Hoping someone can help here please.

After clean install of XP Pro, updated to WMP9, then spent some hard earned dollars on a DVD Rom, a Soundblaster Live 5.1 card and an cheapo Auriga Active 5.1 Surround System.

Now to play DVD's with WMP9, found a plug-in was needed and got hold of Cyberlinks PowerPack. Then also dropped in the Circle Surround II plug-in to hopefully get that genuine, real deal surround experience, which all up works out a lot cheaper than a Home Theater System.

Heres my problem, when playing DVD's in WMP9, ALL plug-ins have to be disabled for them to play at all, bummer. Even the older DFX plug-in had to be shut down. The message I get when attempting to play a DVD has something to do with a Copyright Issue. Save your bucks folks, unless someone knows how to make WMP9 the #1 default DVD and SVCD/VCD mpeg player, with plug-ins enabled, looks like Cyberlinks Deluxe PowerDVD player is the only way out for now.

Would appreciate any advice and sincerely hope I'm not out of line for straying away from tweaking XP. Thanks.

i dont totally comprehend the plug-ins having to be disabled? what is throwing the error?

i know of 3 issues with dvds i only READ about, not experienced because i use a standalone dvd recorder.

one is REGION certian dvds and dvd players are region coded, dvds are region coded to stop piracy and to control the market they are releaced to. (regions are sections of the world like usa is region1) some software illegally breaks the new digital copyright laws and allows for crossing up regions, and firmware changes for dvds can be done to break region codes, because it is illegal it is usually freeware.

then DVD decoding is aparentally a patented process or something, cause all the decoding software is very hard to get even for licenced users of the dvd decoding software (they have to make sure that unlicenced users pay for it)  i dont know totally what that is about, but it sounds like royaltees and patent stuff to me. which is funny cause its just mpeg2.

then there is macrovision on dvds, which is in almost all of these dvd players as a CHIP in the player (how the macrovision monopoly ended up with the control of all of that i still dont know) a dvd which has the macrovision code on it, is recognized by this chip (in the actual hardware) as being copy protected.

then dolby is also a patented process, even though a creator could make a simulated dolby pretty easily. dolby is the sound seperation process from 2 channels to 4&5 channels.

ok so that didnt help :-)   but then mabey you could explain this error better now???

WMP9 simply won't let me play DVD's whilst 3rd party plug-ins are enabled, theres an error message basically letting users know that all third party plug-ins must be shut down.

There is a Windows Media Player plugins FAQ site that I'll try find again that has some fine print stating this setback,,,after we go out and buy third party plugins which they vigorously urge us to go out and get.

Sorry should have been more specific with the 'third party' software bit.

Regards, 

This is an excerpt from a PDF Users Manual for the SRS Labs Circle Surround II WMP9 plug-in.

'Due to Copyright issues, the WMP9 Series does not allow any plug-ins to function when a DVD is being played through the player'.

Another real hoot is, I also installed the XP Bonus Pack and PLUS which also has a Sound Enhancement for WMP9,,,gotta switch it off before playing DVD's.