I recently started playing DVDs on my WinXP laptop. Each time I put a DVD in
the drive, it opens with PowerDVD. Since I like to use VLC Media Player, I
close the PowerDVD window, open VLC Media Player, and click on the DVD
drive. I'm sure there's a way to set VLC as the default DVD player. I'd be
grateful for instructions on how to do this or even for a link to a website
that explains it.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Jo-Anne wrote:

> I recently started playing DVDs on my WinXP laptop. Each time I put a DVD in
> the drive, it opens with PowerDVD. Since I like to use VLC Media Player, I
> close the PowerDVD window, open VLC Media Player, and click on the DVD
> drive. I'm sure there's a way to set VLC as the default DVD player. I'd be
> grateful for instructions on how to do this or even for a link to a website
> that explains it.

Not a hardware question. This is a software configuration issue or, at
best, an issue with filetype associations in the operating system.
VideoLan's forums are over at http://forum.videolan.org/.

Right-click on the .vob file (or whatever you open to play the movie),
select Open With, and browse to the VLC program's executable. Make sure
you enable the Remember option in the browse dialog.

Or you could set the file associations within VLC Player. Alas, for
some reason, its designers decided that not all the simple options will
be present in the advanced options. To set file associations in VLC's
preferences, use the simple interface for its Preferences dialog. Then
look under the Interface category of options. Enable the extension for
whatever is the video file you are trying to open in VLC.

Jo-Anne wrote:
> I recently started playing DVDs on my WinXP laptop. Each time I put a DVD in
> the drive, it opens with PowerDVD. Since I like to use VLC Media Player, I
> close the PowerDVD window, open VLC Media Player, and click on the DVD
> drive. I'm sure there's a way to set VLC as the default DVD player. I'd be
> grateful for instructions on how to do this or even for a link to a website
> that explains it.

From my limited understanding, it seems that it's not possible. For
some reason, VLC does not register itself as a DVD playing
application. You can set it to play specific file types, but not devices.

To see which programs will play DVDs upon insertion, right-click on
the DVD drive, and in the AutoPlay tab you can see and set them. I
personally see nothing wrong with the default PowerDVD for that
purpose, and haven't changed it (but then, I don't usually play DVDs).
For example, Media Player Classic registers as a DVD playing
application - see if you'll like it instead.

--
You'd be crazy to e-mail me with the crazy. But leave the div alone.
*
Whoever bans a book, shall be banished. Whoever burns a book, shall burn.

In news:it15pt$vrd$(E-Mail Removed),
Jo-Anne wrote:
> I recently started playing DVDs on my WinXP laptop. Each time I put a
> DVD in the drive, it opens with PowerDVD. Since I like to use VLC
> Media Player, I close the PowerDVD window, open VLC Media Player, and
> click on the DVD drive. I'm sure there's a way to set VLC as the
> default DVD player. I'd be grateful for instructions on how to do
> this or even for a link to a website that explains it.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Jo-Anne

I am not 100% positive this will work, but it is worth a shot. There is
a program called "USB Safely Remove". And one of the things it can do is
to run a program when it detects a given device. "USB Safely Remove" is
handy for much more than this too, so it is worth looking into even if
you can't get this to work for this purpose.

http://safelyremove.com/

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

"VanguardLH" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:it1f0s$drn$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Jo-Anne wrote:
>
>> I recently started playing DVDs on my WinXP laptop. Each time I put a DVD
>> in
>> the drive, it opens with PowerDVD. Since I like to use VLC Media Player,
>> I
>> close the PowerDVD window, open VLC Media Player, and click on the DVD
>> drive. I'm sure there's a way to set VLC as the default DVD player. I'd
>> be
>> grateful for instructions on how to do this or even for a link to a
>> website
>> that explains it.
>
> Not a hardware question. This is a software configuration issue or, at
> best, an issue with filetype associations in the operating system.
> VideoLan's forums are over at http://forum.videolan.org/.
>
> Right-click on the .vob file (or whatever you open to play the movie),
> select Open With, and browse to the VLC program's executable. Make sure
> you enable the Remember option in the browse dialog.
>
> Or you could set the file associations within VLC Player. Alas, for
> some reason, its designers decided that not all the simple options will
> be present in the advanced options. To set file associations in VLC's
> preferences, use the simple interface for its Preferences dialog. Then
> look under the Interface category of options. Enable the extension for
> whatever is the video file you are trying to open in VLC.


Thank you, Vanguard! I did look at the interface categories in VLC, and all
the options are checked--but still PowerDVD opens the files. I wonder if
PowerDVD can be uninstalled...

Jo-Anne

"Patok" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:it1ndb$ago$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Jo-Anne wrote:
>> I recently started playing DVDs on my WinXP laptop. Each time I put a DVD
>> in the drive, it opens with PowerDVD. Since I like to use VLC Media
>> Player, I close the PowerDVD window, open VLC Media Player, and click on
>> the DVD drive. I'm sure there's a way to set VLC as the default DVD
>> player. I'd be grateful for instructions on how to do this or even for a
>> link to a website that explains it.
>
> From my limited understanding, it seems that it's not possible. For some
> reason, VLC does not register itself as a DVD playing application. You can
> set it to play specific file types, but not devices.
>
> To see which programs will play DVDs upon insertion, right-click on the
> DVD drive, and in the AutoPlay tab you can see and set them. I personally
> see nothing wrong with the default PowerDVD for that purpose, and haven't
> changed it (but then, I don't usually play DVDs). For example, Media
> Player Classic registers as a DVD playing application - see if you'll like
> it instead.
>
> --
> You'd be crazy to e-mail me with the crazy. But leave the div alone.
> *
> Whoever bans a book, shall be banished. Whoever burns a book, shall burn.


Thank you, Patok! I've had trouble with PowerDVD from the first time I tried
playing DVDs. In one case, a DVD that was set up for the United States
(where I live) wouldn't play until I "changed" the area to the United
States. In another case, the sound wouldn't play at all. I had no problem
with the sound on that DVD in VLC.

Jo-Anne

"BillW50" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:it2ks1$5hu$(E-Mail Removed)...
> In news:it15pt$vrd$(E-Mail Removed),
> Jo-Anne wrote:
>> I recently started playing DVDs on my WinXP laptop. Each time I put a
>> DVD in the drive, it opens with PowerDVD. Since I like to use VLC
>> Media Player, I close the PowerDVD window, open VLC Media Player, and
>> click on the DVD drive. I'm sure there's a way to set VLC as the
>> default DVD player. I'd be grateful for instructions on how to do
>> this or even for a link to a website that explains it.
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>
> I am not 100% positive this will work, but it is worth a shot. There is a
> program called "USB Safely Remove". And one of the things it can do is to
> run a program when it detects a given device. "USB Safely Remove" is handy
> for much more than this too, so it is worth looking into even if you can't
> get this to work for this purpose.
>
> http://safelyremove.com/
>
> --
> Bill
> Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
> Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3
>

Thank you, Bill! I had already bookmarked USB Safely Remove (I think from
one of your earlier posts). I'll definitely check it out for this
issue--although I wonder how it reacts if the media in the DVD player is
simply a data CD/DVD.

Jo-Anne

In news:it5bo8$jet$(E-Mail Removed),
Jo-Anne wrote:
> Thank you, Vanguard! I did look at the interface categories in VLC,
> and all the options are checked--but still PowerDVD opens the files.
> I wonder if PowerDVD can be uninstalled...
>
> Jo-Anne

All versions of PowerDVD that I know of, can be uninstalled.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

In news:it5c1p$lii$(E-Mail Removed),
Jo-Anne wrote:
> "BillW50" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:it2ks1$5hu$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> In news:it15pt$vrd$(E-Mail Removed),
>> Jo-Anne wrote:
>>> I recently started playing DVDs on my WinXP laptop. Each time I put
>>> a DVD in the drive, it opens with PowerDVD. Since I like to use VLC
>>> Media Player, I close the PowerDVD window, open VLC Media Player,
>>> and click on the DVD drive. I'm sure there's a way to set VLC as the
>>> default DVD player. I'd be grateful for instructions on how to do
>>> this or even for a link to a website that explains it.
>>>
>>> Thank you!
>>>
>>> Jo-Anne
>>
>> I am not 100% positive this will work, but it is worth a shot. There
>> is a program called "USB Safely Remove". And one of the things it
>> can do is to run a program when it detects a given device. "USB
>> Safely Remove" is handy for much more than this too, so it is worth
>> looking into even if you can't get this to work for this purpose.
>>
>> http://safelyremove.com/
>
> Thank you, Bill! I had already bookmarked USB Safely Remove (I think
> from one of your earlier posts). I'll definitely check it out for this
> issue--although I wonder how it reacts if the media in the DVD player
> is simply a data CD/DVD.
>
> Jo-Anne

Just curious, have you ever tried to change under Explorer (file
manager) under Tools->Folder Options and select the third tab called
File Types? Here the third one down is called DVD Video. Select this one
and press the Advanced button. It should list something like this:

Play
Play with PowerDVD (in bold)
Play with VLC media player

Select the VLC one. Then press the Set Default button (now this one
should be in bold). That should now open DVD movies with VLC instead of
PowerDVD.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

"BillW50" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:it5hqe$vl7$(E-Mail Removed)...
> In news:it5c1p$lii$(E-Mail Removed),
> Jo-Anne wrote:
>> "BillW50" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:it2ks1$5hu$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> In news:it15pt$vrd$(E-Mail Removed),
>>> Jo-Anne wrote:
>>>> I recently started playing DVDs on my WinXP laptop. Each time I put
>>>> a DVD in the drive, it opens with PowerDVD. Since I like to use VLC
>>>> Media Player, I close the PowerDVD window, open VLC Media Player,
>>>> and click on the DVD drive. I'm sure there's a way to set VLC as the
>>>> default DVD player. I'd be grateful for instructions on how to do
>>>> this or even for a link to a website that explains it.
>>>>
>>>> Thank you!
>>>>
>>>> Jo-Anne
>>>
>>> I am not 100% positive this will work, but it is worth a shot. There
>>> is a program called "USB Safely Remove". And one of the things it
>>> can do is to run a program when it detects a given device. "USB
>>> Safely Remove" is handy for much more than this too, so it is worth
>>> looking into even if you can't get this to work for this purpose.
>>>
>>> http://safelyremove.com/
>>
>> Thank you, Bill! I had already bookmarked USB Safely Remove (I think
>> from one of your earlier posts). I'll definitely check it out for this
>> issue--although I wonder how it reacts if the media in the DVD player
>> is simply a data CD/DVD.
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>
> Just curious, have you ever tried to change under Explorer (file manager)
> under Tools->Folder Options and select the third tab called File Types?
> Here the third one down is called DVD Video. Select this one and press the
> Advanced button. It should list something like this:
>
> Play
> Play with PowerDVD (in bold)
> Play with VLC media player
>
> Select the VLC one. Then press the Set Default button (now this one should
> be in bold). That should now open DVD movies with VLC instead of PowerDVD.
>
> --
> Bill
> Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
> Centrino Core Duo 1.83G - 2GB - Windows XP SP3
>

Hi, Bill,

I set VLC as the default, but PowerDVD still came up. I restarted the
computer; PowerDVD still came up. I deleted PowerDVD from the "list." It no
longer comes up--but VLC doesn't either. I have to open VLC, click on Open
Disc, and click Open. This is all on a DVD I had run earlier. So I tried a
new DVD, and it makes a strange sound spinning, doesn't stop spinning, and
VLC isn' working at all with it. I inserted one of the DVDs I had run
before, and it works OK--although I still have to open VLC and manually
start it.

From what I can see, this SHOULD have worked. I can't understand why it
hasn't--and I don't know what to do about the DVD that won't run at all.

Thank you for the suggestion, though!

Jo-Anne