[UPtimist]

I'll make it short: How does one play DVDs on a computer? Or maybe: What plug-in (for WMP(?)) should one get to play DVDs?

And of course I'm talking about free stuff

I got a new latop (with Vista (Business)), and now I actually might have use for that option, you see...

Of course you could say how it works for the XP too. Or if it depends on the Media Player version or whatever I really don't know much about this area...

(Edit): Well, turns out the laptop can do it automatically, but I'd still like to know how I can make my table computer (or whatever you call it) play DVDs. It doesn't, you see. Then again, it also doesn't play CDs in the DVD drive anymore...

[rlpw]

Get a new DVD drive. They usually come with OEM software to play DVDs

[Ninja Dodo]

Yeah, sounds like you just need a new drive. This one is either broken or too old to be compatible.

[UPtimist]

Well, it's not broken (at least completely, I don't know what's up with the CDs ), it does run DVDs, it's just that when I try to watch a movie WMP says I don't have the right decoder.

Sadly I can't afford a new DVD drive, I might as well buy a new computer while I'm at it as this one is rather old. So I guess it's just outdated. But aren't there any free plug-ins for WMP or programs that I can use to watch movies?

[linuxadventurer]

As my username might suggest I'm probably not the best person to comment on this but;

Doesn't WMP have the ability to search and download the required codecs?
The problems is probably that the codecs required to play DVDs are licensed meaning that you generally have to pay in one form or another to get them. As others said, usually if you buy a DVD drive you get some software that will provide them (usually powerdvd in my experience). I'm surprised Windows doesn't come with them as default, but you probably need to buy the Media Centre edition or something.

Anyway, give VLC a try.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html
It's a brilliant cross platform player, that will play pretty much anything you throw at it, including DVDs.

But as I said the DVD decoding codec is licensed and the legality of the library VLC uses is questionable depending on your country, so check your countries version of DMCA/EUCD style laws if you have any.

[Lee in Limbo]

For playing DVDs on my computer, I used to use a program called Cyberlink. I honestly can't remember if it was store-bought or downloaded from their site, it's been so long.

[Lucien21]

Media Player 10 and above has DVD support. Just download the latest version.

[rlpw]

I downloaded and installed Windows Media player 11 and XP SP3 and it broke my codecs for DVDs. I fixed it by installing VistaCodecs 5.04
It worked fantastically on XP.