Impossible to play VCD in XP

[cdechery]

Why is it impossible to play VCDs in Windows XP?

It used to work fine when I had Win98... now whenever I try to open a .dat file, the player (I tried more than 10 different players) hangs.

I can't even copy the .dat file to my HD. It starts copying, then hangs and gives me a "cannot read from source drive, cyclic redundancy check error" (or something like that).

And the weirdest thing is, that it appears that WinXP doesn't even recognize properly the data structure of the disc, cuz when I insert it on the drive Windows gets all unstable.

Anyone have a clue??

thanks...

[Cyrl]

I wish I could tell you what the problem is, I've been able to play VCD and SVCD in windows xp no problem for months now, I've just rebuilt my pc though and have not given it a try since then.... But I know XP CAN play them... so it's not the OS, it's something else bud.

[DVantrease]

I too have WinXP and can play VCD's fine, with Media Player just loading the DAT file. Now all I've tried is home-made VCD's, so I don't know if 'commercial' ones are any different. I don't know why this doesnt work for you, since the DAT file is basically just a regular MPG file. You say you can't even copy the file? Is this happening on multiple CD's? Sounds like a problem with the drive itself or it's driver, but I'm guessing. Good luck, keep us updated.

[blade0819]

Sounds like you need to get some updates from the Microsoft site. I know there is an update to support and recognize more cd-roms, burners, etc. Open Internet Explorer, click on tools, and then windows update. Your on your way.

[neomaine]

blade0819,

These people are right...no good reason for XP to not even recognize the disc. I'd check to make sure your media is OK first. Look for some scratches, dents or smudges. If that's not the case, try different types of CDs; audio, video, software. Does XP see anything from the drive? If not, or it has a hard time with even the most common stuff, it may be your drive blinking out on you.

[spidey]

To get the dat's onto your hard drive try using ISObuster (se TOOLS section) or use VCDGear to extract them (these both operate outside of the windows explorer copying "command" so if something in there is ******* it up you'd be cool).

After that, associate the .DAT files to your mediaplayer and you'll be good to go.

[cdechery]

I just found out it's a problem with my CD-ROM-RW (a LG model: GCE-8240B) drive... I went to the page and downloaded its documentation... it says there it can only play VCDs with a separate interface card... weird hun?

I already contacted them about it... and I'm waiting for a reply.

Regards