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-

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

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 , but this one surely had me fuming LOL!!! Just wanted to jump in the sreen and strangle a few people!

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.