Help with DVD and Win98

[PT]

Ok, I got this laptop that has a DVD drive in it. I installed XP on it first and everything worked fine. Then I decided to take a class in Cobol ( I know, it bites, but it's required) Anyway, The Cobol compiler won't run under XP or 2K, so I formatted and installed 98 on the Lappy. Now, the DVD drive is acting like a CDRom drive. It can read DVD's and show me the files on them, but it won't play them. I thought it was just a codec thing so I got the Kazaa Codec pack and the Nemo Codec pack and tried those, still won't play the DVD. Any ideas?

 

[Mirlyn]

Suggestion? Go back to 2k or XP and forget about cobol

just kidding....did the compiler not work in compatibility mode?

As for the drive, maybe try some software like PowerDVD or WinDVD?

 

[Luis G]

Mirlyn got it right, win98 (and as far as i know 2k and XP) needs an external set of codecs and programs in order to playback DVD movies.

 

[PT]

Xp doesn't, it played in WMP right after install, but in 98 it didn't. Well, I downloaded WinDVD and it's working. Thanks Mirlyn.

 

[Mirlyn]

Xp doesn't, it played in WMP right after install, but in 98 it didn't. Well, I downloaded WinDVD and it's working. Thanks Mirlyn.

No prob!

XP featured WMP-integrated software DVD decoding when it came out, thus eliminating the need for third-party software. It also does a software based digital audio. In 98 and others, a digital audio cable was required to connect the CDROM directly to the soundcard in order to listen to things like audio CDs. If its XP, it uses the IDE data cable for the sound (so the wire doesn't do much anymore).

I still use PowerDVD instead of WMP, even in XP, because it seems to run cleaner and produce a better picture. Plus, I've got more controls....like 5.1 processing.