DVD decoder for Dell Inspiron 9300?

Okay, so I totally reinstalled Win XP (Media Edition) on my Inspiron 9300, with updated drivers, etc. I thought it all went okay until I tried to play a DVD and discovered that I had no DVD decoder. I've searched through everything Dell sent me, and I don't seem to have a decoder included. Now what?

 

Update ... I got in touch with Dell Support and they will send me a copy of the Power DVD CD. I assume that installation will be straightforward. Wish they had sent it to me wtih the Windows XP, drivers/utility, and applications CDs they sent when I contacted them about reinstalling the OS. Oh well, just glad I could get it with a minimum of fuss.

 

PowerDVD is a great decoder - in the mean time, you could use Windows Media Player. That is actually pretty decent.

 

You don't even have to wait for the CD to come:

http://www.videolan.org

Actually, I wouldn't even bother installing Power DVD

 

r the cds dell sends free?

 

They sent me the Windows XP CD, along with the applications and utilities/drivers CD, for free earlier when I told them I wanted them in order to reinstall the OS on my Inspiron 9300. They didn't mention any cost when they said they would send this, so it is apparently being sent for free also. (I don't know if it makes any difference, but I requested these using their online chat.)

Thanks for the information about the other DVD decoders. They said it would only take 2-3 days for me to get the CD, so maybe I should just wait? Or are the suggested alternatives better than Cyberlink Power DVD?

 

Yes the cds are free. Personally, I would stick with Cyberlink. I've tried other decoders like Nero and windvd, but they didn't have the same quality as Cyberlink. It seemed like there was always something messed up unless I used Cyberlink... maybe a conspiracy theory that dell has going on or something

I can use different players, but using any other decoder besides cyberlink has given me some proble. With Nero, the sound was messed up bad. You could only hear the music and not the conversation.

SG

 

You guys should seriously try out VLC media player. It directly streams from the disc - no installing decoders or any of that nonsense. Open source too.

Oh, and it will play any media format you throw at it, (short of wma/wmv) without bogging your system down by "installing" codecs. It just works on a software level, right out of the box.

 

Can you have/use both VLC media player and Cyberlink Power DVD (for use with another DVD player) on the same computer?

I'm sorry but I'm not computer savvy enough to fully understand the benefits you list for VLC---other than I naturally am drawn to anything that requires fewer resources to run. If you can explain any further, I'd be happy to listen.

 

You can install VLC without risk of interfering with any other decoders, drivers, codecs, or anything. You just open the program and select "open disc" and you're up and running.

And yes, VLC will live in peace along side Cyberlink or whatever other software you want to have.

 

plays wmv (as well as everything else) just fine for me

 

i was using the Nvidia free trial decoder for awhile and thought it worked pretty good.

 

One more question about VLC--will it play the format usually played by the Real Player (sorry I don't know exactly how to identify that format)? It would be nice to have something that would play that, becuase I hate the way Real Player "takes over" your computer if you use it just once to listen to something. I always have to go take it out of Startup.

 

no. but you can use Real Alternative.

 

Thanks for the information. I'll look for Real Alternative when I need it.