Windows XP playing of VCD

I have never played a VCD on my computer. No great sweat. My life is still full of wonderful things. But I have received a VCD of a dear friends funeral which although it will hurt, I would like to watch.

Somebody said - just stick the CD in the slot and it will play. Well, nothing happens ! No great surprise, Story of my life.

I have Windows Media Player and QuickTime installed but they are as much good as a PITA. The WMP has only some crap about music on it and the QT is just a waste of time. When I put the VCD in the slot, I expect something to come up saying "Play" - I get nothing. The WMP and QT thingy`s talk about FILES ! What files ? I don`t give a fig about files, all I need is for the video to play, it is a VCD not a file.

I always consider Wilder`s as the ultimate source of knowledge, there are so many experts in our community that not many questions go unanswered.

PLEASE can anybody tell me what exactly this damned system wants me to do in order to watch my best friends funeral ?

I have looked on the web until I fell off my chair, but nothing told me HOW to play a VCD in precise procedural terms on my computer. Web=0, JB=1.

John

 

As pointed out many times on this site the vlc player will play just about anything. It is what I first started using for VCD ( video cd) also a lot of DVD players will play VCD.
http://gofree.com/download/Video/Media-Players/vlcmediaplayer.php?gclid=CLjMz8OXoacCFYnt7QodOzRxPg

 

Hi;

Might be an issue with codecs...

Personally I do not use Windows Media player but have either VLC Media Player or The KM Player (plays 3gpp files). You want to try K-lite CodecPack 6.90 or Cole2k Media - Advanced v7.9.1....I use Windows 7 Codecs 2.7.5 for my Win7 x32.

Links are:

http://filehippo.com/software/multimedia/

Cheers

 

Thank you.

Just to clarify, I do not wish to embark on a "best of breed" VCD player program comparison, simply to know why my VCD does not play when it is loaded in the slot.

The two players I have are regular and reputable. But nothing happens when I load the disc and opening the players is as much use as two left shoes. No instructions, no nothing. They seem to want a file - What file ? I have a VCD not a file.

John

 

How about giving us exactly what the error says? Is there a name of a file it is asking for? Is it telling you it can't handle the file? A VCD IS a file, to a computer. Movies, music, software, it's all files, and if you don't have the proper codec or the player you use doesn't have the ability to read a particular type, it won't go anywhere.

PS: Does your DVD player have the ability to read VCDs? Most newer ones now will, older ones may not. When you insert a VCD into a player that can handle it, you should get a screen showing (depending on how the VCD was set up), a menu with the title and maybe one or more "scene selections" to choose from.

 

More than likely, WMP and QT need a codec you don't have right now. VLC carries its own or the K-Lite codec pack (Full) should have all you need but if this is a once in a while thing I'd go with VLC.

 

Probably either because you have autoplay turned off for the drive or there's no 'autorun.ini' file on the VCD.

The '.DAT' file located inside one of the folders on the VCD, which is located inside whichever drive you inserted it into.

The '.DAT' file is the one you want your player to open.

 

I have uninstalled QuickTime as it was just an inert panel on my screen. I tried the QT User Guide, but needed a User Guide to understand it. Apart from a mention of CD`s it was all movies and music gibberish.

All I have now is Windows Media Player which has been frequently updated by MS as and when they did so.

I have never used the CD slot or WMP. A few program install CD`s have played perfect in the past.

I suppose all I need from you generous colleagues is an answer to "What do I need to make it all happen when I simply place a CD into the slot ?"
Providing you spell it out in single syllables like training a pet parrot, I`ll be OK.

My PC was purchased some years ago from a neighbour. It has been extensively attended to by the PC vet several times to undergo surgery and seems quite good and relatively up-to-date now.

The WMP is as it was when I bought the set - just a load of junk to me. I cannot see a CD in sight. Screenshot below.

Living in hope
John

 

How about giving us exactly what the error says?....

How about giving us exactly what the error says?....

 

How 'bout this John?

Excerpt from http://www.videohelp.com/play

Note: 1)"browse" refers to using Windows Explorer, 2) to "associate", follow the prompts that windows should give when it doesn't know what to do with the .dat file

Give it a whirl.

Report out on results.

EDIT: Removed colon from posted url.

 

So, what you're saying is, he should give us exactly what the error says?

 

Pretty much Though from the looks of things he isn't getting any, the computer is probably just sitting there as dumbfounded as he is, lol. But anyway, @John: Just follow Crofts' instructions and you'll be set. Or, if the gods are against you and that fails, download VLC player and be done with it.

 

Please Vasa, there is NO error. On placing the disc into the slot - NOTHING happens, I am looking at my beautiful Rottie instead of my best friends funeral.

Yes when I start fiddling about, I get a panel up, but my question stops at disc entry and nothing happening. If somebody will give me a clue what to do to coax this disc into action, then I will be overjoyed to give you details of any error messages if I get some.

John

 

The link you gave does not exist - see screenshot.
What do I do now ? Damn it everybody, all I want is to play a VCD - is that such a problem ?

 

Browse ? Browse what ? The Windows Media Player comes up with the crap I showed in my screenshot earlier - there `aint no Browse.

At the risk of repeating myself over and over again - when I put the damned disc in the slot - NOTHING happens and on opening WMP all I get is that crap shown in my previous screenshot.

HOLY MOSES ! Should it be this difficult to get an answer on how to play a CD on a computer ?

Any more of this and I will coax my CD player to simply make love to my TV and view it in that way and sod the computer.

Is it possible to get some guide on this path :-

Insert CD>Menu>Select action - Play video>Menu - pause, stop or end>Watch video>Menu - End>Press button and extract CD.
GOD ! That does not seem to be a world shattering experience. All I want to know is how to do it. Piece of cake really.

John

 

I installed VLC and got nowhere. Nothing played, no clear instructions on what to do next and all I have now is yet another crap program on my system to dump with still no CD play. This is getting ridiculous. Unless I get a sensible and workable solution, I will forget CD playing on computers as a bad memory. I did expect my Wilder's friends to resolve my problem, but it is not looking good so far. Disappointed.

All I need is to pop my disc in the slot and see it play. I do not wish to embark on an M.Sc in order to do it.
Not a lot to ask - Computer meet disc - Computer play disc. Is there no media player that simply plays my disc on popping it into the slot without having to go through an elaborate and unexplained sequence of manual and mental contortions ?

John

 

have you tried if these menu selection work?

 

Why so coy, John? Just follow the damn instructions I gave you. You don' need no steenkin' webpage which I already excerpted for you and which, incidentally, displays fine for me in IE8.

Start/All Programs/Accessories/Windows Explorer. Alternatively: Start/Run and enter "explorer" in the box and hit enter.

 

Just drop the colon that got appended to the end of the link. Not that hard to figure out.

 

Ooooops, my bad! You're right, it doesn't work for me as it's posted with the colon and, for that, I sincerely apologize! Anyways, I'm not sure there's anything of much use to JB on that page other than what I excerpted.

 

Try following steps:

Open VLC --> Media --> Open Disc...

Select SVCD/VCD --> Click Play

If VCD is in proper format, it should play.

 

Hello Stapp,

Seems to be a big NO. The disc is inserted, but no confirmation and a panel telling me to put one in. See below.

 

Thanks for that, but my Media screen has NO toolbar at the top - your grey one. See my post 9.

John

 

Followed that and got this - see below :-