Windows XP playing of VCD

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by John Bull, Feb 24, 2011.

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  1. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    We need to take a step back here...

    John, I realize that you "just want it to work" and are frustrated by it seeming so complicated. Unfortunately, there is clearly something odd wrong here that will require debugging to get it sorted out.

    When I look at the replies you've made above, I have to wonder if your CD drive is working at all. The image you uploaded in post 23 is concerning. If you have a CD in the drive but Windows does not see it, then that's the problem and no swapping of media players is going to fix that.

    You need to debug this in steps. First, the issue might be the format of the VCD versus what your drive actually supports. Do you have any regular, old software CDs handy to test with? If so, stick one of those in the CD drive and see if Windows sees that. If it does, remove that one and put the VCD back. If Windows still fails to see the VCD, then you are probably out of luck as maybe your CD drive is too old and does not support the format needed.

    If Windows won't even see a regular software CD, then the drive itself is not being recognized at all for some reason. There are debugging steps you can take for that, too, but, first you have to find out if the CD drive will see "any" CD at all. Old software CD? Old music CD? any CD?

    Anyway, start here with this basic debugging step before adding or removing more media players or codecs.


    Note for others to tell where I'm heading with this: Problem could be old drive not able to read newer format - out of luck; or, the drive itself is simply offline - maybe fix it by deleting it from device manager and letting windows rediscover it; or it's a hardware problem; and so on...
     
  2. Dundertaker

    Dundertaker Registered Member

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    Hmmm....Maybe there is a problem with the autorun.ini file of the VCD. I make VCD/DVD's /slideshows of my family using Wondershare products / Cyberlink Power Producer/Power Director..maybe the creation was not configured to autorun or something....or as LowWaterMark said might have problem with CD drive....

    I have experienced VCD/DVD's not playing when created with Nero 7 before..the reason why I shifted to Wondershare/Cyberlink products.

    VLC gives an error like that...can you try KMPlayer..?

    Open KMPlayer. Right-click on window. Open >select the drive your VCD is in or Open Video CD.

    Just a suggestion..:)
     

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    Last edited: Feb 25, 2011
  3. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    @LowWaterMark

    Now THAT is a very acceptable post and I certainly like the progressive logic. I myself think there is more to it than messing around with players.

    Not being a disc enthusiast, I have no other discs than the 3 I have tried and failed with. I do have some old program discs, one is my Broadband initial loader. I do not wish to upset my system, but can I put that one in without it doing any damage ?

    That disc DID play albeit a few years ago, so it should do now. If it does not, then something has changed since. A clue is that my PC had the disc unit replaced professionally by a very competent and commercial company about 2 years ago and I have not tried it since. Surely they would not have released it without testing ? They are far too reliable to do that.

    Thanks for taking an interest LWM and for those words of wisdom. i feel really embarrassed causing so much trouble over a subject that everybody else takes as a routine daily event.

    John
     
  4. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    An old program disc should be okay to try. Even with auto run capability on, if it recognizes the disc, at worst you'll get a dialog box saying what the disc is and asking you to click something to continue. You can just hit cancel and press the eject button to get it out. But, you definitely need to find out if the drive is even working before you try anything else.
     
  5. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    What a help - I will try that LWM.

    The CD-ROM is showing up in Device manager so the drive presumably is recognised.
    John
    Device Manager.JPG
    Device Manager 2.JPG
     
  6. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    LATEST

    I am sorry to hog my own thread, but I have to give you as much information as I can so you are able to help me.

    After trying 4 commercial discs and each one failing to show any pictures, I used a Samsung CD-ROM that I last used over 2 ears ago. It is a program that creates a library of downloaded digital camera pictures and produces an album for manual viewing. It is a very good and easy on-screen reference.

    Well, surprise, surprise IT WORKED !.

    I have no idea what to make of this situation where 4 fail and only 1 works, but am hanging my hat on all you helpful people to give me your opinions, based on what has been said to-date. If I can give you any more information which may help, please ask. I would really love to know what is wrong and would be delighted to get it all working properly.

    Many thanks to everybody for their efforts so far.

    John o_O
     
  7. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    Okay, so you put in an old software CD and your PC saw and accessed it fine. But, none of these "picture" CDs can be accessed at all? What I'm wondering is if Windows can even see the disc contents, regardless of being able to run anything or see any images. As people said above, CD discs simply contain files like every other kind of computer media. If Windows sees literally nothing at all when one of those picture CDs is loaded, then, I question whether they are either compatible with your drive, or simply badly burned in the first place.

    As a side thought, do you have a DVD player in your house, at your TV? You could always try putting them in there to see what it sees on the discs. (DVD players will even play old audio CDs. At least mine does.)
     
  8. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    Thanks LWM again,

    I put an Epsom printer program disc in and it worked. A Hewlett Packard one did not.

    Do you think I have a driver problem or some DVD element missing ? My WMP is the latest update and no alerts show up.

    Yes, I do have a CD player, but it is disconnected at present due to wiring problems with hooking up a Cable Set-top box, an HD/Freeview TV and a CD unit. Something I will have to sort out when I get round to it - a Mr.Micawber manana job. I will ask a neighbour to see if they play.

    John
     
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2011
  9. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    It really sounds to me like your drive is just not able to access those discs at all. In fact, one disc readable out of 5 or so, is pretty bad. If it was a codec issue, then whatever media players you use would at least try to access the video and then throw an error message. What you seem to be experiencing is a media reading failure.

    In post 23 you seemed to have been in either Windows Explorer or My Computer, looking at the D: icon when you had physically placed a disc in the drive, but, Windows couldn't see or access it. If you try each disc, one at a time, and when the disc is loaded and spinning, you double click the D: icon it'll either open a folder containing the files on the disc (good, the disc is usable), or, do nothing or give an error, and show no content at all (bad, drive can not read the media at all - bad disc? bad drive? who can say?)

    That's what I would do, just to be sure. Try loading each disc and double clicking the CD drive icon to see if you can access it. If you can't access a disc contents at all, it's a physical issue of some sort, not a media player or codec problem. If lots of discs are not readable and you can somehow confirm those discs are okay (try on another computer or CD/DVD player), then the conclusion must be either bad drive or maybe dirty drive? I've never actually cleaned a computer CD player myself. Never needed to. Maybe others can advise you about that.
     
  10. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    See my screenshot. The large panel against PLAY is the same as clicking PLAY on the toolbar. Your R/H panel is not there. Obviously something wrong - any clues ?

    When I click OPEN, the second panel comes up. Seems to be something missing re.DVD video. Folders 1,3,5 are empty.

    John

    Media 2.JPG
    Media 3.JPG
     
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2011
  11. dbknox

    dbknox Registered Member

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    I think that most of us when reading your original post thought you could see the ".dat" file and just couldn't play it. Not the case.
    John can you tell us how the Video CD was made that is was it maybe produced with a Vista or windows 7 machine?
    If so, many people have had troubles migrating media between operating systems. If this is the case there are programs that can pull data off disks that your player may not be able to see. One such program is called "Isobuster".
    It is free for what you would what to use it for.
    I know another program to load on the computer!!!
     
  12. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    Hello DB and thanks.

    Everybody has been superb on this matter and I have learned so much, but my gut tells me there is nothing seriously wrong, just something probably elementary that is missing - I could be wrong of course.

    My suspicion rests on the fact that I can find NO DVD references of importance, no folders, no files, no nothing. It is all music, which is what the person I bought the PC off seemed to be fascinated with.

    The DVD`s that will not play are all commercial discs you can buy at any stores. They are films. I have no doubt that if they are placed in a standard CD player, they will all play with no problems.

    The disc that started my marathon was made I am sure using Windows 7 and that will not play either - it is the one of my best friends funeral.

    John
     
  13. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    Attention all

    I ran a Microsoft Decoder Check and this is what came up.

    Decoder check.JPG

    I guess THAT is the answer after all. What do I do now ? Can I download the Windows XP Media Player Decoder from some official Microsoft site ?

    John
     
  14. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    John, do you really mean that the discs that will not play are DVDs (like current movie DVDs you'd rent or buy in the store?) and not CD-ROM discs? Your device manager screen shot above says your CD drive is a "SAMSUNG CD-ROM SC-152L". That is only a CD reader/player unit. It does not handle DVDs.

    http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/samsung52xCDROM/

    Knowing the exact type of disc you are trying to access is key here. If those are actual DVDs then your CD player will never be able to access them. It's the physical capability of the drive that is the limiting factor. A CD-ROM unit can not access a DVD at all.
     
  15. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    A million thanks for that LWM.
    The discs that do not play are just commercial DVD`s except the one on the funeral which was created by a friend on a Win7 PC which also does not play.

    Looks like I am finally sunk. I thought that WMP could play any discs and that it depended on the drive and codec installed. As I have never used the disc unit at all except for a few suppliers program discs which did play, I have no knowledge at all about this subject, but have learned a lot from this thread. It puzzles me how the widespread downloading of films etc. from the web is common practice and I am stumped.

    Upstream without a paddle eh ? I will have to hook up my CD player after all.

    I can only gratefully thank yourself and all the other posters for the generous help and information given to me. It really has been a great effort.

    John
     
  16. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    Actually John, a simple thing you can do is go to an office supply store or computer store and buy an external DVD drive. They hook up via USB cable and they are not expensive at all. Then, you will have the ability to load, play and maybe even write DVD media (if you buy a writer drive) yourself. Then "Bob is your Uncle". But sadly, a CD-ROM drive can not read DVD media no matter what drivers or codecs are loaded. It's simply a matter of older technology being replaced by a newer generation.
     
  17. dbknox

    dbknox Registered Member

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    But a cdrom will play a VCD disk.
    I have burned data CD's with the vista burning program and none of my friends XP machines would play them. While every thing I copied using Nero played fine.
    Two things to try if you have a friend with windows 7 ( or Vista) try the disk in their machine. Or download a free copy of isobuster and you will see what is on the disk.
    Best of luck to you, John.
     
  18. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    Yes, a CD drive can play a VCD, but, John has updated his statement and said the discs that won't play appear to be actual DVDs. So, a pure CD-ROM drive can not play those. :doubt:
     
  19. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    I am not into entertainment - music, films, games etc. - on the computer. The only entertainment I get is wasting Wilder`s time on stupid questions. I have never used my CD-ROM for anything other than Read-Only program inserts and operated under the naive impression I could pop any CD into the slot and away it would fly. Until NOW.

    If I had known what I do now, I could have Googled the question "Can a CD-ROM play DVD`s" and the first item would have told me NO.

    Now I know that a standard DVD or CD cannot be played on a CD-ROM but can be played on a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo. DVD and CD drives use lasers of different wavelengths to read discs.

    I am told that DVD and CD drives use lasers of different wavelengths. A CD-ROM drive has only one laser, the type that reads CDs.

    CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drives have both types of lasers and lets you read and write CDs but only read DVDs. And DVD burners have both, allowing you read and write both DVDs and CDs.

    Apparently if the CD-ROM is DVD-ROM enabled (usually the most modern units) all is well for playing a DVD, if not it will not.

    It is all too high-tech for me.

    This has been made clear by LWM in his excellent posts, compiled in a logic and dialogue I have not seen since I left industry some years ago and other coverage of my thread has been impeccable.

    Ah well, back to the old CD Player. It has been an interesting journey and I am really sorry to have led you all up the Yellow Brick Road on a Wild Goose Chase, but the information you have given me is gratefully received and I have leaned a great deal.

    I thank you all.

    John
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2011
  20. ABee

    ABee Registered Member

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    I believe you.

    You could also have Googled the question "Are VCDs and DVDs the same thing?"

    But of course if you do those things, nobody's time but yours gets wasted.
     
  21. crofttk

    crofttk Registered Member

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    So much bandwidth devoted to JB not being able to play DVDs on his CD-ROM?

    Do we have confirmation that the friend's funeral is indeed on a VCD or are we to assume it is on a DVD and the starting premise of this thread was a red herring after all, i.e., a waste of time?

    GIGO
     
  22. Dundertaker

    Dundertaker Registered Member

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    Wow...

    Along that line...I tend to agree..on whether the VCD that JB is trying to play is indeed a VCD...might be SVCD...and as dbknox also stated(and in addition to it..) the software that used to make the JB's "VCD".

    It's okay that JB did not know about the ins-and-outs of CD/DVD players/burners..members are here to help in anyway. All just assumed that he did already know that "ins-and-outs".

    :)
     
  23. dbknox

    dbknox Registered Member

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    Well said !

    LowWaterMark I guess I misunderstood John, I thought he meant that the "test disks" he was using were DVDs and that his original statement of having a VCD was still correct.
    John we are all here trying to help each other and many times a person learns form the answers posted here, including the "teachers".
    Glad everything is sorted out.
     
  24. crofttk

    crofttk Registered Member

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    A valid point. An exchange of questions and answers is not totally without value just because they didn't directly solve the original problem.
     
  25. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    Croftie,

    I always appreciate your posts, they are very informative and helpful, but there is no need to waste your time on JB anymore. Plenty of other posters give their comments willingly.

    I have already tried to explain my problem in a most grateful and thankful manner. What more is expected of me ? If I do not know the difference between a CD, DVD, VCD or CD-ROM, it is not a crime.
    Neither to I know too much about the love life of the Octopus.

    Let me just make a fundamental point which it appears you are not capable of understanding - Forum`s are platforms where both specialists and ignoramus like myself ask questions. The rest of the community attempt to answer them. That is what it is all about. God man, it is a mixture of knowledge exchange and fun. Nobody is paying us.

    NOBODY wasts their time on a Forum, they simply take part. If a poster is not so experienced as you and asks a question which to a person of your unquestionable and exceptional knowledge is deemed stupid - you do not tell them they are an idiot - you help them and understand that not everybody in the world is as intelligent and gifted as yourself.

    Please refrain from answering any more of my posts, I do not find it very comforting to be considered an ignorant fool who is out to waste the time of distinguished Forum members like yourself just because I misunderstand some PC jargon or the difference between discs.
    Perhaps your supporters will also take notice of my wish.

    I am sorry to have to finish on this note but I find your attitude to my obvious deficiency in PC knowledge resentful.

    My sincere gratitude to all other posters is as I have already expressed previously. Waste of time ? Not at all, if this thread has helped just ONE person, it can never be a waste of time. AND that ONE person is me, I have learned a lot from it and will never again be found guilty of wasting peoples time on a matter of disc variations.

    John

    PS - A "Red Herring" is an expression used to describe an evasive means of deception, popular with politicians - I am sure you do not really infer that was my intention.
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2011
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