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What's with MS Windows and DVD playback?

63dot

63dot

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 12, 2006
5,269
339
norcal
I have a friend who has a PC with XP Home and it played all his DVDs just fine until he installed XP Professional. Now some of the older DVDs won't play.

I have seen this problem before on the PC side. What seems to be the fix other than having to resort to having different PCs to play back all of one's DVD collection as standards change?
 
My friend suggested that he download drivers of a new external DVD drive I have. I told him that the software disk is likely for that particular piece of hardware.

Would it make his DVD player, an unrelated product as its an old internal drive in his workstation read more DVD formats? It's a stretch I know.:)
 
get the K-lite codec pack. It will get you the Mpeg2 codec that you require.

Other choice is download Media player classic. Both will give you the work around you need.

here is a link to k-lite
http://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm

The problem with Mpeg2 is licenses fees and it was my understanding that the movie industry went after MS pretty hard and is the one not letting MS put it in the OS. So just get one of the needed codec and problem solved.
 
Rodimus Prime said:
get the K-lite codec pack. It will get you the Mpeg2 codec that you require.

Other choice is download Media player classic. Both will give you the work around you need.

here is a link to k-lite
http://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm

The problem with Mpeg2 is licenses fees and it was my understanding that the movie industry went after MS pretty hard and is the one not letting MS put it in the OS. So just get one of the needed codec and problem solved.
Click to expand...

Being a techie, turned law student, back to techie again, I have found this to be a hotly contested area. If anything is a "new" area in law, it's issues concerning downloads over the internet. :) Who owns what? Is it free, really? Is it reasonable for DVD standards to change or is it a tool to make more money?, etc.

If MS and the movie industry are in litigation, or appeals, is it wise for my friend to download the codec? And is it legal?

Whenever it is a legal issue that involves MS or the movie and/or music industry, I get very nervous. One middle school aged minor was sued for millions on a violation on a gray area regarding an issue with the music industry. This didn't stand in lower court and was remanded back so it may be years before that is resolved.
 
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