Does WMP 12 in win 8 (64 bit) natively support mpg2 file playback?

[perfection]

I have a fresh install of win 8 pro (64 bit) on my PC but my mpg2 files (and vob) video files do not play - I only get audio response.

My question: Does WMP 12 in win 8 (64 bit) natively support mpg2 file playback?

Using a 3rd party codec pack like codec basic I could get WMP 12 to play the mpg2 videos

I am given to understand that win 8's wmp12 does not support DVD playback anymore - is this true? If it is, then it is possible that the media player has given up on mpg2 video files too as I would believe it is the same decoder

Thank you

[jman98]

If I remember correctly no version of WMP in years has supported MPEG-2 and DVD playback out of the box and you've always had to either add third party libraries or buy some special package from Microsoft to get those 2 things working. It's for cost reasons (MPEG-2 is licensed - it's not free).