Media Player and DVDs

I had to re-install Win XP this week because I put in a new hard drive.
Everything went fairly smoothly but now I find that I can't watch DVD's using
WMP. It says:

"Windows Media Player cannot play DVD video. You might need to adjust your
Windows display settings. Open display settings in Control Panel, and then
try lowering your screen resolution and color quality settings."

Tried changing resolution and color but that didn't help.

I tried the help button and the MS website says that I need a decoder.

I never knowingly installed a decoder before. Is something messed up or did
I install a decoder before with another program without realizing it?

Thanks.

Decoding software should have been installed by the manufacturer of the PC.
Look in your manual and paperwork from the manufacturer, you'll probably
find either WinDVD or PowerDVD. There should be some kind of instructions
on how to reinstall a single application from your original CD(s) that came
with the PC.
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/windows

"I wanna go back to DOS" wrote
in message ...
I had to re-install Win XP this week because I put in a new hard drive.
Everything went fairly smoothly but now I find that I can't watch DVD's
using
WMP. It says:

"Windows Media Player cannot play DVD video. You might need to adjust your
Windows display settings. Open display settings in Control Panel, and then
try lowering your screen resolution and color quality settings."

Tried changing resolution and color but that didn't help.

I tried the help button and the MS website says that I need a decoder.

I never knowingly installed a decoder before. Is something messed up or
did
I install a decoder before with another program without realizing it?

Thanks.

"Cari (MS-MVP)" wrote:

Decoding software should have been installed by the manufacturer of the PC.

Well, I'm the manufacturer. I do have a disk labeled PowerDVD but I don't
recall ever installing anything from it but I guess that I did. I assumed
that it was yet another program like Nero.

Now, the real problem. The PowerDVD 5 disc that I have is warped. Yep,
warped. I've never seen this before with a CD-ROM. :-( I guess I have to
flatten it.

Thanks.