13 replies to this topic

[NC Derek]

i usually play dvd's on my lap top because its bigger than my tv. haha yeah i know. but all the sudden it wont play my dvds. it doesnt recognize its there. under my computer it says theres the movie in the drive and its dvd, but when i try to open it in different things such as dell or windows media player, it says i need a dvd decoder. i used to play dvd's on it, anyone know how to fix this because i have a dvd drive which used to work, i just bought this laptop a few months ago.

thanks
derek

[Sniprwulf]

i've had this problem too. its strange, but downloading a third party dvd player off somewhere like download.com for free might be a good alternative. for some reason, the way wmp recognizes dvd's causes errors and this isn't the first time i've heard it b4. maybe try re-installing wmp, prolly wont take too long. theres also alot of times free software on dvd's (like intervideo) that will definately do the job. see how it works.

[Aziz]

Is it a legal copy or downloaded from the internet? If it is downloaded, then you might need a codec to play the movie. I just downloaded a .rar file with all codecs for my players, so i never have this problem. If it is a legal copy, then i dont know, man. It might be the CD or somethign with the player... worse, you DVD-drive but unlikely.

[Dwkillzone]

yeah derek like sniprwlf said you might want to go and try downloading another program from the internet. A prefer programs such as Divx and Interactual. I havn't had any problems with either of these programs yet. Let me know if they work.

[secondshadow]

just get winamp it plays like every kind of file from avi to divx and so on

[NC Derek]

thanks guys. i dont know whats wrong with it. i have a bunch of dvd readers that my pc came with. one day i put in a dvd and it cant read it. it says in my computer its ther. but anything i try to play it with cant read it. i have no idea how it woudl jsut stop working like that. and any player i try to find online costs money.

[secondshadow]

get winamp full version its free plus
link:

http://winamp.com/player/free.php

choose full cuz thats pretty much the best

[NC Derek]

get winamp full version its free plus
link:

http://winamp.com/player/free.php

choose full cuz thats pretty much the best

i downloaded it, but does it play dvds? i put a dvd in and nothing happeend and i was looking around how to play one on it. im just a noob at it. and i have a drvie bc i used to play them.

[Novahawk]

Divix is free isnt it? pro isnt but i think theres a free version...

[NC Derek]

hmmm after playing around im not too worried about finding a free player. i have 3 that my computer came with. and none of them can read dvds. im guessing something is wrong with it but i have no idea what. under my computer it reads that there is a dvd is in the drive, tells what it is and all, but wont play in dell media, windows media, or any others which i dont know the name of. there used to be a movie icon on dell media, its not there, also it used to come up on its own. now i right click on the dvd from my computer and it says cannot find dvd decoded, please make sure you have a dvd drive. of course i have a f*cking drive ive played a sh*t load of dvds over the months. thats what i get for not downloading dvds lol.

[ShLoNkY]

winamp and most other media players dont have dvd decoding software built in or want you to pay for the plugin. Ya need Windvd or some other decoder. Problem is that all the dvd software thats good you have to pay for. All of the freeware that i have found is spyware garbage. What did you use before?

[NC Derek]

thanks that cleaned stuff up. i had dell media to play dvds. it had a menu: music, photos, games, dvd.

when i put a dvd in usually dell media would jsut come up and play it. now nothing comes up. if i click on dell media, thers no dvd option on the main menu anymore. weird? and when i go to my computer and it says the name of the dvd and its in the dvd drive, but when i right click and try and play it under different programs, they all say cannot play selected file, no dvd decoder found, please make sure you have a dvd drive.

thanks guys for helping, this topic was old but i still havnt figured out what knocked out my dvd decoder...

[NC Derek]

i called dell techinical support and the guy helped me even though he wasnt supposed to. im missing power dvd, the player that came with my computer. theyre mailng me a new one over night. so thats nice he helped off his job. i have power dvd for my other computer, but it only supports sony drives. so this topic is useless now, thanks for the helps guys.

[Aziz]

Thats what i was going to tell you, Derek. I play all my dvds with PowerDVD, and for the rest of my players i download sh*tloads of codecs, since some movies are in weird format. PowerDVD is perfect for dvds though. You dont have to wait for it. You can simply download it.