MPEG-2 Codec

Microsoft in all its wisdom did not include the stuff you need in Windows XP to play a DVD. You may have a DVD drive, and Windows will read files from it, but even if you update Windows Media Player to the newest version, it will not play a DVD movie because Windows does not come with an MPEG-2 Codec. Media Player posts a message that you don't have the necessary MPEG-2 codec.

Though the Microsoft website offers to *sell* you one.

Or you can google for "free MPEG-2 codec"; but good luck with that. Two I found and installed did not work.

I'm just trying to add a DVD drive to Zion's powerpoint XP computer so that we could play a video clip in a meeting if we need to. After an hour and a half of downloading, installing, and rebooting, Milo and Otis plays on a completely blank screen.

So how long have DVD drives been around in computers? And how long have DVD movies been the coin of the video realm? And how long has Microsoft been working on Windows(tm)?

Oh, I bet I have a CD somewhere with some kind of video software on it that, if installed, will bring the required codecs with it.

But honestly.