Media Centre & DVD Playback

[Aztec]

hi,

having a little trouble playing DVDs on media centre, when i try to play one the screen goes black and a message pops up about lowering the resolution, and in media player it says copy protection problems, any ideas to why this is happening? i though vista media centre supposed to have a built in codec for dvd?

[LSG501]

How is it being output (ie hows the display(s) setup). The last time I had that message was when I tried to play over a remote network connection.

[Aztec]

hi,
its being played directly to an acer AL1916W 1400x900 19" tft monitor through D-SUB (standard monitor cable)

gfx card is a XFX 7950gx2 590/1280
motherboard is asus p5n-e sli
4gb g-skill ram ddr667
vista64 ultimate.

[LSG501]

what drivers/codecs are you using

[Westy5]

Have you tried a different DVD?

I'd suggest that you might try VLC maybe? Or install a codec pack - Can't remember whether I had to do this on our HTPC, I'll have a look when I turn it on later

[Tom]

Almost looks like the sort of error HDCP would give. I couldn't imagine Microsoft imposing the same restrictions on CSS-enabled DVDs.

Can you try it with a DVI connection?

[Aztec]

Ive tried WinDVD now gone back to the original codec thats installed on vista, still nothing, sometimes it will play a dvd but very scrambled with green blocks.

no my monitor doesnt support dvi im afraid so cannot try that, if i install winDVD dvds do play it that ok but it's missing the point of media centre.

very strange, dont know how to get it working, its like media centre has its own codec and doesnt use windvds one when its installed??? i'm baffled on this one.

if my monitor is not hdcp will this error occur you think? heard something about drm whats that?

ive been told to stay away from codec packs as they can sometimes be badly put together.

downloading microsofts DECHECK.EXE it checks your media centre dvd decoders and as its plainly showing here theres some sort of problem with them...

This is the message i get in media centre...

CANNOT PLAY DVD: the DVD may be in use by another application,
the video resolution may need to be lowered, or display connection type
may not support playback of the DVD.

[Tom]

I'm still betting on a lack of 'copy protection' for it. You could try DeCSS? I would have thought WinDVD includes something to decode CSS, whereas Media Centre doesn't.

Interestingly, Kustom sell a version of the Nvidia PureVideo codecs bundled with Media Centre (and you used to be able to purchase them separately.. Give Graeme an e-mail and ask, if you're interested) which I would imagine does all of this for you.

But someone will have to verify that, as my quick googles haven't given me any direct answers.

[Westy5]

IIRC when I was researching this I got steered away from the PureVideo codecs. However, i can't for the life of me remember why, sorry.

I know that's not overly helpful...

[DieselLives]

Tried PowerDVD yet?
Just a thought, because if you are relying on Vista's built in support for DVD's then you have the wrong end of the stick, you still need a decoder.
Or maybe i've missed something.

[LSG501]

Right I'm going to suggest something mad here as the default media player and the media centre are different

Go into 'computer' and go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player and select wmplayer - this is the 32 bit player (should be default) - see what happens here

Now repeat with C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player and select wmplayer - this is the 64bit one which links to the media centre.
See what happens.

[Aztec]

just tried it m8 both the media players show the same "cannot play" error

[LSG501]

Is this a prebought vista machine or did you upgrade the system.

Thinking maybe driver related but not so sure.

I'm kind of a bit stumped now if this doesn't work - as its usually driver related on xp I'm going to try something on vista which I've got.

Download the vista 64bit codec pack, and then look in the start menu bit for a folder called 64bit tools, click on the reg hacks and see if they help (they have helped me get rid of stutter in the past). Try them and see if it helps, the 32bit codecs if you want them can be found here.

I know there can be some conflicts if you install k-lite (32bit) codecs and the best way to resolve that is to tick a box saying use built in codecs for dvd playback/mpeg2 etc.

[eXistenZ]

Originally Posted by DieselLives

Just a thought, because if you are relying on Vista's built in support for DVD's then you have the wrong end of the stick, you still need a decoder.
Or maybe i've missed something.

Vista comes with a decoder. (1st version of windows to do so) It does work too - using it on my HTPC with no problems.

Have you checked the region coding of the drive? I read somewhere that Vista won't let you play region coded DVDs in a region free drive - no idea how true that is though.

edit: checked your drivers too? It looks like you can only play DVDs on Vista if you're using signed gfx card drivers - this might involve finding older drivers that are signed if the newest ones aren't.

[Aztec]

yea all my drivers are signed, media centre plays my home movie dvds ok but shop bought ones will not work.

how do i check my drives region setting? theres no tab showing for it in device manager