No Dvd Player In Win Xp?!

[nikster]

How are you guys watching DVDs on the PC?

I used to use PowerDVD or something like that but have since lost the program. I assumed I could just use a newer Media Player and it would do it, but.. nooooo! Media Player 10 instead has a helpful link to a website where I can buy DVD player plug-ins. So, OK, I have a laptop with a DVD drive but can't watch DVDs??

I tried VLC media player but that was also unable to play my DVD. It would kinda load the starting menu, then when I selected "play all" it would quit. On previous occasions VLC would play a DVD but it would stutter and hang and use 100% CPU even though I have a 2GHz Core Duo laptop.

I ended up pulling out my ancient (2001 model) Powerbook where the DVD played just fine. 667MHz are enough! The Powerbook is truly amazing - it looks like it has been through a war 'cause the paint is coming off all the non-Titanium parts. But it still works as on day 1 and thanks to a new-ish battery it has 5 hours battery life. And is thinner and lighter than most new 15" laptops.

How is everybody watching DVDs? Any recommended programs to do that? I try to avoid carrying around 2 laptops, that's why...

[sumrit]

How are you guys watching DVDs on the PC?

I used to use PowerDVD or something like that but have since lost the program. I assumed I could just use a newer Media Player and it would do it, but.. nooooo! Media Player 10 instead has a helpful link to a website where I can buy DVD player plug-ins. So, OK, I have a laptop with a DVD drive but can't watch DVDs??

I tried VLC media player but that was also unable to play my DVD. It would kinda load the starting menu, then when I selected "play all" it would quit. On previous occasions VLC would play a DVD but it would stutter and hang and use 100% CPU even though I have a 2GHz Core Duo laptop.

I ended up pulling out my ancient (2001 model) Powerbook where the DVD played just fine. 667MHz are enough! The Powerbook is truly amazing - it looks like it has been through a war 'cause the paint is coming off all the non-Titanium parts. But it still works as on day 1 and thanks to a new-ish battery it has 5 hours battery life. And is thinner and lighter than most new 15" laptops.

How is everybody watching DVDs? Any recommended programs to do that? I try to avoid carrying around 2 laptops, that's why...

Media Player plays my DVD's fine. I've now got Media Player 11 but they played fine on Media Player 10 as well. Are you sure it's not your DVD drive that's faulty?

[h90]

How are you guys watching DVDs on the PC?

I used to use PowerDVD or something like that but have since lost the program. I assumed I could just use a newer Media Player and it would do it, but.. nooooo! Media Player 10 instead has a helpful link to a website where I can buy DVD player plug-ins. So, OK, I have a laptop with a DVD drive but can't watch DVDs??

I tried VLC media player but that was also unable to play my DVD. It would kinda load the starting menu, then when I selected "play all" it would quit. On previous occasions VLC would play a DVD but it would stutter and hang and use 100% CPU even though I have a 2GHz Core Duo laptop.

I ended up pulling out my ancient (2001 model) Powerbook where the DVD played just fine. 667MHz are enough! The Powerbook is truly amazing - it looks like it has been through a war 'cause the paint is coming off all the non-Titanium parts. But it still works as on day 1 and thanks to a new-ish battery it has 5 hours battery life. And is thinner and lighter than most new 15" laptops.

How is everybody watching DVDs? Any recommended programs to do that? I try to avoid carrying around 2 laptops, that's why...

I am very happy with the VLC maybe a problem with the drive?

[kayo]

i played them on media player 10. a few months ago it got upgraded to mediaplayer 11 and still runs fine.

VLC for me proved iffy at times.

[oooooo]

Win XP's windows media player has no built in mpeg2 decoder. it must either be bought from microsoft or it should have come with the driver installation cd for ur video card. in my case it was Power DVD. i'm afraid u will have to reinstall Power DVD or any other program that has an mpeg2 decoder.

if u dont have the disc anylonger, pantip plaza is a good place to look for it.

[Tywais]

i'm afraid u will have to reinstall Power DVD or any other program that has an mpeg2 decoder.

Or just download a free mpeg2 codec like this > http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=Dscaler_5

[oooooo]

sorry about not mentioning freeware, tywais. sometimes i like to fly the jolly roger. lol

[nikster]

Thanks for the responses, guys - looks like I will have to get this from Acer.

I remember there was some sort of PowerDVD or Cyber-something pre-installed, but I removed it at some point, so that's probably when Media Player also stopped playing DVDs.

This is a genuine copy of Windows XP so I am sure the service center can restore this one app for me... Didn't see any downloads for this on the website...

[Tywais]

Thanks for the responses, guys - looks like I will have to get this from Acer.

Again, just download the free codec mentioned above and you can watch DVDs with Media Player. Also, Google for "Media Player Classic" and download which is a good player (not a microsoft product), still need the codec but the Classic is a much smaller footprint.

[nikster]

i'm afraid u will have to reinstall Power DVD or any other program that has an mpeg2 decoder.

Or just download a free mpeg2 codec like this > http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=Dscaler_5

Absolute genius, tywais. Works like a charm!

Curious that Microsoft's help page about DVD plugins did not have a link to that, isn't it?