WMP 11 won't play DVDs

I have had Vista about 3 months, and have only had a couple of minor problems which I got solved.
But when I put a DVD into the DVD RW drive, the player screen comes up, then says "Windows Media Player has stopped working"
It plays CDs, and video files ok.
A computer guy I know on a forum (who is very good) says WMP in Vista should play DVDs without any extra codecs or other program.

I believe it depends on which version of Vista you are using. I have two
machines with Vista Business. I tried playing dvd on one of them - no luck.
Somewhere in one of these forums I though I remembered seeing that Vista
Business needed a plugin for WMP11 in order to play DVD on business.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...r/plugins.aspx
lists two plugins. I purchased the "CyberLink PowerDVD SE" plugin. (~15.00).
Bingo - I could now view DVDs.

Even though both plugins listed cost about the same, I avoided the Roxio
plugin because of some reliability issues I have had with some of their
products (Easy Media Creator 8.0 and 9.0) and what appears to me to be a
severe lack of focus on customer satisfaction.
"oldfogie" wrote:

> I have had Vista about 3 months, and have only had a couple of minor problems which I got solved.
> But when I put a DVD into the DVD RW drive, the player screen comes up, then says "Windows Media Player has stopped working"
> It plays CDs, and video files ok.
> A computer guy I know on a forum (who is very good) says WMP in Vista should play DVDs without any extra codecs or other program.
>

Windows Media Player does not play DVDs unless extra, compatible codecs are
installed.

there are other media players that play DVDs fine without any extras, such
as "VLC"


"oldfogie" <> wrote in message
news:7JBei.305$...
I have had Vista about 3 months, and have only had a couple of minor
problems which I got solved.
But when I put a DVD into the DVD RW drive, the player screen comes up, then
says "Windows Media Player has stopped working"
It plays CDs, and video files ok.
A computer guy I know on a forum (who is very good) says WMP in Vista should
play DVDs without any extra codecs or other program.

> Windows Media Player does not play DVDs unless extra, compatible codecs
> are installed.

sortof ...

Vista Ultimate includes suitable codecs. so if the original poster has
Ultimate, then it should. (Basic does not. I'm not sure about other
versions).

--

"Xenomorph" <> wrote in message
news:11059C46-E253-437E-83D0-...
> Windows Media Player does not play DVDs unless extra, compatible codecs
> are installed.
>
> there are other media players that play DVDs fine without any extras, such
> as "VLC"
>
>
> "oldfogie" <> wrote in message
> news:7JBei.305$...
> I have had Vista about 3 months, and have only had a couple of minor
> problems which I got solved.
> But when I put a DVD into the DVD RW drive, the player screen comes up,
> then says "Windows Media Player has stopped working"
> It plays CDs, and video files ok.
> A computer guy I know on a forum (who is very good) says WMP in Vista
> should play DVDs without any extra codecs or other program.

Ah - a crash is a very special form of failure. After this happens, what's
the fault bucket information in the Problem Reports and Solutions center?
http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html#bucket

-Zach
--
Speaking for myself only.
See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
--
"oldfogie" <> wrote in message
news:7JBei.305$...
I have had Vista about 3 months, and have only had a couple of minor
problems which I got solved.
But when I put a DVD into the DVD RW drive, the player screen comes up, then
says "Windows Media Player has stopped working"
It plays CDs, and video files ok.
A computer guy I know on a forum (who is very good) says WMP in Vista should
play DVDs without any extra codecs or other program.