Windows Media Player Problem

[Doctor Gallop]

I have no idea what Forum to post this problem in so if I'm in the wrong place please excuse.
Anyway, just in case there is someone here that can help me, here is the problem:
I put a DVD in to play on my PC as I often do but now, starting just today I get a pop up window that says: "Windows Media Player cannot continue because of problem with digital copyright protection" [photo attached].

I went to the Windows help/troubleshooting section but, and I'm embarrassed to say, I still cannot understand what to do to correct the problem.

Can someone help me [in laymans terms].

Thank you

 

[N3051M]

It basicaly means that. the dvd has some copy protection software built in, and that copy protection is stoping the dvd from reading.

Does this effect all your dvd movies? what about data dvds?

You may find some DVDs come with region codings. You can see what region it is by looking on the back cover or spine, and inside a box there is a picture of a globe with a number on it. Alternativly it could just say "Region 4" for example. Do you have any of these in your collection?

Do your dvds work on normal or other dvd players?

 

[altheman]

WMP doesn't play DVD without third party support AFAIK, you need another decoder, but I'm not sure where from exactly.

 

[Doctor Gallop]

Thanks for answering my post so quickly.
These are the same DVD's that I have played at other times with no problems.
Tha't what is so odd!
I tried playing the same DVD's on a DVD Player and they worked fine.

Could I have erased something important when I ran a registry cleaner?

I tried downloading another Media Player but it displayed the same problem.
Do you think it would help if I try a computer restore point?
Should I try "un-installing" WMP and then "re-installing" it?

Man oh man! When the old lady finds out I damaged her computer, I'm going to be sleeping on the couch to-nite!

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Yes, try doing a system restore to before the problem occured.

If that doesn`t help, it may be caused by a missing or broken codec.

Download the free trial of Power DVD from HERE. This will install the DVD codec, even after the programme has been uninstalled, the codec will remain.

See if it helps.

Regards Howard

 

[Doctor Gallop]

I hate Windows Media Player!

Hi Howard,
Thanks for the advice. I downloaded the Power DVD [Trial version].
It did not help getting the Windows Media Player to operate but what I noticed is even though the DVD's play using the Power DVD Player, the sound and video are "sticking" or "skipping" in the first few minutes of play. Then it seems to catch up to itself.

Sounds like the damn machine is "haunted"!

I tried a restore but maybe I did not go back far enough because it did not work.

If I could get rid of the Windows Media Player all together I would, I never liked it.

 

[N3051M]

you dont realy need to get rid of WMP.. just let other applications take its place instead when opening a file.

So we established that the drive still reads the dvds, so have you tried cleaning the drive using one of those "optical drive cleaner" gizmos?

Is there any major scratches on your DVDs at all? Some players have a certain tolerance to errors, and anything above that tollerance will stop it from playing correctly. How about if you went to the shops and bought a new dvd movie, and test that out to see if it still skips?