to download content. However, the integration isn't complete, as the Windows Store will open as a separate app. This is unlike other tools in its category, such as Apple's iTunes, which allows you to make purchases right from the player.

Pros

  • Matches overall look and feel of Windows 10
  • Decent media playback capabilities and quality
  • Allows you to organize your media files and quickly find the ones you want
  • Offers suggestions of videos that may interest you

Cons

  • Doesn't support all video formats
  • Windows Store integration could be better