Okay so I have a camcorder that records on DVDs anddd now it won't let me play any of the discs on the comp?

Question

If I try to put the disc in the computer and play it, this message shows up......

"Windows Media Player cannot play the DVD because a compatible DVD decoder is not installed on your computer."

And all the other computers say the disc is empty, but it's not... you can see that it's filled up... also, it will not play in the camera either...

:(

It has all my daughter's "firsts" on it and if I lose that disc I will be soooooooooooooo incredibly mad... we let my sister's boyfriend use it at my sister's graduation.. what could he have done to it? grrrr I'm so mad.

Answer 1

That's because the dvd files need to be converted.

If you have a mini dvd camcorder….

You will have to finalize your dvd in the camera and then put the dvd in your computer's DVD burner (top loading only) and then you will have to convert the files (I downloaded handbrake file converter free) and import them into your editing program. Use the HELP feature in your editing program to learn about editing. Once you are ready to burn, your project will be burned to a different DVD and you can file the original away.

Answer 2

Sorry, but I'm confused!

>Okay so I have a camcorder that records on DVDs anddd now it won't let me play any of the discs on the comp

So you've got a number of disks, and none of them will play?

>And all the other computers say the disc is empty, but it's not... you can see that it's filled up... also, it will not play in the camera either...

Now we're talking about just one, very important, disk.  I can imagine *a* disk being affected, but not all of them.  Can you clarify what's happened, please?

Answer 3

If your pc reads the disc use VLC Media Player to preview the videos, the player is free and plays almost all files

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

Now since the camera records DVDs (mini I'm guessing) they would most likely be VOB files which means you have to search and download a codec for media player, as for VLC it will play it without a problem, you will also need a video editing software to either join the whole dvd or clips.Also, was the dvd in the cam a dvd-r or dvd-rw??