Need to play DVDs, please help.

[CaptainChewbacca]

My DVD player is broken, and my computer should be able to play DVDs, but it doesn't. Apparently I don't have the right software. Anybody know where I can download the right stuff?

[Petrosjko]

My DVD player is broken, and my computer should be able to play DVDs, but it doesn't. Apparently I don't have the right software. Anybody know where I can download the right stuff?

Cyberlink PowerDVD has always served me well, but I don't know of any good freeware.

[Vohu Manah]

I setup Video LAN Client on my father's computer since WMP10 tried to charge him for the ability to use it as a DVD player. Only problem was that I also had to install a small utility to disable the screen saver on the fly without digging through various control panels.

[Vertigo1]

http://www.free-codecs.com/Media_Player ... wnload.htm

Media Player Classic baby! Plays damn near everything, and is free and open source. What more can you ask for?

[phongn]

I setup Video LAN Client on my father's computer since WMP10 tried to charge him for the ability to use it as a DVD player. Only problem was that I also had to install a small utility to disable the screen saver on the fly without digging through various control panels.

Microsoft would have to pay a fee to the MPEG2 group for every copy of Windows if they included an MPEG2 decoder ... so they don't.

MPC is not exactly a very good DVD player

[Vohu Manah]

Microsoft would have to pay a fee to the MPEG2 group for every copy of Windows if they included an MPEG2 decoder ... so they don't.

So MS can't afford a fee to the MPEG2 group while Apple can? I don't see that as an excuse considering MS didn't seem to have a problem allowing their media player in previous versions to act as a DVD player.

[Datana]

So MS can't afford a fee to the MPEG2 group while Apple can? I don't see that as an excuse considering MS didn't seem to have a problem allowing their media player in previous versions to act as a DVD player.

Previous versions of WMP lacked native DVD playback capability completely. They had to hook into the DirectShow filters used by other products. For instance, if PowerDVD was installed, WMP 6-9 would use the PowerDVD filters to render the image. You'd still need to buy someone else's DVD software, at which point WMP becomes extraneous due to the lack of features. In other words, the current situation isn't much of a change.

[phongn]

So MS can't afford a fee to the MPEG2 group while Apple can? I don't see that as an excuse considering MS didn't seem to have a problem allowing their media player in previous versions to act as a DVD player.

I said nothing about being able to afford to do so or not. Apple does what Apple wants, especially since they build their own systems with DVD players.

Microsoft might also do this to try and ensure that third-party DVD software companies stay in business but this is just idle speculation on my part. Furthermore, just because Media Player can act like a DVD player doesn't mean it can actually play them (since Windows has never shipped with an MPEG2 codec).

[Vohu Manah]

Previous versions of WMP lacked native DVD playback capability completely. They had to hook into the DirectShow filters used by other products. For instance, if PowerDVD was installed, WMP 6-9 would use the PowerDVD filters to render the image. You'd still need to buy someone else's DVD software, at which point WMP becomes extraneous due to the lack of features. In other words, the current situation isn't much of a change.

That I did not know, and find kinda hard to believe. The only Windows PC I ever owned with a DVD player only had WMP 8 or 9 (no PowerDVD, WinDVD, whatever else on it) on it for DVD viewing (and worked very well). I was quite surprised when WMP10 couldn't play a DVD on my father's tower.

[Datana]

Previous versions of WMP lacked native DVD playback capability completely. They had to hook into the DirectShow filters used by other products. For instance, if PowerDVD was installed, WMP 6-9 would use the PowerDVD filters to render the image. You'd still need to buy someone else's DVD software, at which point WMP becomes extraneous due to the lack of features. In other words, the current situation isn't much of a change.

That I did not know, and find kinda hard to believe. The only Windows PC I ever owned with a DVD player only had WMP 8 or 9 (no PowerDVD, WinDVD, whatever else on it) on it for DVD viewing (and worked very well). I was quite surprised when WMP10 couldn't play a DVD on my father's tower.

Some OEMs license and include a DVD codec, but no player -- in these cases, you could use WMP or any other media player that supports DirectShow (such as Zoom Player or Sasami2k). My previous Dell came configured such, and it was only digging around with the loaded filters that I found that it was a WinDVD codec letting me play.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Thanks, guys!