Dell :: Brand New Studio XPS M1640 Not Playing Blue-ray Movies

I have just received today my new Studio XPS M1640 laptop (with blue ray drive and led screen) and so far all seems to be good except ... It can't play Blue-Ray movies. When I insert a BD disk, the autoplay only gives me the option to explore the folders with explorer. No option to play the disk. If I right click on the drive, I can select powerdvd but once in powerdvd nothing happens.

Notes:
1) I can see the folders on the BD disk in explorer
2) I tried it with the version of powerdvd dx that came with the laptop and also used the online update option of powerdvd dx to get the latest version (8.1). No change.
3) I'm trying to play to the built-in screen, no external monitor connected.
4) I've read somewhere about a blue-ray icon in powerdvd, I don't see this.
5) A long call with Dell support yielded nothing. I specifically asked if they might have shipped the wrong version (non-blue ray of powerdvd), the tech said that they only have the one version and that it has been tested to play BD disks properly.
6) Dell support says to try with other BD disks and if it still doesn't work to return the computer to have it fixed. (I don't really want to do that since it seems to be a software problem).
7) I ran the Cyberlink Blue Ray advisor and it tells me that all is fine except that it doesn't detect a blue ray software player.

Anybody else ran into this? Any solutions?

It would seem a bit strange to have to pay extra for a blue ray movie player on a brand new laptop that included a blue ray drive.