# Windows XP and DVDs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 7, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-and-dvds/173790 "2003-05-07T23:52:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-and-dvds/173790/1 "2003-05-07T23:52:01Z")
Wary of bumping [threads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=143939), but wanting an answer: So, if my DVD player plays CDs but Windows Media and RealPlayer refuse DVDs citing ‘No DVD decoder installed’, then my DVD drive is kaput? And what does **handy** mean by “dma”? I just tried to play a DVD for the frist time… I’ve had the computer (and DVD drive) for 7 months. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-and-dvds/173790/2 "2003-05-08T00:37:48Z")
Do you have DVD player software on your computer? Separate DVD software has to be installed such as [PowerDVD](http://www.gocyberlink.com/english/products/product_main.jsp?ProdId=28) or [WinDVD](http://www.intervideo.com/jsp/Product_Profile.jsp?p=WinDVD4). Unfortunately, there are no free DVD decoders due to the strict licensing restrictions of the DVD consortium. Double check the discs that came with your DVD-ROM. I’ll bet one of the two programs listed above came with the drive. DMA stands for Direct Memory Access and can improve DVD playback performance. You can change this setting in the Windows Device Manager. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-and-dvds/173790/3 "2003-05-08T04:26:17Z")
I doubt there’s anything wrong with your DVD drive. Most drives come with some DVD decoding software. A lot of video cards and even some sound cards come with some too. Check the boxes everything came in, or the computer manuals, or whatever. See if any software for the above that you have installed has a “Media Centre” or “Video Studio” or “PlayCenter” or somesuch. You’re wrong about the no [free DVD player](http://www.videolan.org/) software thing, BTW. My DVD drive was salvaged from an older machine, and thus has no software. I downloaded this, but my K6-2 500 (with old Matrox G200) can’t really play it. I just use the drive for DVD software disks. Your machine looks like it could run this, if it came down to it. 🙂 Note that the software is open source, in development, and not specifically for Windows. This means it might not work perfectly or have every feature, in case you were wondering. ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-and-dvds/173790/4 "2003-05-08T04:49:22Z")
**Nanoda** : **Hodge** is correct about the fact that there is no free DVD playing software. The application you linked to cannot play DVDs without the installation of an external library which may be illegal depending on your jurisdiction. It is illegal in the US, AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-and-dvds/173790/5 "2003-05-08T11:12:53Z")
Hrm. You sure? I specifically checked for that, but my cursory search turned up nothing. I did wonder about the decoding package… (I do learn something reading [slashdot](http://www.slashdot.org) ya know. ;)) Lessee: [DVD decryption](http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html) is done through the famed libdvdcss library[…] - navigation through libdvdplay. libdvdcss is the thing the US gov’t (secretly run by the RIAA, but I digress) has a problem with. According to news articles linked to by [this site](http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS/Gallery/), that issue isn’t closed yet, so the matter is up in the air. I suppose you’ll have to either petition your political representative to do some actual work on your behalf, or use one of my other suggestions. P.S. - There’s also [MPlayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/). Xine and Ogle are Linux only, so I won’t bother linking. Again, those of us allowed to hack ROT-13 can use it, but the same legalities as above probably still apply. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-and-dvds/173790/6 "2003-05-08T15:13:06Z")
Try [download.com](http://download.com) search for: dvd player There are several you can download & try for free.