Play VOB files in Windows 8 easily, free, simple workarounds until Windows Media Center is available

Good ways to play back VOB files (from DVDs, etc.) while waiting for Windows Media Center to come to Windows 8 RTM (explained here and here). Neither are full substitutes for the rich Windows Media Center experience, but at least you'll have a stop-gap solution.

You can go with Video LAN Client from here, 32 bit non-experimental version here:
www.videolan.org
you may wish to set all checkboxes to off and only associate VOB files with it:

Or visit good old SourceForge, and get the 64 bit installer for Media Center Classic, seems to work with Windows 8 x64 here (but future is suspect):
mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/downloads
See also more about Media Center Classic here.

For Media Center Classic, once installed, simply specify this executable:
C:\Program Files\MPC-HC\mpc-hc64.exe
as the default VOB playback program.

How? Just right-click a VOB file > Open with > Choose default program... and paste the full path/filename from above in, and you're all set. Double-clicking of VOB files brings up Media Player Classic very quickly, without messing up your existing codecs. Alternatively, you can use the stand-alone version (EXE without the installer) instead, same results.

Source: www.tomshardware.com/forum/788-73-impressions-windows#t4731