Vista thinks dvds are wrong region...

[imaginaryduck]

If anyone can help me I will be so unbelievably grateful...

Ok. I have a Vista. I also have a collection of DVDs, all of which are the same region (2).

However...

My absolutely wonderful machine only wants to play one particular DVD. No others. Now, considering this DVD is part of a box-set, and all my DVDs are from the same region, something tells me that maybe, perhaps, something might just be a teensy bit wrong here.

I've solved this problem before, so I know it can be done. But I just can't remember how I did it!! I've tried using the VLC media player, and it doesn't quite work; half of the screen is just green or 'cubes' (i.e. the picture isn't complete). Attached is a screenshot from a randomly-selected DVD (in this case, Arsenic and Old Lace) of the effects.

I don't want to change the region code on the machine, because it doesn't work. (I've tried.)

So any downloads, hacks, troubleshooting, plug-ins, or whatever... whatever you can advise, I will try. Please make my vista functional!!

Thanks a bunch!![/b]

vlcsnap-2009-09-30-22h02m50s63.png

[Baldrick]

Does it look the same in other players like mpchc, smplayer, kmplayer (all freee!) ?

[imaginaryduck]

mpchc says 'Fail', smplayer crashes, and kmplayer shows no picture at all

[imaginaryduck]

May I add, with some DVDs there is no picture/sound. Basically nothing.

[jman98]

My absolutely wonderful machine only wants to play one particular DVD. No others.

Please explain what this means exactly. Does it mean:
1) The DVDs will start playing, but all you see is garbage.
- or -
2) The DVDs will not play at all. They will not even start to play.

If it's #2, do you get an error message of any kind from your player? If so, what is it?

[imaginaryduck]

It depends which software I use. If the usual Windows Media Player, it's (2) - and it says something like, "cannot play DVD". On another program (HP DVD Play?) it says it's the wrong region.

But with VLC, it's usually (1), and with some DVDs (2).

[jimdagys]

Here is something you could try for test purposes. Download the latest free trial copy of DVDFab and see if you can copy the DVD to the hard drive and then play the DVD files directly from the hard drive. If you can't do that, I would say you got a real problem with your computer.

[jman98]

Another question - has your PC ever worked correctly for playing DVDs under Vista?

If yes, did you recently install any new software? Add new hardware? Back out the change (if there is one) and see if that helps.

Did you "upgrade" this machine from a previous version of Windows like XP or did it come installed with Vista from the beginning?

Have you scanned with some kind of anti-virus software?

Your problem doesn't sound like a region code issue to me, but something is seriously wrong here. It may require a reinstall to fix.

[Noahtuck]

Here is something you could try for test purposes. Download the latest free trial copy of DVDFab and see if you can copy the DVD to the hard drive and then play the DVD files directly from the hard drive. If you can't do that, I would say you got a real problem with your computer.

Recently you sure seem to be on some kind of a kik that everyone has a problem with "their PC" ??
https://forum.videohelp.com/topic373707.html#2009901

:P