my computer doenst have a decoder? to play the media player

[ricardo5]

  I just found out the computer that i ordered from HP about a year ago will not run the media player. I bought a customised desktop and tonight i found out that although it has a dvd player it doenst have what is needed to make it work. A decoder i suppose. Why wasnt one put in if they sell me a dvd player. This is plum crazy. I use to think that HP was the top of the line but i suppose not. How would a person get a decoder and what else is needed?     

[Photoray002]

Hello @ricardo5

Are you having issues playing video files?

That is a problem with Windows and what it gives, not what HP adds to it.

Generally, if you have a file that wont play in the Windows media player, It probably will work in VLC player instead.

Have you tried that yet?

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

Let me know if that helps.

[WAWood]

@ricardo5

Unfortunately, this is a standard problem with Win7 -- in that Windows Media Player comes preinstalled with only a small handful of CODECS -- the decoders needed to play videos.

And VLCPlayer, as @Photoray002 mentioned, is a much better solution -- as it comes installed with MANY CODECS, not just a few.

Good Luck

[ricardo5]

Does this happen to all computers with windows 7? Does installing windows 10 correct this? I cant understand when you work hard to get something nice you get a piece of junk. How much would it cost windows to install this into their product.Thats like making  air conditioners and not putting the fan motor in. The next time i will do product reviews before buying.

[WAWood]

@ricardo5

In general, yes -- this happens to Win7 PCs because back then, MS installed very few codecs with Windows Media Player, causing folks to have to scour the Internet looking for Codecs.  They installed only the codecs for the video media they supported -- primarily .avi files.

Win10 does not solve this because MS's mindset has not changed -- as evidenced by all the new features coming out in Win10 that will only work with EDGE -- the MS Browser.  So, if you are using Firefox, Chrome, or Opera, you will be out of luck.

It's MS attitudes like this that cause grassroots growth of alternative solutions -- like VideoLan player.

Good Luck