As of April 2025, the Ultra HD Blu-ray disc ("UHD BD") playback feature is no longer possible on Windows PC platforms.
The Ultra HD Blu-ray (a.k.a. UHD BD or 4K Blu-ray) disc playback and its DRM digital content protection require the specific encryption technology "Intel® Software Guard Extension (Intel® SGX)" on compatible CPU hardware. This must be enabled and operated via the motherboard firmware (BIOS) and drivers in the Windows OS to protect the DRM video content when it's played on Windows PC platforms.
In Apr 2025, the CPU encryption technology developer (Intel) has officially terminated/discontinued the Intel SGX verification server. This termination directly removed the compatibility for all Windows PC platforms with the Intel SGX technology. As a result, all Windows PC platforms no longer have the capacity to play UHD BD discs from the hardware perspective.
To learn more about the termination of the Intel SGX technology, you can refer to Intel's announcement:
https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-Software-Guard-Extensions/IAS-End-of-Life-Announcement/td-p/1545831
CyberLink has met all UHD BD format requirements from a player software perspective, however CyberLink has no control over the hardware/firmware vendors. It is clear that CyberLink cannot continue to provide support for the UHD BD features in PowerDVD in a format-compliant manner.
For all of previous PowerDVD versions (PowerDVD 17~PowerDVD 22, and some of PowerDVD 14/18 OEM versions) that supported the Ultra HD Blu-ray disc playback feature originally, the playback feature is no longer available due to the aforementioned and required CPU encryption technology being terminated in Windows OS. This includes those UHD BD-compatible platforms that use old Intel CPUs that still supported the Intel SGX technology.
If you’d still like to play your UHD BD collection, please consult with your UHD BD content providers and playback device companies for other possible playback solutions.
Here are the recommended playback solutions shared by the Blu-ray Disc Association for your reference:
https://us.blu-raydisc.com/hardware/
Please note that the above change doesn't affect the playback feature of Blu-ray discs (1080p Blu-ray video discs) in CyberLink PowerDVD. You can still play Blu-ray discs in the software on compatible platforms.
