Problem when watching a video in Windows Media Player: No Video but has sounds

Hi, something seems to be wrong with my windows media player. I cant watch videos that I downloaded or have but can watch a DVD movie. Every time I try to watch a video that I downloaded or have, no video appears but has sounds. Whenever i try watching a video, a message in the buttom left appears "error downloading codec". I tried watching a DVD movie and it worked. I don't know why only the sounds comes out but not the video. Please help me. Thanks.

You don't have the right codecs. I suggest just downloading VLC. It's better than WMP for video playback, even with the right codecs.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

try a new player yours may be corrupt I've downloaded this one recently I'm happy with it (download toolbar included)
http://www.real.com/realplayer/free-media-player
Edit

this more than likely has to do with your DVD player and the driver you installed or was pre-installed on the machine at time of purchase

The OP's media player isn't corrupted, they just haven't downloaded the correct codecs. I'm assuming they're trying to play .avi files, in which case you could get the codec from: http://www.divx.com/

But, I'd still go for VLC.

thanks for the suggestions guys, i'll try each of them. tell you guys if the problems get solved.

I tried downloading the Divx thingy and it was awesome!!!! its faster than windows media player.