PowerDVD users may not be able to play UHD Blu-ray if they choose to do so on a computer with current 11th and 12th generation processors, such as Rocket Lake and Alder Lake. This relates to the removal of the SGX security feature by Intel.

Cyberlink, the company behind the widely used PowerDVD software for DVD and Blu-ray disc playback, He writes on his website A security feature called Intel Software Guard Extensions is required for the CPU and motherboard firmware to play DRM-protected content on UHD Blu-ray on Windows platform.

The Intel SGX feature has been removed from the 11th generation CPUs. This means that support for UHD Blu-ray playback may disappear. This can be limited to software like PowerDVD as it is one of the software players authorized to play 4K protected discs. This program uses SGX for this purpose.

Other driver tools that don’t use SGX will probably work flawlessly and seem to be limited to computers with said Intel CPUs. Intel SGX isn’t necessarily the standard for protecting content on UHD Blu-ray; HDCP 2.2, AACS 2.0 and sometimes AACS 2.1 are also used for this.

Cyberlink advises users with older platforms who want to continue using 4k drives to continue using 7th to 10th generation Intel Core i processors, as well as corresponding motherboards that support Intel SGX. It is also advised not to update the operating system and related Intel drivers to avoid uninstalling Intel SGX. Upgrading to Windows 11 is not specifically recommended.