Help with DVD Decoder in Windows MCE

Borden · 18 Feb 2006 at 12:12

Hi all,

My dad just got a new Dell laptop with MCE installed. As with all Dell PC's it was loaded with a whole load of useless programs that we'll never use. So i went ahead and uninstalled nearly all of them but i think that i may have accidentaly uninstalled some software that's needed to play DVD's in MP10 or through Media Centre.

When we try to play through Media Centre it says 'DVD decoder is either missing or not installed.'
When playing in MP10 it comes up with the message saying 'Windows media player cannot open this file' blah blah.

Anyway, i know there are prgorams that we can use instead (and which i prefer) such as VLC but my dad, and the rest of my family, get scared by programs with plain GUI's

so i need to install the DVD Decoder for it, but which one..........

Thanks in advance

Borden · 18 Feb 2006 at 12:29

OK i just ran a utility from microsoft which told me that the decoder i have on my pc (Cyberlink something or other) was compatible with MCE and MP10. I went ahead and installed Cyberlink PowerDVD on the laptop and now it works in MP10 but Media Centre still doesn't work

Gonna try a restart.

Borden · 18 Feb 2006 at 12:33

Just restarted and it hasn't helped

Chief Wiggum · 18 Feb 2006 at 17:36

Highly rate the Nvidia DVD decoder myself, it's not free, but IIRC you can download a trial version to make sure it works on your setup. It works fine here on my MCE though.

Kev

Mujja · 18 Feb 2006 at 17:49

PowerDVD should work in MCE. MS have a Decoder checking utility, if you have more than one decoder installed you can select which one to use with MCE.

Borden · 19 Feb 2006 at 10:02

Thanks for your replies.

I've heard good things about the nvidia decoder but it's not an option seeing as it's not free.

I used that decoder checking utility and it says that the Cyberlink Decoder is compatible with MP10 and Media Centre but DVD's still don't work in MCE. It says that the decoder is either malfunctioned or not installed

Thatnks for your help so far

Slam62 · 19 Feb 2006 at 10:09

uninstall and reinstall powerdvd. Theres nothing clever you can do, just the obvious.

Borden · 19 Feb 2006 at 10:21

Slam62 said:
uninstall and reinstall powerdvd. Theres nothing clever you can do, just the obvious.

lol, didn't think of that

I'll try it later on, thanks for your advice

bledd · 19 Feb 2006 at 11:01

use this its free!

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

Borden · 21 Feb 2006 at 14:50

bledd. said:
use this its free!

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

Thanks a lot for that, works well

Cheers for all help

bledd · 21 Feb 2006 at 18:27

also, install..

ffdshow, ac3filter, quicktime alternative and real alternative

get them from free-codecs

there's not much that your mce machine won't play then

Borden · 21 Feb 2006 at 19:48

bledd. said:
also, install..

ffdshow, ac3filter, quicktime alternative and real alternative

get them from free-codecs

there's not much that your mce machine won't play then

Thanks, already got qt and real alternative so will install the others.

Thanks for your help