My laptop came with a blu-ray drive, but no software. So I'm stuck having to buy software, or buying a standalone blu-ray player. Now I really want to use a screen attached to my laptop to watch movies on, so I'd prefer playing them from that machine. But maybe there's a third option.
I could just never bother buying Blu-ray discs ever, and go straight for hulu/netflix.
Blu-Ray for me is worth it for backup purposes, what with the larger disc capacity. Of course, that assumes you have a burner. When I watch a Blu-Ray movie, I tend to do it in the living room on the PS3, but I do occasionally do it on the office PC as well. Honestly though, if I wasn't using it as a back-up device, I'd be perfectly content with a DVD drive to watch movies I haven't ripped, as it's usually just to have something on while I'm working or mucking about online. Most Blu-Rays come with DVD copies after all.
And as suzuka12345 said, VLC works fine. You just have to download a couple extra files for Blu-Ray playback (google it).
VLC is the first choice, you may refers to the below guide http://blog.bluray-player-software.com/play-blu-ray-freely-with-vlc-media-player/
For better experience, you need professional tools like PowerDVD, TMT, WinX DVD, etc. to help you.
There is no doubt that VLC is the first choice for it is free and easy to use which has been verified by many users. At the same time, some situations are also mentioned such as the failure in some commercial BDs and no Blu-ray menu support.