Get a Windows DVD player for free with Dscaler or VLC and our free tutorials

Configuring a Windows DVD player is not as difficult or expensive as many people think. Wouldn't it be nice to use your PC for watching DVD's? Won't it be great to have an extra player tucked away in the office or utility room that you can use whenever you need to? With the help of our handy guides, you can do just that.

If you have tried to play DVD movies on your Windows XP PC before, you may well have seen this message:-

What does all that mean? Well, basically, Windows XP only comes with some of the software you need to play DVD movies. In order to successfully play a DVD movie on Windows XP, you will also need some DVD decoding software. Lucky Windows Vista users (except Windows Vista Home Basic users) get some free DVD decoders for Windows included in with their operating system, but for the rest of us we have to obtain DVD decoding software elsewhere. That can mean purchasing a third party Windows DVD player such as Sonic Cineplayer or Power DVD, however there are a couple of free alternatives available too.

DScaler is a free package that includes free DVD decoders for Windows that will work with Windows XP and Windows Vista 32 bit. In this quick tutorial I'll show you how you can install them and start to use them for watching DVD's. Please note, DScaler cannot play copy protected DVD's, this now includes most commercially available DVD discs. Please use VLC Media Player for viewing copy protected DVD's.

Click here to view the DScaler - free Windows DVD player tutorial.

Once DScaler is installed, open up Windows Media Player again and try to play your DVD. Hopefully now your DVD movie should play without any problems. If it does not, restart your computer and try again. If you still have problems, or if the movie plays but playback stutters, it may be that your computer is too low spec to play a DVD. On the other hand if you receive this message:-

then unfortunately you are trying to play a copy-protected DVD that the DScaler decoders are not able to play. If you really want to play this DVD, you will have to use either VLC media player or commercial DVD playing software.

VLC Media player is a powerful free media player for Windows and other operating systems. One feature that has helped to make it extra popular is its ability to play DVD's, for free!

If neither DScaler or VLC meet your needs, you will probably have to purchase one of the commercial DVD players listed below.

Other DVD playing software

As is usually the case with Windows software, there are plenty of alternatives when it comes to choosing DVD playback software. There are plenty of sites on the internet where you can learn all about the alternatives, but we thought we would share with you some of our favourites.

Cyberlink PowerDVD

A great all round Windows DVD player that is easy to use and to configure. Supports playback of high-def disks (with a compatible drive) as well as surround sound and power saving modes for laptops.

Sonic Cineplayer

This is a great Windows DVD player for anyone looking to get high quality DVD movie playback, at £19.99 it also offers good value for money.

Zoom Player and Nvidia Purevideo

This is the most complicated solution to configure but can produce the best results. Zoom Player is an all-round media player with more options and configuration settings than anyone knows what to do with. Purevideo is a special kind of DVD decoder produced by Nvidia, it gives stunning playback results and can make normal DVD's look almost like high definition DVD's! Purevideo only works on certain NVidia cards (check the website given in the link above for specific information). You can also use Purevideo with Windows Media Player in place of DScaler if your system supports it.

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