On my home PC I've got Win XP installed with Win Media 10
I cannot play DVDs : both ones I've recorded TV programs using my DVD recorder or commercially prerecorded (film) DVDs.
It seems that Win Media needs a plugin - which the MS site directs you to a few companies that will supply but at a cost.
I don't need video editing s/w - just ability to view.

I found Total Video Converter
http://www.effectmatrix.com/total-video-converter/
which worked ok but
a) the screensize seemed to be limited (that just may have been a setup issue)
b) It only allowed a 15 day trial before you had to pay ($45 I think)

Is there a decent application out there that allows DVDs to be played on the PC - I think the files that I need to view are the VOB files.
I thought that maybe divx might be the solution but nope, it would onyl play .ava and mpeg4 (I think) formats.

I'm wary of just downloading any old bit of s/w from some of the download sites so recommendations for a decant app gratefully received.

 

Powerdvd is good, came bundled free with my old writer awhile ago, not sure on the cost tho.

A Good free player is the vlc media player.

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

 

Try installing Nero burning rom as it installs a load of codecs (video and audio).

 

do a search for gspot codec and it will tell you what codecs you need and whether you have the codecs on your machine to play the video file.

 

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

Plays everything.