Watching a DVD on computer

strassenwolf

This may be a problem which is well known to those who know a fair bit about computers. I don't I'm afraid - so apologies if this is a really basic problem.

I have been given a DVD (Shrek2) - legally purchased in all the proper packaging. I have watched quite a few DVDs on my computer using the Videolan Media Player (I came across that thanks to a thread a few months back on boards.ie). There has never been a problem. Usually you put in a disk into the DVD player, and after a few seconds a thing comes up with the various choices - play disk using Real Player, play disk using Windows Media Player, play disk using Videolan media player, etc. I pick the Videolan option and away we go.

When I put in the shrek2 disk a window opens with the address E:\main.htm and various options - go to the shrek2 website, vote for your favourite character, printable activities, etc.

The requirements at the bottom say:
You will need a computer running Microsoft Windows 98 SE or higher, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher,
Adobe Acrobat Reader® 6.0 or higher, an internet connection, a DVD-ROM drive and a software or hardware DVD player.
This DVD will not work in a CD-ROM drive and the DVD-ROM features are not available on Apple Macintosh.

none of these seem to be the limiting factor here. But I'm not getting any way of playing the film , i.e., I'm not getting the window with the real player, media player or videolan options followed by a play film option, etc.

I hope this is reasonably clear. I'm sure it's a simple problem but I am a bit of a dodo as regards the workings of computers. I'd be grateful for any help.

Cableguy

Maybe just disable auto play by holding down shift when you insert the DVD. Then open your prefered DVD player and browse to the DVD and select play. Iff you get the same thing you`ll have to find out what directory the film files are in to avaoid all the c**p

strassenwolf

Thanks for that Cableguy. It didn't work but I eventually managed to get it to work. I opened up Videolan and fiddled around with it for a while. I'm not quite sure what I did but it seemed to work.:o Still not sure why the little windo with the Real Player, Windows Media and Videolan choices didn't appear with this disk when it does with every other disk I've put in.
Anyway good film. Not as good as the original Shrek, but still worth a watch.

Lump

If you open VLC, and drag the entire disk onto the little window, it should play ok. Although you sorted it so... meh.

John

SeanW

Yes, the choice you usually get is what Windows XP does by default when its presented with a CD/DVD with no autorunning application specified (that means, when it just has the media and nothing else)

Shrek 2 obviously has a custom Autorun built in, so when Windows goes to launch an autorun it follows the disks instructions rather than giving you that generic choice box.

When that happens you generally need to start the DVD playing app and manually tell it to play the DVD.

strassenwolf

Having carried out a "reenactment", I now know how I got the film to play. The window with the choices between Real Player, Media Player and Videolan did not appear. I opened up videolan and went to the File menu. Clicked "open file" and there's a number of choices (Tabs) - File, Disc, Network and DirectShow. When you click the disc tab, one of the things that needs to be specified is the device name. For some reason this was set to , when in fact it should be E: (the DVD-RW). Once I changed to E:, the ball started rolling. seems to be the default option.

Thank you all very much for the replies.