Video Playback

If you watch a lot of videos on your computer chances are you have run into problems with codecs. If you have been following this guide all the way through and you have formated your computer, now is the time to do it the right way.

1. I can’t play DVDs on my PC it says I need a DVD decoder, how can I get one? is it free?

If you are trying to get DVDs to play on Windows Media Player you have to pay for a decent one (there is one out there that gives you free playback but it forces you to have ads and isn’t worth it). If you are willing to pay your two best options are WinDVD or InterVideo’s DVDXPack.

But if you don’t care about using Windows Media Player, look to VLC Media Player (which is better then WMP anyway). It is a multimedia player for various audio and video formats as well as DVDs. However you will ONLY be able to play DVDs in VLC and nowhere else.

2. I want to play OGG,MKV,DIVX ect. on Windows Media Player, how do I do it?

First of all VLC (mentioned above) can play all these formats. But if you still wish to use Windows Media Player your best solution is The Combined Community Codec Pack. It will allow you to play all of those mentioned above and more. Once you have this installed DO NOT install any other codecs (like the normal DIVX at divx.com) unless you need to or else it will cause conflicts with CCCP since you will have two codecs trying to do the same job.

If you have any problems with CCCP check their troubleshooting FAQ 99% of problems can be fixed just by looking at this.

For all other formats you will need Realplayer, Quicktime, and possibly iTunes if you own an ipod.