Windows Media Center is now a $9.99 expenditure, but in my mind is well worth it. NOTE: Incidentally, Windows Media Center is only available for Windows 8 Pro and higher. It will not run on Windows RT. If you choose to install a free option like VLC or another favorite, you're done. You can now play DVDs and Blu-Ray discs on your Surface Pro.
Windows 8.1 still can't play DVD and Blu-ray movies out of the box. To get DVD playback from Microsoft, you'd have to buy the Windows 8 Pro Pack for $100 and the Media Center Pack for $10 -- and that only gets you DVD playback, not even Blu-ray support!
Play Blu-ray using VLC on Mac Part 2: How to Use VLC to Play Blu-rays on Windows (Windows 10 included) Note: To play Blu-ray with VLC on Windows, besides upgrading to VLC 3.0 or greater, you'll need to download the VLC Windows 64bit version if you're suing a 64bit Windows computer. Moreover, it would be better to keep the default installation Tzyx2.