DVD decoder for Radeon 7000

[zmartha]

I have WINXP and recently installed an ATI Radeon video card 64mb.
When I try to play a dvd it says:
"Windows Media Player (v.9)cannot play this DVD because a compatible
DVD decoder is not installed on your computer." Nero 5.5 says nearly
the same thing.
I had an Nvidia card previous to this one and it played DVD's with
no problem, so how can I get back whatever is missing please? I am
not a PC expert, so please explain how to do it for a 60 yr old.
Thank you.
zmartha

 

[cowboyz]

I have WINXP and recently installed an ATI Radeon video card 64mb.
When I try to play a dvd it says:
"Windows Media Player (v.9)cannot play this DVD because a compatible
DVD decoder is not installed on your computer." Nero 5.5 says nearly
the same thing.
I had an Nvidia card previous to this one and it played DVD's with
no problem, so how can I get back whatever is missing please? I am
not a PC expert, so please explain how to do it for a 60 yr old.
Thank you.
zmartha

If you got PowerDVD or WinDVD with your card then install it. It will fix
your problem.

 

[zmartha]

If you got PowerDVD or WinDVD with your card then install it. It will fix
your problem.

All I got with the video card was the ATI Radeon Driver CD ver 8.
Wouldn't that have that decoder on it?

 

[Paul Murphy]

If you got PowerDVD or WinDVD with your card then install it. It will fix
your problem.

That would only work for sure if the version came with the ATI card and not
the old Nvidia card as the DVD software may be locked to only work with the
card it was sold with - the same often applies with burning software sold
with DVD RWs & CDRWs. Otherwise if its a genuine "Made by ATI" retail card
it would probably have come with an installation CDROM containing ATIs
Multimedia Centre or incorporating their DVD Player. zmartha will need to
make sure all traces of old Nvidia drivers and Nvidia software (under
control panels/ add or remove programs) is removed from the system before
installing any ATI drivers/software. Of course if the new ATI card was
installed by a computer shop there's always the option of taking it back and
getting them to "finish the job" as this should have been sorted at the time
the card was installed and it should only take them 5 minutes to do.
Otherwise if zmartha did the work then its time to get out the instruction
manual which came with the card or on the CDROM with the card.

If this is a bit to techie to deal with its worth attending some
introductory classes about computers and Microsoft Windows. My Aunt is 81
and shes been there, done that recently at her local school so just because
a person's 60, doesn't mean they won't understand such terms (or cant learn
about it all)

Paul

 

[Paul Murphy]

All I got with the video card was the ATI Radeon Driver CD ver 8.
Wouldn't that have that decoder on it?

I'm not sure if the ATI DVD Decoder would be included on it. Have a nosey at
the folder structore of the CDROM under windows explorer. If it's a genuine
ATI CDROM (not a 3rd party "Powered by ATI" manufacturer) then it might even
verify it with the ATI DVD Decoder dowload available from the ATI website.
When you download the DVD Decoder (under the Multimedia Centre Downloads),
what happens you actually download a little program which checks your CD to
verify you're entitled to the upgrade and then, once its confirmed you're
entitled to it, the program goes ahead and downloads the actual DVD Decoder.
If, after all of this, you still cant find a DVD Decoder then if you want to
use Windows XPs Media Player to view your DVDs, Cyberlink make a cheapy
"Plug-in" to do this available here:
http://www.gocyberlink.com/english/products/powerdvd/winxp_plugin.asp or you
could always buy an ATI Multimedia Centre CDROM and use that to obtain the
latest version as mentioned above. I personally use the ATI DVD Decoder with
my Windows XP machine (actually the Media Centre 2005 version) and the DVD
Decoder seems to work fine with Windows Media Player 10.

Paul

 

[zmartha]

If you got PowerDVD or WinDVD with your card then install it. It will fix
your problem.

Hey, Paul, and all, thanks for all your info.
I installed the Radeon 7000 video card and the only CD that came with
it is named ATI Radeon Driver CD Ver 8.0 from Connect 3D. No
multimedia Centre came with it. I followed the instructions and
uninstalled all nvidia stuff from add/remove. I threw away the card
and CD's with it.
So it sounds like I am stuck with no decoders, unless I buy another
video card with FULL software and drivers, right? And if I buy just
software like PowerDvd, there is no guarantee it will work, right? Too
bad--wonder why Connect 3D didn't include it? I bought the card thru
TigerDirect.
Would uninstalling the 3 ATI programs in add/remove: ATI Software
uninstall Utility, ATI Control Panel and ATI Display Driver, and
re-installing change anything?
I installed the Window XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility, and it says
there are no mpeg2 decoders installed. Help please.

 

[peter]

Your best bet is to Buy Power DVD.....it includes all the decoders to play a
DVD.
peter

 

[Barry Watzman]

Windows doesn't include an MPEG decoder of it's own, so no matter what
video card you are using, it won't play DVDs unless you have installed a
decoder. However, if you have installed a decoder, Windows Media Player
will use it.

The ATI installation CD for virtually all of the ATI video cards
includes a DVD player (and, therefore, a decoder). But if you don't
have CD, or if you used only the built-in drivers in Windows XP, or even
if you used the downloaded drivers from the ATI web site, you will not
have an MPEG decoder, and without some other software, you won't be able
to play DVDs.

Note that ATI won't let you get and install the DVD player and MPEG
decoder entirely from the web site, due to a license issue (the DVD
player uses 3rd party software, and ATI is only allowed to distribute it
on actual physical CDs, they are not allowed to make it available on the
web). You MUST have the ATI CD that came with the product and that has
the full install of the video card's software suite.

 

[Barry Watzman]

Not necessarily. Was it the full "retail" CD? Was it a "real" CD, or
did someone just give you the downloaded drivers burned to a CD-R?

 

[Barry Watzman]

People actually BUY Power-DVD? I think I've got over a dozen CDs here,
version 4 and 5, that have come with various drives over the years.

 

[zmartha]

Hey, Barry,
How about "sharing" one of those PowerDVD's? zmartha

 

[peter]

No....nobody buys them they all get them with some piece of hardware.........but
apparently zmartha did not.So he needs to purchase a DVD player software that
includes the decoder.....at least it is not expensive.
peter

 

[zmartha]

THANK you Barry Waltzman! You are a patient man and very kind hearted.
Things are working.