It is hard to see but right in the center part of the page Allen linked to - it's in a bar/button with bright yellow lettering and an arrow that's animated.

Says download locations just click on any of those.

I always have to look twice to notice it.

okay!!!

I did it. I downloaded it. I installed the Best Media Player. I re-booted my computer.

There it was, an icon on my desktop.

I inserted various dvds in my E drive.

The Best Media Player started to do it's thing. It said 'OPENING".

The E drive was flashing a green light.

It seemed as if the player was SEARCHING to open the dvd.

NOTHING HAPPENED.

I did this 3 times.

Okay you people

WHAT NEXT?

Try the other drive... the CD one.

I still get zip... 3 movie dvds and none do anything in either drive so no player can see anything to play.

this can get frustrating LOL

That's the NEXT thing I did when the first drive didn't work. The second drive did NADA!!

but yesterday, I played Alan's stock training videos (these are old ones too). They played just fine.

I would LOVE to know what's going on here.

The only thing I can do next (before I march over to the computer guy and drag this thing with me), is to do what you suggested.

Uninstall Media Player 11.

Install Media Player 10, and then do the codecs thing.

Now I want to make sure that I can uninstall Media Player 11 and install Media player 10 (for free???) Is that correct.

And then I'll do the codecs thing.

I just want to make sure I download the CORRECT CODECS THING.

Good Lord

melody

I can't remember who suggested that my dvd drive might be dirty. I don't see how this is possible, because when I brought in this computer the first thing he did was give it a complete cleaning.

didn't they clean the dvd drives?:

Melody

I'll have to clean mine and try it later on- we've done lots of projects here so dust could be a problem.

How do you clean a dvd lightscribe thing?

Thanks, Melody

It looks like Avatar has "problems":

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/201...12179155.shtml

http://www.thewrap.com/article/firmw...eing-red-16828

Cleaning cd /dvd player-
well looks a cleaning kit or take it out and open it up
http://www.ehow.com/how_5191599_clea...vd-drives.html

Hi Mrs. D.

I don't have a blue ray player, nor is my dvd rom thingee a blue ray anything.
AND!! my Avatar dvd plays FINE in my little portable dd player. I was showing my friends and they all went oooh and aaah.

So this dvd plays good on dvd players but not on dvd roms?

Oh well.

mel

Some companies put codes into DVDs when they want to prevent pirating. Sony did that years ago with Celine Dion....and the coding they used actually harmed some computers. They claim now they don't do it... :Dunno:

Computers with COPY software are typically blocked. And that is what you have. Your read only DVD stand alone player has no copy capacity so therefore it plays it okay.

I am suspecting that it is your computer, and some code on the DVD that are in conflict. If you did not have Lightscribe, things might be different. And that is a COPY program.

Where did Alan buy the CD? That might be a hint too. I am just using logic to approach this thing. Do you have another DVD to test it with? Besides the instructional CD?

Mrs. D.

I guess you missed my previous post (the one right before you last one). I said:

"AND!! my Avatar dvd plays FINE in my little portable dd player. "

Sooooooo!!!! this little Avatar dvd does just fine in my portable dvd player.

I wonder.

Can I put this dvd in either my cd rom drive or the light scribe thingee and can I then copy it to my hard drive (don't know how to do this, or where I would put this)

Do you know?

Melody

Yes, Mel... I saw that and commented on it.

What logic says to me is that your DVD plays on a NON copy machine. (your little DVD stand alone player).

But it does NOT play on a computer with the capacity to COPY IT.

So that infers to me at least it has blocking code on it. Or your computer is messed up somehow. It still might be the Avatar disc itself with anti-pirating code on it. Remember, it played for a while on your machine and then "stopped"? If your machine was lacking a decoder, it wouldn't have played AT ALL. What it did was play until it hit the embedded code, perhaps.

Ah, my brain finally gets it. I THINK!! lol

Alan bought this at blockbuster.

I'm going there and tell them.

We'll see.

thanks much

Melody

I tried to copy a movie once and only got the audio & video as separate files. Could view the movie but with no sound.
But I was only experimenting to see if it would work or not.

we had already watched it 2x so that was enough of it - "The Hangover"

Today I passed Blockbuster, I went in and told the guy my story. He said "does it play on a dvd player?" and I said 'well, I have a little portable dvd player and it plays just fine'.

He said 'it's your computer", "We have sold THOUSANDS of Avatar and not one person has come in saying this."

He was very nice and I believe him.

So I guess my next step is to uninstall Media Player 11 and Install Media 10.

Now, here's a question. If I uninstall Media Player 11, will that do anything to my watching my youtube videos:?

I don't have a WII so I go on youtube and watch everybody dancing Jingo go lo ba, and I do the steps in front of my computer. I also watch the Zumba exercises on youtube.

So if I uninstall Media Player 11, what exactly will happen?

Thanks much

Melody

The reviews (some) on Amazon about Avatar discuss the disc as
defective. They also say it was rushed out and is not even the whole movie!

And there is a HUGE link about updating firmware in order to play it. Some DVD players cannot even play it. Take a look over there!

I'd go to the library and borrow another DVD movie and try to play it on your computer before futzing with any more downloads or settings. (A movie which may also have anti-pirating code)

Sorry to read of all the problems with trying to watch the dvd, Melody.

Some days ago, after reading the earlier posts in this thread, I ran a general search in a search engine and there were heaps of entries with people complaining about the same thing as you with this particular dvd.

I get it. OTHERS are having the exact same problem as I am having.

But then I tried to play 2 other dvds and got the same problem. One thing I do know that is happening on my system is that I don't (for whatever reason), have a dvd decoder. That's why I downloaded (as per the instructions of the computer guy who changed my motherboard). He pointed me to the codecs website, I downloaded the thing, and I get a message NOT COMPATIBLE WITH YOUR VERSION OF WINDOWS.

But, I'll do as suggested. I'll go and find a few more dvds (I'll borrow from friends), and try and open it up using the VLC thing.

I WOULD go out and buy a dvd player (it's only $39.99) but I want to test this out first.

I know, I'll bring it to my friend's house, SHE has a dvd player.

We'll see tomorrow night.

Will update.

Melody
P.S. THANK YOU ALL

Hi again.

You have been trying to fix this Avatar issue for 7 days now, and have been back to the shop without the computer at least once or twice in the duration. It sounds like you are putting yourself through an enormous amount of stress going round and round on this. Would it not be so much simpler to bring your computer back to the shop and let him take 30 minutes to fix it for free?

If you choose to take it back to him, you do not need to take your entire computer with you. You can leave you monitor, printer, keyboard, mouse and any other peripherals at home. The only part you need to bring to the shop is the tower (the box as some call it).

If your end goal is to have an excuse to mess around with the computer just to learn something, then ignore everything I said. Good luck and God Bless You.

Bernclay- :holysheep:

Would it not be easier for me to bring the computer into the shop (and of course I know not to bring the monitor, keyboard, mouse, (do you think I'm stupid?? lol).

The reason it would not be easy is this is a TOWER, and I'm 62 years old with degenerative joint disease and lifting things is HARD for me. Unplugging all the peripherals is a pain in the behind. And then re-hooking everything up.

My husband is no help in this department. He'll complain like the dickens. That's why I just wanted to know if I could uninstall Windows Media Player 11, and install 10 and update the codecs thing.

And I am NOT driving myself crazy. I'm just posting this on a computer message board.

Life is too short to drive oneself crazy over computers. I joke and post stuff but many people know me and when I add LOL to my post, they know I am not at all STRESSED over this.

Last month, we had the computer in the shop for over one month. That's one month with no computer.

I simply went to the guy, he let me access my emails from time to time, but I had plenty of other stuff to keep me busy.

I am not chained to this thing. It has its benefits, it has it's use, and it most certainly provides us with information.

But it's not my life. So don't worry, no stress.

lol

Melody

This is interesting:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question474.htm

I think Avatar has some mega coding on it to prevent duplication.
This is purely an economical intervention by the manufacturer.

wow, VERY interesting.
And I can tell you one thing. This is my very first and my very last purchase of any DVD. I'm not going to get stuck again.

I'll play this on my little portable thing.

For now, that's enough for me. When it comes on cable, I'll just tape it and I'll have it for myself.

Thanks for this link.

VERY GOOD INFO.

Melody

You can only change the region settings a total of 5 times.

but most likely Mel's is region 1 which is USA - just as mine is.


Mel if you want to remove WMP 11 and re download & install WMP 10 to give it a try go ahead.

It's just the same as removing any other program -
from the control panel - Add or Remove Programs.
find windows media player...



UPDATE - I just tested this to be sure and it says it will roll back to the previous version!

I gonna try it have to do a restart then I'll pop in a dvd to see if it plays??

might save Mel the steps...

I'll post as soon as I find out.

Ok it rolled me back to WMP 9

But my drives are seeing some of the dvds I am trying.

but still won't play them get this message with real player & a similar one from WMP 9 -
[The DVD cannot be played. Key exchange for DVD copy protection failed.]

the 2 that are at least showing in the drives now are green mile & class reunion - I didn't try them with wmp 11.
so going to try reinstalling 11 and see what happens.

I was going to try wmp 10 - but it says not compatible with my version of XP on the MS website.

Since I dont play movies on my computer im not really an expert when it comes to this problem, but I have been researching this problem ever since finding this post LOL.

It seems your not the only person having this problem, and it also seems that in order to actually watch movies you need to buy some software that will allow you to watch DVD's.

I have the movie Avatar and will try to play it in my computer. I am running Windows 7 ultimate and not sure if this changes things or not. Will let ya all know what I find, and will ask my 2 sons that are computer techs if they know of a fix, or work around for XP.

Avatar is a graphically intense movie and I think it would tax the memory and graphics hardware on most computers, but since you say other DVD's dont work either maybe that isnt it?

Mel you said in another post that you were watching movies, but after the computer dude worked on your computer it doesnt work. Seems to me that he changed something, or there is something missing after the work he has done. You might ask the guy if he has a program he can give you that works, and is free....I know that all us computer geek types know how to find everything free, but most times wont admit it to people we typically charge.

Believe it or not this the best way to learn about the workings of computers, and I admire you for taking this challenge on, most people would rather throw the box out the window than to find out what makes it tick LOL!!!

When our XP laptop hard-drive died, we had a new one installed.
But lost were the system components that came with it. We didn't know to do a system recovery set of discs.

Well, I only play a few DVD music type videos on computer. Never movies. When all was done, by our son, I couldn't play them either.

So we downloaded VLC and now my DVD's (music concerts) play fine again.. I don't download movies...I rarely buy the DVDs either. Yes, I know I am strange, but once I see a movie, I typically don't watch it again for a LONG time.

So I do wonder... 1) Mel, you say your husband bought this at Blockbuster? Was it new? or a resale of one that they didn't need anymore? The more this thread evolves, I have to wonder if it is a security coding on Avatar to keep people from copying it?

My impression is that this all has become way out of proportion to the value of the movie! I searched the web today and found many hits on Avatar not playing on computer. You are not the only one by far! The entertainment industry is on the verge of ruining their own market it seems to me!

Well movies play just fine on my computer :confused:

I will ask my sons and get back with a reply. That said.....man Avatar is a REAL good movie LOL!!

Been a long time since a movie got me :mad:, but this one surely had me fuming LOL!!! Just wanted to jump in the sreen and strangle a few people! :D

Some of the first dvds I tried might have been too old or possibly scratched .. they looked Ok to me but...??

I did clean them all off to make sure it wasn't dirt or fingerprints causing the trouble.

but the 2 newer dvds can be seen & read but not played.
copyright errors and also one message to upgrade video card driver - did that but no changes to playing anything.

and I get different messages than Mel does from her player.

I think we have the same set up more or less
XP w/SP3

although mine is self built and hers is HP.

Victory is mine ... finally..

In the past I did have the VLC installed but it was quite awhile ago, it didn't work for me at the time - or maybe the DVD I was trying was the problem... so i had removed it.

I decided to try again since mrsD mentioned that hers dvds didn't play until they used VLC.


And it works for me now!!!

now I need a new project to work on LOL.
maybe I'll do some spring cleaning LOL :rolleyes:

So Mel if you keep at it it will finally pay off..
good luck

Did you make sure your video drivers are updated?

I did only try one so far the Tyler Perry's Class Reunion...

Okay, first things first.

Alan brought a brand new Avatar. Not an old used one. BRAND NEW.

Second things next.

I tried playing several dvds that I found in my house THAT PLAYED before. I tried to play them using the Video Lan thing.

Nothing worked.

I guess I'll try the uninstall Media pLayer 11 thing and we'll see what happens.

How cool is this?

I'm learning stuff at 62 that 40 year olds can't do. My neighbor is 40 and he said "YOU know how to use a computer?? I don't"

I burst out laughing.

Mel

Hi MelodyL.

I was just trying to help, and I did not know about your limitations. I apologize if it came across wrong.

If taking the tower back to the shop is impossible, you may find that your easiest solution is paying the $14.99 for the decoder (even though you don‘t want to).

You may also want to try to download a free trial version of expensive multimedia software like Nero (or another expensive robust brand, the expensive brands sometimes get you better results). The trial versions are free to try for 15 days or more, and you may want to use a trial to see if you can get the DVD to play. This may get you outside of some of the possible compatibility issues, and it may get you the decoder you need to play a DVD. It is even possible that once the decoder is installed, and the free trial version stops working, that the windows player will then be able to play the DVD since the decoder is in place.

Just some ideas, I hope this was a little helpful. God Bless You.

Bernclay- :holysheep:

I downloaded the HUGE Nero Multi media thing. GOD WHAT A HUGE DOWNLOAD. I now have all these icons on my desktop Nero, this, Nero that. All I care about is playing a dvd. So I downloaded, installed, blah blah.

I uninstalled my other media players. The bestplayer, and the vlc one.

I didn't touch the Windows Media Player 11 because it's a WINDOWS XP THING and I didn't want to touch that.

so I re-booted, I put in Avatar, it loaded up just fine.

There was Avatar, but the sound is crappy and the video moves slowly.

Same thing with my other dvd's.

I tried cleaning my dvd rom drive thing by blowing air out of my mouth into it. (I read where you can buy a can of air and do this, but since I don't have a can of air, I used my mouth).

It was a bit better but NOT MUCH.

So I gather my dvd rom thing is dirty. I am going to go to the computer guy, borrow a can of air from him, come home, and try again.

this Nero thing is a free trial.

Thank god.

Melody

Okay, here's the latest on my journey to play my Avatar DVD.

Thinking my dvd lightscribe dvd rom thing might be dirty or dusty, I went to the computer guy but he wasn't there. So I said to myself: 'If they have VCR HEAD CLEANERS, they MUST have dvd rom CLEANERS.

So I went to my local Video Store, telling the guy (who I know for years), I told him my story. He handed me a

JVC DVD lens cleaner (a little round disc thing).

He said "put this in the center of the dvd rom", it will then come up on your screen, you press play, and when you're done, you press close"

I go home, (now remember I uninstalled my VLC media player and now I have NERO which brings everything up but plays jerky, and the sound is not right.

I insert the dvd lens cleaner thing (thinking that it will now come up on my screen). I look at the dvd rom drive and it's doing SOMETHING. The light is on, so it's doing something. But NOTHING is happening on my screen.

I really thought that Nero (being my default media player now), would read the dvd rom drive and bring up the lens cleaner message. No such luck.

I then went to my computer thinking that I would see it in Drive E (where I always see Avatar or any other dvd that I have inserted)

There is nothing showing. It's like my computer does not know that there is anything in the dvd rom drive.

so I said "hm, well, Nero is not reading this cleaner, I'll re-install the VLC thing and that might read the JVC lens cleaner.

So I download the VLC yet again. I see the little icon on my screen.

I insert the dvd cleaner once more. I bring up the VLC media player. I press PLAY, and a little disc kept popping up, BUT NO MESSAGE, NO NOTHING.

So if anyone knows how I can get this little dvd lens cleaner thing to clean my dvd rom I would be very appreciative.

I mean, I spent $7.99 on this stupid thing and my computer doesn't even know it's there?

And I tried to insert it in the other drive, the cd drive. Nothing happened there either.

So what I want to know is why Nero or the VLC is not reading what is in my dvd rom drive????

Thanks.

Melody

Hi MelodyL.

A question. Is the DVD cleaner the same size as a regular DVD or smaller?

Here is some other information.

Don’t worry about Nero being big, after the trial ends you can always uninstall it.

But I have a question. You said you loaded Nero and then uninstalled some other media players, and then rebooted. Is this exactly how you did it, or are you just paraphrasing?

Because, sometimes, when you load a new program, and then uninstall another similar program, the uninstall can mess up parts of the new program you just loaded. This can happen since they share components.

So. As a general rule, whenever you install a new program, if you are going to uninstall other programs, do it this way.

First, uninstall whatever you don’t want.
Then reboot the system.
Then install whatever you do want.
Then reboot the system.
Then try it out.

Always reboot in between whatever you are doing (also in between individual uninstalls or installs). Windows needs this step to reorganize itself. I can explain why this is important but it is beyond the scope of what we are talking about.

So if you did not do it this way, and you did get partial results, believe it or not, the only way to know if it will work for sure is to uninstall everything, and then reinstall it in the correct order.

I know it stinks, but it is the only way to know for sure. Unless you have a tech physically looking at your system, diagnosing and repairing these kinds of things can be messy.

A side note. The compressed air is probably a good idea to try

A second side note. I don’t know how old your system is, but if it was aging, and the guys at the shop replaced the motherboard, they could have physically damaged the DVD drive and not realized that they did it. A little movement here, a little pressure there, sometimes it does not take much, especially if the drive is a few years old (you may have even done it if you bounced it around a little when moving it). If the drive is physically damaged, the only way that you will know for sure (without a tech looking at it), is to hook up another DVD player (even an external one) and see if it works or not. If the secondary DVD works then it means the original DVD is failing since they will both be using the same software to operate. You may be able to borrow an external DVD drive from someone to test this possibility. You may also buy one from a big store with a good return policy, try it out and diagnose your system, and then return it to the store if you don’t want to keep it. Maybe not the best way to go, but it would tell you if it’s your DVD or your system that is causing the problem.

Having said all of this. You may want to consider paying a kid in the neighborhood $20 to take your system into the shop for you (or with you to do the lifting). I know you don’t want to spend the money (or you would have spent the $14.99, which you can still do), but getting it to the shop is still your best option (other than getting a tech to look at it at your home).

I hope this helped a little. God Bless You.

Bernclay- :holysheep:

Hi MelodyL.

If you are running XP or Vista, the reason you may not be able to see the DVD drive at certain times is most likely due to the auto-play settings. Windows tries to pre-set how it will present specific items in the DVD drive, but if you give it something it is not pre-set for (like a DVD cleaner), or if there is a conflict (like with the decoder) then Windows does not know what to do, and so it does nothing. This is not always the case, but it is a likely possibility.

I can certainly talk you through finding your DVD drive, and possibly even talk you through your overall problem, but it would be impossible in this message board format. We would have to be able to message back and forth in real time, so that I could take you through it step by step and get your feedback. The chat option in this forum may work very well for talking you through this. If that is something you may want to do then just let me know and we can set up a time (I do a lot of this kind of stuff with my family).

I hope this was helpful. God Bless You.

Bernclay- :holysheep:

Hi, first the dvd lens cleaner is a little round disc. Not the same size as a compact disc

You said:

the only way that you will know for sure (without a tech looking at it), is to hook up another DVD player (even an external one) and see if it works or not.

I CAN HOOK UP ANOTHER DVD PLAYER? I have a little portable dvd player that plays my Avatar perfectly. So how do I hook up this player to my computer?

And you mentioned the order in which I installed and uninstalled. Yeah, I first installed NERO, then I uninstalled VLC and Best Media.

Then I rebooted the whole thing.

But honestly, the way it played before Nero was exactly the way it played with VLC. It DID work with VLC but with the jerky movements, and the sound which sounded like gargling.

So if I can hook up my little portable dvd player to my computer, what exactly am I looking for?

Melody

If your result with Nero was exactly the same as with VLC, then I would agree that uninstalling and reinstalling is probably not going to get you anywhere.

As for the hooking up an external DVD. I do not mean hooking up a self contained system that plays on its own with its own software (which is what you have). I mean hooking up another DVD drive that uses the computer to operate in the same way that your internal DVD drive does.

It is these kinds of specifics and questions that would be much simpler to work out in a real time chat.

From everything you have said, I am still inclined to think the same thing that I thought earlier. I think you most likely have a compatibility issue with your decoder that was not reloaded correctly after the motherboard was changed. Or. I think it is possible that your DVD drive is damaged and physically failing.

Not to keep repeating it, but a tech looking at it would be able to fix this up relatively quickly. This only seems complicated because we are diagnosing and giving advice remotely.

If you still want to try to fix it alone (and don‘t want to bring it to the shop), and if you change your mind about spending the $14.99, then your simplest option would be to uninstall all the extra media players (so you are not overtaxing your system (once again, someone in person would be able to easily tell if this is an issue or not)). Reinstall the VLC media player (so you know it‘s a good install (and you can sidestep the Windows media player version 9, 10, 11 issue)). Then download the $14.99 decoder. Remember to reboot in between each step. Remember to reboot after the $14.99 download. Then try it out. If the DVD plays, your good. If it still plays choppy, then at that point I would think it is most likely due to the DVD drive being damaged and failing.

I hope this was helpful. God Bless You.

Bernclay-:holysheep:

I installed the VLC and didn't need to buy a decoder package.

But right now I have all these players installed LOL -
WMP 11
Real player SP
DivX plus
Best Media player
and VLC -- finally one that works for some reason...

Next I'll have to test more dvds to see if they all play in every player or just the vlc works.