Some DVDs no longer play

I have 2 DVD drives and both have stopped playing certain DVDs, mainly retail
ones but also some DVD games. I have no problem with CDs and most Copied
DVDs. I have tried updating the firmware. I have all the codecs I need and
i'm using power DVD. I have tried a full system recovery, still no joy and I
have not made any changes to the hardware. I used to have no problem using
either drive to play DVDs and both have went at the same time so I don't
think it's a hardware issue. I have looked everywhere for help and no one
has any answers. Can somebody out there please help?

On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:18:00 -0700, Sirtokalott
<Sirtokalott@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>I have 2 DVD drives and both have stopped playing certain DVDs, mainly retail
>ones but also some DVD games. I have no problem with CDs and most Copied
>DVDs. I have tried updating the firmware. I have all the codecs I need and
>i'm using power DVD. I have tried a full system recovery, still no joy and I
>have not made any changes to the hardware. I used to have no problem using
>either drive to play DVDs and both have went at the same time so I don't
>think it's a hardware issue. I have looked everywhere for help and no one
>has any answers. Can somebody out there please help?

I have a similar issue. I can play mpg-2 but when I try to play a
mpg-1 it get audio and no video. I downloaded VLC (freeware) but it
won't play mpg-1 either. I think it's a Windows problem, and more
generally, a lack of video-format standards. Messing with codecs can
screw up a system. You're right--found no answers and been
looking/googling for almost 3 months now.

On Mar 11, 11:15*am, Phisherman <no...@nobody.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:18:00 -0700, Sirtokalott
>
> <Sirtokal...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> >I have 2 DVD drives and both have stopped playing certain DVDs, mainly retail
> >ones but also some DVD games. *I have no problem with CDs and most Copied
> >DVDs. *I have tried updating the firmware. *I have all the codecs I need and
> >i'm using power DVD. *I have tried a full system recovery, still no joy and I
> >have not made any changes to the hardware. *I used to have no problem using
> >either drive to play DVDs and both have went at the same time so I don't
> >think it's a hardware issue. *I have looked everywhere for help and no one
> >has any answers. *Can somebody out there please help?
>
> I have a similar issue. *I can play mpg-2 but when I try to play a
> mpg-1 it get audio and no video. *I downloaded VLC (freeware) but it
> won't play mpg-1 either. *I think it's a Windows problem, and more
> generally, a lack of video-format standards. *Messing with codecs can
> screw up a system. *You're right--found no answers and been
> looking/googling for almost 3 months now.

Sounds like there may be a conflict with your install codecs. Locate
and download a "mega" codec install package, which should fix this.

On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:34:07 -0700 (PDT), smlunatick
<yveslec@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Mar 11, 11:15*am, Phisherman <no...@nobody.com> wrote:
>> On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:18:00 -0700, Sirtokalott
>>
>> <Sirtokal...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>> >I have 2 DVD drives and both have stopped playing certain DVDs, mainly retail
>> >ones but also some DVD games. *I have no problem with CDs and most Copied
>> >DVDs. *I have tried updating the firmware. *I have all the codecs I need and
>> >i'm using power DVD. *I have tried a full system recovery, still no joy and I
>> >have not made any changes to the hardware. *I used to have no problem using
>> >either drive to play DVDs and both have went at the same time so I don't
>> >think it's a hardware issue. *I have looked everywhere for help and no one
>> >has any answers. *Can somebody out there please help?
>>
>> I have a similar issue. *I can play mpg-2 but when I try to play a
>> mpg-1 it get audio and no video. *I downloaded VLC (freeware) but it
>> won't play mpg-1 either. *I think it's a Windows problem, and more
>> generally, a lack of video-format standards. *Messing with codecs can
>> screw up a system. *You're right--found no answers and been
>> looking/googling for almost 3 months now.
>
>Sounds like there may be a conflict with your install codecs. Locate
>and download a "mega" codec install package, which should fix this.

Already tried this. Same result. You would think there would be an
application that plays mpg-1 files without any codecs. The strange
thing is that I can play any mpg-2 file and only some mpg-1 files will
play both video and audio, other mpg-1 will play audio and no video
depending on what produced the mpg-1 file. I can take the mpg-1 file
that won't play properly, and convert it to another mpg-1 that will
play both audio and video, which tells me that not all mpg-1 files are
created equal. I guess it could be that the codecs installed on my
machine are corrupted, at least the ones that play certain mpg-1 files
<sigh>.

Success!

Some responses here suggested this is a codec issue. I tried K-Lite
mega codec package and that did not change anything. I messed with
Windows video settings and that allowed a 3rd party video player to
work, but not Windows Media Player. I also tried VLC--not a bad
product but it too did not work. Finally, I tried downloading and
installing Windows Media Player 11. Now when I record an mpg, it
plays, but not the mpgs created when the codecs were not correct.
Lessons learned is that codecs can become corrupt, they are not always
easy to fix, and can even corrupt Windows.