[djscissorhands]

Hello, I can't play dvd's on my laptop running windows xp pro sp3 with windows media player 11. when I try to play the dvd it tells me that i do not have the proper codec. So I installed PowerDVD 7.0. Now I can play my dvds with PowerDVD 7.0 just fine but not in wmp. Every time I insert a dvd the PowerDVD program immediately opens. How can I play dvds with WMP?

my friends laptop running xp pro sp3 i just pop in the dvd and a menu comes up asking if I want to play with windows media player, power dvd, real player, quick time etc. so I choose wmp and the dvd plays just fine.

Please help me be able to play dvds on windows media player...

[leroys1000]

You will probably need to set media player as default.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/332003

I think you can also go to start/run and type dvdplay
and hit enter to just start it.

[djscissorhands]

thank you for the advice but this did not help me at all. i already have windows media player set as the defalut player.

[vicks]

Originally Posted by djscissorhands

Hello, I can't play dvd's on my laptop running windows xp pro sp3 with windows media player 11. when I try to play the dvd it tells me that i do not have the proper codec. So I installed PowerDVD 7.0. Now I can play my dvds with PowerDVD 7.0 just fine but not in wmp. Every time I insert a dvd the PowerDVD program immediately opens. How can I play dvds with WMP?

my friends laptop running xp pro sp3 i just pop in the dvd and a menu comes up asking if I want to play with windows media player, power dvd, real player, quick time etc. so I choose wmp and the dvd plays just fine.

Please help me be able to play dvds on windows media player...

I had that problem with XP pro/WM11 also. Solution for me was to revert back to WMP 10.
vicks

[Ratboy]

djscissorhands,

Welcome to TSG!

You need to have an MPEG-2 codec to play DVDs with Windows Media Player.

This from M$:

Decompressing MPEG-2 requires a lot of computing power. DVD players contain a chip specifically designed to decompress MPEG-2 data. However, modern PCs have enough computing power to decode MPEG-2 entirely by software. For a couple of years now, computers equipped with DVD drives have contained DVD decoder software capable of playing DVDs. These decoders were provided by the PC or DVD drive manufacturer. Until Windows XP, you also needed a DVD player application, but Windows Media Player for Windows XP now fully supports DVD playback, as long as a compatible DVD decoder is installed.

Do You Have a DVD Decoder Installed?

Most users with computers that have DVD drives have DVD decoders preinstalled by their hardware manufacturers.

...

If you bought a PC equipped with a DVD drive, check with the computer manufacturer. They may have updated Windows XP DVD decoder drivers available, often for free. If you upgraded your PC to Windows XP, and you already had a functioning DVD decoder, five minutes after the upgrade is complete Windows XP will launch an upgrade wizard that will help you locate your updated decoder, if possible. If you have any questions about upgrading, check the Knowledge Base article: Supported Software MPEG-2 DVD Decoders in Windows Media Player for Windows XP. If you built your own PC and installed a DVD drive, it may or may not have come with a DVD decoder. Check the manufacturer's Web site.

Purchasing a DVD Decoder Pack Add-on

If you are unable to find an installed DVD decoder, you can purchase one from the same vendors from which PC manufacturers license theirs. Ravisent, InterVideo, and CyberLink all have DVD Decoder Packs available for purchase and download over the Internet. Windows Media Technologies also lists third-party software vendors who have DVD Decoder Packs available. The cost from each vendor runs about $14.95, unless you want to pay a little more and get a combo-pack which also includes MP3 encoding. I tried products from the three vendors mentioned above, and they all worked great. Their decoder packs installed quickly and easily, and as soon as installation was complete, Windows Media Player immediately started to play the movie after I inserted a DVD.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...02april15.mspx

[leroys1000]

They installed power DVD.
That includes a software decoder.

[Ratboy]

leroys1000,

Oops, thanks for catching that.

djscissorhands,

Try downloading and running the Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility. It will show you a list of the MPEG-2 decoders that installed on your system and tell you if they are compatable with WMP.

Select the CyberLink decoder and set it as the Preferred Decoder and see if that helps.