How to Play DVDs on Windows for Free

Hey there! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this site? I'm getting fed up of Wordpress because I've had problems with hackers and I'm looking at options for another platform. I would be great if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

Wicked man didn't have audio for ages treid codecs no joy then read and installed vlc program sweeeeeeeeeeeeet now THANX.

i downloaded VLC and it freezes my computer and when i try to uninstall it i couldnt find it in the add/remove programs ! when i restarted my computer it went to a safe mode screen . causing me to reinstall windows

Economy is tough but we roofers are still "on the top"

Loaded VLC & it won't play DVD's at all.

Cool i can use this thing to watch people move. HAHA (Clap, Jump)

morgan- check filehippo.com
they have tons of freeware there

After downloading VLC and trying to play a dvd the images were all pixelated and freezing. Am now attempting to find other free software to download - any help muchly appreciated. many thanks

VLC is very fast to work smoothly.

you can play dvd in wmp and realplayer but there is no sound

I found this can be fixed by downloading and installing a free program called

XP_Codec_Pack_243.exe

worked for me anyway after i had to remove the program I was using as it was outdated and a security risk.
I also found vlc player which is free and works too.

I can play DVD discs with my Windows XP LAPTOP media player.

Vlc is the best!
Install windows, download & install vlc for free and you're good to go - Vlc can play lots of file types without any additional codec packs. Great subs and voice handling, it has like a built-in amplifier and lots of other handy features. The looks hasn't changed, it simple no extra buttons and shiny stuff, just keep it simple and stay the best. Good job and thanks!

VLC viewer is great. You don't have to buy codecs, just do a google search on them. Go to www.mycdoutlet.com

dont buy roxio decoder im going nuts trying to unlock it.ive tried every way and customer care is crap its a merry go round wish i hadnt bought it.

A lot of files can be converted just by changing the extension ... .rmvb can easily become .avi... only a few types like .gvi and .flv cause issues ... and all can be converted My Roxio/Media Center wont burn many other formats than win so i dont mind WMP but VLC is good on my older laptop which has a sh1t for nothing vidcard...

Thanks _ and Budi :Top class tips indeed!

K-lite Codec is free too

Keep your WMP, add DVD Xpack (get it from Rapidshare.com) and K-lite Codec, you will watch DVD with Window Media Player without added New Player. VLC very primitive on playback, no forward/backward,skip etc.

I recommend
¢ the MPlayer GUIs MPUI, rulesPlayer, SMPlayer
¢ KMPlayer [currently my favourite]
¢ with ffdshow: Media Player Classic or Zoom Player
.

Thanks Antonini - that's a great piece of software!

Hi there! I'm a freeware fanatic, and I know XP sucks. VLC is indeed great (plays almost anything) but it is plain. There is a free DVD player called AVS Player. Here: http://www.avsmedia.com/DVDPlayer/index.aspx Enjoy!!

Yeah Tim: Ugly but functional :)

I think VLC is really good, but it's so ugly. And the way it changes all your desktop video files to a big ugly pilon..... guh. Otherwise, great program.

Syams and greenpeace - thanks for the tip!

Sahko - Based on http://sol4.net/dvd1.shtml it seems like it can. I don't have multiple region DVDs to test this, but it seems to work fine for others!

Anyone know how VLC treats various region dvds? Can I use it to watch a region 2 for instance? If not, suggest others?

i've used win media classic and vlc player too. but i use WMC+ K-Lite codecs more and if even WMC couldn't play it, i'll use VLC.

Media Player Classic & K-Lite codecs (others too).. U can play almost all downloaded videos & audios from internet. Of course it is free!

Thanks for the tips Kylde and Samvith, will check out your suggestions!

MPLAYER is the best...u can get it from their official website for free...apart from supporting several video formats it is also open-source and u can customize it to u'r own requirements... :)

Media Player Classic, far smoother interface than VLC for dvd-bookmarking etc

The powerful feature of this VLC is that it can play those video file which not completely downloaded

But it also got disadvantage where it did not support RM/RMVB format...

CypherHackz: Yep true. That's why VLC is in many ways superior than WMP

LcF: Agree... Don't you love these cross-platform innovations? :)

ya, VLC is great even on Mac (which has less codec support)

maybe. but some widnows media player can't play certain videos and dvds and you still need to download the codec.

The codecs unfortunately need to be purchased. Yours probably came bundled in with your system when you purchased it. Read the link below more more details.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/bridgman02april15.mspx

...Hence my recommendation for VLC.

I can play DVD discs with my Windows XP media player... Perhaps you just need to download some codecs.