Question : Windows Media Player 11 - Decoder Needed

I recently had a hard drive crash and had to re-install a new hard drive.  I do have everything back up and running but when I try to play a DVD I get a message that a decoder is needed.  On my prior hard drive I believe it came installed with Intervideo WINDVD Player 5 Basic - I do not have the resource or original software.  Please advise if I need to purchase software and if so which one would be best to purchase.  I have a Compaq Presario (5 years old) with Windows XP Home.  Also, are there any known issues with Windows Media Player 11?  It seems to stop responding quite often.  Thank you.

Answer : Windows Media Player 11 - Decoder Needed

Use VLC

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

It is a very good alternative to WMP11 and very popular.

I missed that your HDD Died.  If it had not and you needed to access your recovery partition to reinstall your original software you could have done it by following the directions provided here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=437888&docname=bph07142

You could try calling HP/Compaq and get them to send you recovery media that you could use to reinstall the software.

You can check if your PC is still under warranty here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/weInput?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us

You could get them to send you a new HDD  and a Recovery CD if it is still under warranty.

If it is out of warranty then your best bet is just to purchase the full version of PowerDVD 10, try the codec pac suggested above or use VLC.