DVD not working with Big Sur 11.6

I was prompted to install 11.6 yesterday. I had watched a dvd through an external drive with no issues the night before doing this. I did the update, and now the computer recognizes the dvd, but can't play it. I spoke to technical support, who said it's an incompatibility issue. It seems my only options are to either buy a new external drive and trust that it's compatible with my operating system, or hope that apple corrects the issue they needlessly just created. And I can't uninstall the update. I wish I had ignored the call to update. So frustrating.

No problems here on M1 Mac Mini M1 16/512 and BS 11.6 with tons of loaded sw at startup. Therefore the problem IS NOT widespread but related just to some configurations. Did you try it logging in with another user? (here is Region 2, BTW...)

Commercial DVD videos are sold specific to regions of the world. Region 1 is USA (and most of North America), Region 2 is UK. DVD players are coded for the regions they will play back. Look at the back of your set top player and you'll find an icon of a globe with a number, that's your region.

DVD drives in PC's will play any region (there are 8 or 9) but you're limited to 5 resets if you try to play disks from different regions. After 5 it's locked to the last region you played.

VLC is a video player which is available for most OSes and will play a variety of formats. Google it. You'll like it.

I think I figured it out: I had set sidecar up earlier in the day to use my iPad for a video presentation while working on another Project, and when I killed sidecar and Bluetooth, and did an SMC reset, I could now watch DVDs with the new but not M1 MBP.

My MacBookAir bought Feb 2021 with M1. chip played dvds until Sept when it would not. To clarify, when I plugged the Apple USB Superdrive into the Mac, the DVD window appeared on the screen AND the name of the dvd title appeared on the right side of the screen as an icon. So, the computer recognized everything. correctly but would not play. To restate, after long sessions on the phone with Apple care and subsequent visits to the Apple store Genius Bar and software re-installs I was told that I can’t play

dvds on my 8 month old MacAir. Even though i have done so all these months. I am no tech person but seems to me that the problem began with some update

To add to this, I updated my OS from 11.4 to 11.6 on my M1 Mac Mini with 16GB memory, and my DVD Player now opens and just stays on a blank "Viewer" screen. It's not frozen; I can still press play and pause, but everything just stays blank. I can hear the Apple Superdrive making noises when I open the DVD Player app, but there's just zero recognition.

VLC is OK for DVD playback, but scrubbing is a huge pain compared to the Apple DVD Player app. This is extremely disappointing. I update my OS for benefits, not to get perfectly functional apps taken out of action.

Updated my M1 MacMini yesterday, tested several DVDs using using both Apple's DVD play app and VLC app on OWC external DVD player (LG drive). Works as advertised.

Which M1 Mac and who's external DVD device are you using?

I'm lucky? Mine is the base MacMini with 256 SSD, 8 gig ram. I guess the next step is to look at what software is installed. I'm bog standard, nothing exotic. No games. Few odd drivers for external devices: Garmin GPS and Android File Transfer drivers are the most radical. Burn for DVD video mastering as iDVD is no longer is available. Canon MP printer/scanner drivers. Single display connected via HDMI.

DVD Player is version 6.0. Are you using the USB A ports or USB C? I've noticed some externals don't like USB-C to A adapters. Are your DVD drives USB 2 or USB 3? My OWC drive is USB 3. Wired keyboard & mouse or bluetooth? Apple brand or Logitech KB/M with dongle?

See what foxtrot sierra said earlier. It worked for me. Once you have it configured, create the icon and drag the dvd into it. I don't think you need to download any software. I had tried that previously, and wasn't happy with the results., so I deleted the VLC app and followed the steps they outlined. This solved the problem for me. Good luck

I should add that I only encountered the problem playing commercially produced DVD's (including non-region specific). Homemade DVDs (e.g. of family videos) worked fine.