I cant watch dvds with windows media player it says i dont have a dvd decoder installed. also i cant play netflix live on my pc i have windows xp (the bare basics) and im trying to get this computer usable but getting nothing but hastle

have you tryed playing on media player or power dvd

It all depends on what media player you are trying to playback the media with. For example, if you're using Windows Media Player, you won't be able to play them back without installing additional codecs. You can download them directly from here for Windows Media Player and other media players: http://www.free-codecs.com/Codec_Packs.htm

Hope this helps. If so, please rate. Thanks.

get "FFDShow" codec decoder from google...it's free

If you are looking to play DVD files i.e. VOB files then you can play it using VLC player.

Follow the below link to download VLC player.

www.videolan.org

VLC player plays almost every file format and it does not needs any extra codec to run the files.

You can install another DVD player software.
there are plenty of free players on the internet that you can download, or you can buy one at your local software dealer. Once you install this, the newer video codecs should be installed

Have a look at VLC media player at http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ It's free and plays pretty much any video format, including DVDs

Hi,
are you trying to play DVDs from a different region ?
PC DVD Drives, are region set to the computer, if you have a region 1 dvd drive, trying to play region 2 dvds et,c. it won,t let you. theres a couple of ways around this. go to Afterdawn ( on the web ) and download a region free dvd device.
Solution 2. try to obtain any updates or re-install windows media player. suggest player version 9 or above.

Mike @ compurepair.

p.s finally is to check that your drive, indeed supports DVD Or certain types of dvd media. i.e DVD+ Or DVD- some only support One type.

you need to install a dvd player in orfer to play dvd. you can download the software total video player, and many others

Windows XP does not come with the proper software to play DVDs. All major brands of pcs come with a piece of software called a DVD decoder. Once the DVD decoder is installed windows media player can play DVDs again. This software will be on your application recovery disks from your manufacturer. If you do not have these disks you can purchase them from the company who built your PC or you can purchase a DVD decoder software such as the ones found here. If you don't want to purchase one you can try a different program such as the VLC Media player to play your DVDs. VLC is a free download.