All of a sudden windows will not play and dvds whether in media player or other dvd software. The error message is windows cannot find or there is an error with the dvd decoder.

Can someone please advise?

What software are you using?

Sounds as if your filter associations have become mixed up.

easiest thing would be to reinstall PowerDVD (or whatever software you use). That would install the Decoder again and all should then be fine

I had a similiar problem, see here . Funny thing was when I put Power DVD on the DVD's started playing okay in Windows Media Player :confused: . I hate PC's

Basically I had 3 or 4 different dvd players on windows, i have deleted all of them, downloaded media player and the problem still occurs.

I know I should know this but what is a system restore?

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools then System Restore. It should be self-explanatory from there on.

Or Start, Control Panel, System then the System Restore tab.

MS were not permitted to ship Windows with a built-in DVD player, so they built the capability to play DVD's into Media Player, but not the decoding software. All you need to do to play DVD's in media player is to install another DVD player software - which will also install the decoder software for Media Player to take advantage of!!

Clear as mud - in short install PowerDVD and then play back in either player.

Removing the third-party player may also remove the decoder so that will leave you unable to play DVDs again.

I installed powerdvd the other night and it still didnt work.

Ive just used system restore and media player is fine now, thanks Denis.

I installed powerdvd the other night and it still didnt work.

Ive just used system restore and media player is fine now' date=' thanks Denis.[/quote']

For a while now my dvd player has stopped working. I downloaded power dvd and its now back up and running. However theres no sound coming through at all, but normal pc sound is working fine?

probably missing a sound codec

Do a 'roll back' on system restore

Don't use system restore without being absolutely sure you want to - remember it's a snapshot facility, and will break any new software you've installed since the savepoint.

Thats right Nick, thats why I have stopped using system restore.

Thats right Nick, thats why I have stopped using system restore.

It works for me. :confused:

You can always install the software again !!

Yeah all I meant was it's a balancing act between how desperate you are to retrieve a particular registry setting versus how much your system changes over time.

For example my laptop has lost its standby and hibernate options. I know that a system restore to some time in 2003 would probably restore them, but a lot has changed since then and I choose not to do so. One day I'll be forced to do a reinstall and then I'll have to bite the bullet, but I'll get my standby option back.

Of course the other factors are a) remembering to do a savepoint at strategic times when it's not being done for you automatically (which is not every time, believe me) and guessing how far to roll back to get back your lost capability by racking your brains as to when it last worked.