WinDVD8 Platnum will not play DVD's or WMV files

tdunkerley · Post by **tdunkerley** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:22 pm

Okay folks. I have just gone through the painful process of upgrading (ha) my PC from XP to Vista and discovered that my previous version of WinDVD6 Platnum is no longer supported under Vista. Okay, I liked the app enough to DL the latest version of WinDVD8 Platinum (v. 8.0 DXVA B06.109) which I assume includes the Vista patches. As per the instructions, I preloaded the latest versions of QuickTime and RealPlayer and then installed WinDVD. First error - The installation routine said that that it could not continue installation with the version of QuickTime that it encountered. Okay, so I deinstalled QT and reinstalled WinDVD allowing it to load it's recommended version of QT. This time WinDVD installed properly, so it appeared at first. Then I discovered that WinDVD would not recognize or play any DVD format or .wmv file. It does properly play .avi and .mpeg files from the same DVD drives that I tried to run the DVD from so I know it recognizes the drives, however in WinDVD setup the autoplay feature under the Souce Configuration box is grayed out.

My PC hardware comprises of: An HP Pavilion A6110N with an ASUS MB, AMD 64 Dual Core 4000 CPU, on board audio, and an NVIDIA GFORCE 7300GT graphics card.

When I attempt to play a DVD by selecting the source drive (I've two DVD drives - an ATAPI SCSI drive that came with the HP, and a Sony DRU-810A ATA drive that I installed myself), and hitting play nothing happens. The little Vista "thinking" circle rotates for about a minute, the DVD drive spins up and then nothing. This occurs on both drives.

When I attempt to play a .wmv file, the exact same files that I used to play on my XP machine, I now recieve the error: STOP The file number 1 has invalid format. So what does that mean?

To validate my media, I have been completely sucessful in playing both DVD and .wmv files through Windows Media Player, and I can play the .wmv files through RealPlayer. So why not through WinDVD?

Fortuantely I have only DL the trial version to determine compatibility prior to purchasing, but I only have a about 10 days left to figure this out prior to making the decision to becoming an InterVideo fan or not. I really loved my first experiences under XP, but this has been quite the ordeal! Any help is greatly appreciated.

tdunkerley · Post by **tdunkerley** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:54 am

Hey everyone, I found the solution to my problem. The problem does not lie with WinDVD but with Vista. Really, no kidding you say? Geez, what a suprise... It turns out that the problem to many of my software compatibility problems are due to the UAC. Once I disabled UAC WinDVD worked just perfect. To disable UAC, from the keyboard hold down the Windows Key and press the letter R to run MSCONFIG. This will bring up your System Configuration screen. Under the Tools tab, click on Disable UAC and then click on the Launch button. You will then need to reboot effect the change. WARNING! Microsoft advises that UAC is a recommended security layer against certain types of attacks. Read up on it before you make the decision to disable it. I choose to have my software programs work properly. Things like simple drag&drop between apps suddenly work again. After you disable UAC be prepared to loose some default program and user settings. This was more annoying then problematic, but do be aware of it. After you reset them the settings will save from here on out.

Good luck and happy WindDVD'ing with Vista!