How can I get DVDs playing after a Vista to XP change?

I replaced my vista install on a Dell Inspiron 1525 with XP and have managed to get most things up and running again however I'm having trouble with playing DVDs.

When I try and play a DVD I get the following message:

Windows Media Player cannot play this DVD because there is a problem with digital copy protection between your DVD drive, decoder, and video card. Try installing an updated driver for your video card.

I have ensured that my drive is configured to play Region 2 discs (I'm in the UK), I've installed the most up to date XP codec pack which makes me think it's a driver issue.

In device manager I have got my DVD drivers up to date however under "Other Devices" I'm missing several which sound key:

Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus Video Controller Video Controller (VGA Compatible)

However I've installed all the relevant drivers I can find on the Dell website.

The drive itself is working - I've run software from the drive.

I'm afraid I am far from a sys-admin so I'm struggling on this one. How can I get my DVDs playing again?

Liath

Posted 2011-02-08T22:26:30.730

Reputation: 381

Answers

VLC can play DVDs.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Moab

Posted 2011-02-08T22:26:30.730

Reputation: 54 203

Thanks, I still can't play them through media player but this seems to have everything I need. – Liath – 2011-02-09T19:05:00.057

If you're trying to play a DVD movie, that has copy-protection on it, you need to install a decoder onto Windows XP, first. This is usually accomplished by installing software dedicated to that purpose, such as Power DVD, etc.

See the following link for plug-ins you can purchase/download if you'd rather not install any extra software:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/windows-media-player/plug-ins