XP Pro vs. Media Center Edition

Question

I acquired a used XPS M1210 a few days ago, and have found that while the product history on the Dell site shows that it had a Windows XP Pro operating system, the computer that is now in my possession runs the Media Center edition of XP. However, when I try to play a DVD, the media center reports a decoder error.

Do I need to reinstall the OS, and if so, how do I go about that? I have the necessary CDs and activation codes.

Thanks.

Balaji Ramanath · Answer

If the computer does not have a decoder, try out the free VLC media player (www.videolan.org/vlc).

Balaji Ramanath · Answer

That is weird.  You might want to post in the Laptops audio forum to see if someone has any insight into why the audio is misbehaving.  As for MD, it does play DVD's (at least on my computer).  However, it does not come with its own decoder and relies on a decoder that is installed on the computer.  I have no idea how to make MD aware of the VLC media player so that it can use VLC's decoder.

Zingmeister · Answer

Thanks!  I tried it VLC Media.  The video works great, but audio is garbled.  It's like two speakers can't quite work together.   Does this mean that Media Center won't play DVDs at all?

Windows General

XP Pro vs. Media Center Edition

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