Why can't I play DVDs on Windows 8 Pro with Media Center Pack?

I have a laptop with Windows 8 Pro with Media Center (64-bit), but neither Media Player or Media Center can play DVDs.

Have I done something wrong? Did the Feature Pack not install correctly? Should this work?

Can I somehow uninstall and reinstall the Media Pack?

Details

So I upgraded by Windows 7 Home Premium laptop to Windows 8 Pro based on Microsoft's low pricing. I also grabbed my free upgrade to Media Pack and followed the instructions on that page to add my feature pack.

Alas! I still cannot play DVDs via either Media Center or Player.

Various Context

Thinking I might need to re-install the pack, I found that I could no longer add any more feature packs (searching for "add features" settings only shows "Turn Windows Features On and Off"). Media Center and Media Player are both enabled in Windows Features. I cannot see any way to remove or downgrade from the Media Pack, nor to add any more feature packs.

I installed a codec pack (32-bit) from Shark007, which has not allowed me to play DVDs (although did allow me to play various other media files).

Media Player can play DTV recorded on another Windows 7 box, but Media Center cannot.

VLC plays DVDs OK, but I'd prefer to figure out what the root cause of this problem is.

There were no errors or other indications that the Media Pack failed to install; the installation itself was quite smooth. I've checked over the event log and can't see anything obviously out of place.

Before upgrading to Windows 7, I could play DVDs OK.

Screenshots

System Information, showing I have Windows 8 Pro with Media Center

System Information

When playing a DVD, Media Player gives an error: "The selected file has an extension that is not recognised by Windows..."

Media Player Error 1

When I click "Yes", it fails saying: "Windows Media Player cannot find the file..."

Media Player Error 2

Media Center says: "The file type is not recognized and cannot be played", along with some codec related stuff.

Media Center Error

I can browse the files OK via My Computer on any video DVD.

I seem to remember seeing the DVD listed in the left pane, but that's not the case any more. The DVD is listed as "unknown".

The actual error reported by Media Player is C00D1197, which links to a rather generic help web page.

Media Player Left Pane

Additional

So I got a list of the codecs Media Player has installed. Do these look right?

TYPE   NAME                             BINARY           VERSION 
video  LAV Video Decoder                LAVVideo.ax      0.52.0.0
video  Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder  msmpeg2vdec.dll  12.0.9200.16429
audio  LAV Audio Decoder                lavaudio.ax      0.52.0.0
audio  Microsoft DTV-DVD Audio Decoder  msmpeg2adec.dll  12.0.8506.0

lavaudio.ax is not reported when running the 64 bit Media Player, for whatever that's worth.

Running sfc /scannow as admin found corrupted files and repaired them. But still cannot play DVDs. Relevant logs:

2012-11-23 09:22:53, Info  CSI    000006db [SR] Repairing 2 components
2012-11-23 09:22:53, Info  CSI    000006dc [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction
2012-11-23 09:22:53, Info  CSI    000006dd [SR] Repairing corrupted file [ml:60{30},l:58{29}]"\??\C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\en-US"\[l:46{23}]"windows.ui.xaml.dll.mui" from store
2012-11-23 09:22:53, Info  CSI    000006de [SR] Repairing corrupted file [ml:48{24},l:46{23}]"\??\C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64"\[l:16{8}]"mfds.dll" from store
2012-11-23 09:22:53, Info  CSI    000006df [SR] Repair complete

ligos

Posted 2012-11-22T02:23:31.197

Reputation: 355

Go into control panel and try to reset the file associations for video files, that's what's wrong. I upgraded my Windows 8 and can now play DVDs via Windows Media Center. – Mark Allen – 2012-11-22T03:56:38.080

Media Player has all its default associations. I associated VOB files to Media Player. And reset Media Player and Center. Tried as admin and my normal user. Still no go. I presume you're referring to Control Panel -> Programs -> Default Programs? There isn't an option there to associate things with a DVD (VOB files, yes, but not a whole DVD). – ligos – 2012-11-22T06:05:00.573

I can't see anything in the event log which looks wrong either. – ligos – 2012-11-22T06:05:21.460

@ligos read this MSDN blog and then note the second last para, maybe its helpful for you.

– avirk – 2012-11-22T15:37:28.017

1Try running sfc /scannow from an elevated cmd prompt. Also, instead of directly opening a VOB try going to WMP's Library, click the disc name in the navigation pane and then the DVD title or chapter name. – Karan – 2012-11-22T15:44:41.240

@karan scf run and fixed some corrupted files, but didn't fix DVDs; log entries are added to my question. – ligos – 2012-11-22T22:42:35.557

@karan I'm trying to play the DVD via WMP's library. Interestingly, the disk / DVD drive does not appear in the left pane, just the top as an "unknown disk". That seems wrong, but can't see anything obvious in the options to fix it. (I associated VOB files with it because of Mark's earlier comment. I never tried running the VOB directly, but it didn't work either). – ligos – 2012-11-22T22:47:26.967

Answers

You can't play DVDs natively with Windows 8, you need to install third party codecs or a player like VLC.

This article dates back to June and says they should work in WMC, but it appears Microsoft may have removed support since then.

http://winsupersite.com/article/windows8/windows-8-tip-play-dvd-movies-143506

Pier-Luc Gendreau

Posted 2012-11-22T02:23:31.197

Reputation: 617

He says he added the pro pack, he should be able to play DVDs. – Mark Allen – 2012-11-22T03:55:46.627

So the Media Pack is just to install Media Center and does not allow you to play DVDs, yes? – ligos – 2012-11-22T03:56:26.870

Ah yes, I just tried on the PC on which I have Windows 8 + Media Center and it does work. Did you try with multiple DVDs? Are they original movies or something you burned at home? – Pier-Luc Gendreau – 2012-11-22T04:08:07.920

Tried with 2 DVDs, both real DVDs. Can see the files just fine, just can't play the movie. And DVD reader is set to the correct region (4). – ligos – 2012-11-22T05:51:05.667

Oh and VLC plays both DVDs correctly. – ligos – 2012-11-22T06:09:11.000

I'm able to play DVDs natively after applying the new license key, letting it install Windows Media Center etc. and reboting. The error message you're getting makes me think that the file associations are somehow messed up. Maybe look in the event log for error messages. – Mark Allen – 2012-11-22T07:50:19.907

I've set .VOB files to be associated with Media Player, but I don't know if there's some magic way to associate 'DVDs' with Media Player. – ligos – 2012-11-22T09:53:41.400

If there some way to see what codecs are installed on my computer? Perhaps that's another angle of attack. – ligos – 2012-11-22T09:54:22.227

1Try going to "Program and Features" then click "Turn Windows features on or off". Uncheck "Media Features", let it do its thing, restart, re-enable it and see it the DVDs work. – Pier-Luc Gendreau – 2012-11-22T22:46:28.017

@Pier-LucGendreau Reinstalled "Media Features". Two reboots later and I have the same errors. – ligos – 2012-11-22T23:19:29.323

@ligos - I would ask if Windows 7 Home Premium played these same disk, but I already know the answer, Home Premium didn't have that capability. I am going to guess your still missing a required codec. – Ramhound – 2012-11-22T23:38:18.737

@Ramhound I'm not use if my previous Win 7 environment played the exact same disks, but it certainly played DVDs OK. – ligos – 2012-11-23T00:26:20.817

I doubt he's missing anything, I have not installed any codecs, only the Media Center Pack and it plays back DVDs normally.

There's probably an easier fix, but what you can try is uninstall all the codecs you installed (VLC, etc) and run a repair install of Windows 8; meaning run the installer from within Windows 8 and do another upgrade like you did under Windows 7. This will replace all system settings and files, but leave your data and programs untouched. – Pier-Luc Gendreau – 2012-11-23T00:57:12.903

@Pier-LucGendreau - You don't even know what movies he is trying to play, the codec used, is not standard. – Ramhound – 2012-11-23T01:31:44.560

@Pier-LucGendreau - I'll try uninstalling the codecs and then reinstalling the Media Components again. Then try for the repair install. – ligos – 2012-11-24T10:30:08.990

@Ramhound - It's a standard DVD. Spooks, season 6, disk 1 to be precise. VLC uses the "MPEG1/2 Video (mpgv)" codec, which sounds pretty standard to me. – ligos – 2012-11-24T10:33:39.290

@ligos - Its a standard codec, but Windows Media Center, might not support it by default. Have you installed a codec, any codec, that says it supports MPEG? – Ramhound – 2012-11-26T04:48:06.410

@Ramhound - I edited the question with a list of codec's media player has installed. I don't have another Win 8 install handy, but my work PC has the two DTV-DVD codecs (though it also has a bunch of CyberLink codecs as well). Can you compare that list with your WMP? – ligos – 2012-11-26T22:07:04.243

1Have you tried a repair install? ie.: running the Windows 8 from inside Windows 8 and choosing "Upgrade" – Pier-Luc Gendreau – 2012-11-26T23:07:22.707

@Pier-LucGendreau Just tried a repair install then, even it didn't work. I'm beginning to think I may have some kind of hardware incompatibility (or just a really mucked up Win 8 install!). At this point, I'm going to give up and just use VLC. – ligos – 2012-11-27T03:50:51.137

That's really odd. Your MPEG/DVD Filters are the same as mine, but I don't have the LAV ones, they're possibly from VLC? There's (almost) always a fix for broken things in Windows, so there must be a way to fix this besides reinstalling!... If a repair install didn't work, the only thing I can think of is that some obscure parameter from your upgraded Windows 7 installation followed and is breaking playback somehow. It's a really, really long shot, but you can try deleting LowerFilter and UpperFilter http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

– Pier-Luc Gendreau – 2012-11-27T04:07:08.380

@ligos - I do have a Windows 7 -> Windows 8 Professional with Media Center virtual machine that I can check. I will get back with you. – Ramhound – 2012-11-27T13:24:53.613