Thanks, but I don't understand "If you loaded Media Center yourself, then
you have to buy one somewhere." Why would that matter?

I suppose I DID load Media Center myself because I recently replaced the
hard drive & reloaded all of the recovery software that were on the HP CDs
that came with the system. I really don't know what "media center" is all
about. The only reason I bought this model was because I liked the
widescreen and big keypad. But I assume that anything called "Media Center"
edition would automatically play a basic DVD disk.

Anyway, if you say I've gotta pay an additional $20, that's not a big deal.
But I suspect that I haven't loaded something correctly. If anyone can
advise as to what I may have done wrong, I'd appreciate it. If no one has
an answer w/in a few hours, I'll assume that I'll need to go ahead and buy
nVidia.


"Dana Cline - MVP" <dcline@scriptpro.com> wrote in message
news:%23C803R66FHA.3804@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> You need dvd decoder software. If your computer came with Media Center, it
> should already have it. If you loaded Media Center yourself, then you have
> to buy one somewhere. The nVidia one for $20 seems to be the most popular.
> To find out which decoder you have, go to www.microsoft.com and enter
> "decoder check" in the search box. Their utility will tell you which you
> have installed and let you select the default one.
>
> Dana Cline - MCE MVP
>
> "Oscar Vogel" <oscarvogel@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
> news:OJWQpy56FHA.636@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
>> How can I get my computer to play a DVD (as if it were a TV)?
>>
>> I have a HP Pavilion laptop with XP Media Center. When I insert the DVD;
>> -if I choose to play the DVD using Windows Media Player, I get an error
>> message that says, "Windows Media Player cannot play the DVD because a
>> compatible DVD decoder is not installed on your computer."
>> -if I choose to play DVD video using Media Center, I simply get a blue
>> box that says "Video Error".
>>
>> I really don't care what it uses to play the video, I just want it to
>> play it. How do I make that happen? Thanks!
>>
>>
>>
>
>