Media player wont play movies but will down load muisc and write information to cd

Maybe you can't try some more players. I am not sure if it's because of the disc protection or region code. Maybe you could try some more free DVD players such as Leawo Blu-ray Player, 5K player and RealPlayer.

Media player requires special Codecs and plugins in order to watch movies! Most cases they are not free, but here is the site which you can acquire them.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/plugins.aspx

Now, on the other hand you can buy software of dvd suits that will play DVDs

http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdvd/overview_en_US.html?&r=1

Also, there are various free players out there you can download and use to watch movies for free.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
http://download.cnet.com/Easy-DVD-Player/3000-7970_4-10104512.html
http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/products/dvd/Free-DVD-Player-Software.htm