BleepingComputer.com: DVDs no longer play

Okay, I don't post here for easy stuff. Also, I'm pretty sure I don't have a virus (thorough scans with MBAM and Avast! come up clean). I'm open to suggestions, though.

I run Windows XP SP3. I don't play DVDs on my computer often, maybe a few times a year. The last time was probably about 3 or 4 months ago, and it played without incident. Last night I tried to play a DVD and it won't play.

I have several programs that should be able to play DVDs: Windows Media Player ver. 11, Real Player 11.1.1, GOM Player, Nero 7 Showtime Essentials, etc. None of them work any longer. I am not aware of any changes I've made in the interim. When I run "DVDUPGRD /Detect" it detects Nero.

I have always had Autorun turned off. Up until now I would put a DVD in the tray, go to My Computer, click on the drive and the DVD would start playing in Nero -- I've associated DVD video with Nero. Now, Nero comes up but only the controls are present. It doesn't really hang, because it's responsive as far as pulling up the list of options and clicking on the "X" to shut it down, but it won't acknowledge that there's a DVD in either Drive D or E.

When I try to play the DVD with WMP it tells me it cannot play DVDs (it used to play them just fine). It makes some generic suggestions about the screen settings (I haven't changed them since the last time I played a DVD) and it tries to get me to subscribe to Napster.

When I try to play with Real it opens and the control panel at the bottom indicates that it is playing a video, and can toggle between "Play" and "Pause" but it only displays ads for Rhapsody, etc. GOM tells me it needs a codec -- I believe I already have one (see DVDUPGRD). Anyway, I tried the one they suggested and it didn't work, so I uninstalled it.



On a thought I ran Nero and had it check for updates. It found some. In the process of downloading and installing the updates it actually managed to wipe itself off my computer. Fortunately, I still had the original CD and reinstalled it. Even so, I had to go back in and reassign all my file associations.

Everything else about Nero seems to work. I can copy a DVD (a home-recorded DVD without any copy protection, of course) but I can't play one.

Any thoughts?


EDIT: I should also mention that I have tried several different DVDs, including some that have played successfully in the past. Neither of my two DVD drives will play them. Both drives are less than 2 years old. I don't think the problem is related to either the DVDs or the drives.

This post has been edited by Capn Easy: 04 July 2009 - 08:31 PM

Anyone?



I really don't like Windows!

I stop at media player 10, use nero 6 stable and latest updates, don't let real player on my computer

Powerdvd gives me protected dvd player

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDshow.htm

ffdshow fixes windows video codecs, I never use any others

too dangerous

this might find what's broken

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Codec_Sniper

This post has been edited by DaChew: 09 July 2009 - 10:19 PM

Thanks for the reply, DaChew.

Video Sniper reported a couple broken codecs, but they didn't seem to be directly related to DVDs. Anyway, deleting them did nothing.

The ffdshow package didn't help.



In the meantime, I used to have VLC media player (version 0.8 something). I wasn't thrilled with it, so I removed it. I saw that VLC is now up to 1.0.0 -- I tried it and VLC will play DVDs! It's a little choppy, but I don't know if that's connected to my problem.

But the other programs that used to play DVDs still won't. Still no idea what happened. These programs will still play FLV, WMV, etc. files -- just not DVDs.

VLC has it's own internal mpeg2 decoder, sounds like your window's one is broken or not installed

http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/windowsdvdmpeg.html

Ahh-HAH!


DECCHECK shows no MPEG-2 codecs compatible with WMP. (Oddly enough, it shows three Nero codecs, and Nero isn't working right now, either, but that's a problem for another time!)



This is what might have happened. When I got the computer it included Intervideo WinDVD. A while back Secunia told me that the version I had (I believe it was WinDVD 8) had reached it's "End of life." I uninstalled it because I had been watching DVDs with the other programs. Meanwhile, the other players must have been using Intervideo's MPEG-2 codec -- and when I uninstalled it, it must have taken the codec with it. Does that sound plausible?

And if so, any suggestions? WinDVD 9 is available, but costs more than I'd like to pay. I noticed several codec packs at CNet that seem like they'd do the job, but I understand that codecs are potential vehicles for malware.

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That's what happened

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Bull Hockey! Just another example of misguided advice from a program. The whole DVD codec thing is a big royalty scam.

I remember someone saying they installed one of the players as a trial, when the trial expired the player quit working but the codec stayed active.

The proper term for what you are looking for is a decoder