playing a dvd

[Rachel B. Posner]

I tried playing a dvd on my laptop. It's set for region 1, but when I double-clicked on the drive, Windows Media player opened and said," Windows Media player cannot play the DVD because a compatible DVD decoder is not installed on your computer."

I looked in Moodle (specifically the Student Technology Education Lab) but found nothing.

What's the solution? TIA

[Jonathan B. Reams]

It sounds more like you don't have an MPEG-2 Decoder installed, or it isn't properly registered with DirectShow, than a region problem. Do you have WinDVD in your start menu? It should have been pre-installed your computer - or at least it used to be back in the day, you should use that to play DVDs. The Windows Media Player has never been a very good DVD player though, I wouldn't recommend using it as such.

[Russell W. Sprague]

For your model, there was a problem with the installation of WinDVD on the image. If you bring your computer down to the helpdesk, they can reinstall WinDVD for you. It's a fairly short installation, and you should be up and running in no time at all.

[Gregory R. Everitt]

Oh, really? I didn't realize you could do that. I just installed VLC Media Player and played DVDs on that. (if you have graphical problems with DVDs, you may have to set the graphics mode to Direct3D first by going into the Quick Settings in the VideoLAN folder under "all programs". i had problems before doing that.)

[Rachel B. Posner]

Originally Posted by Russell W. Sprague

For your model, there was a problem with the installation of WinDVD on the image. If you bring your computer down to the helpdesk, they can reinstall WinDVD for you. It's a fairly short installation, and you should be up and running in no time at all.

Thanks. Will do. Wish I'd known before I made my Dad nuts this weekend. :-)

[John D. Muccigrosso]

VLC is the way to go. No region-code worries.

[Rachel B. Posner]

Originally Posted by Russell W. Sprague

For your model, there was a problem with the installation of WinDVD on the image. If you bring your computer down to the helpdesk, they can reinstall WinDVD for you. It's a fairly short installation, and you should be up and running in no time at all.

My computer was reimaged and WinDVD was not reinstalled. Is the install file available on Drew's network?

Seeing as at the moment we are only available to offer an installation at the Help Desk, I would suggest the same thing a few of the previous posters mentioned, which was to get a copy of VLC media player. It's a free, light weight media player that plays virtually any video format without the hassle of finding and installing various codecs.

I'm quite positive you'll really enjoy this player. Regardless whether or not you like it, if you still want WinDVD installed please feel free to stop by the desk after spring break