New netbook won't play DVDs

Lancs_Lass

We bought our daughter a netbook for christmas & bought an external DVD drive (Buffalo) at the same time. The software on the netbook is Windows7 starter and we can't get it to play DVDs via the external drive. Also getting an error message when we try to load the disc for her Sims game. Spoke to retailer who said to load the drivers from the Buffalo website -tried this and still no can do. Have plugged the DVD drive into hubby's laptop (which has the better W7 software) and works OK there.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

iamadave

What is the error when loading sims, has flash been installed etc? I would download vlc and try to play back a normal video dvd through that to test. If it doesnt work google the sims error?

Lancs_Lass

I think it was a message about the graphics. My daughter just mentioned it in passing last night so I'll have to check. I'm not that techie-minded so can you just let me know hat 'vlc' is? And thanks for your quick response.

lucylucky

vlc is an excellent media player.

lucylucky

I suspect the netbook does not have the graphics capabilities to play the game.

fenlander_uk

Does her netbook have graphics acceleration (i.e. ION Graphics)? If not, it may well struggle with DVDs and most games. Can you use the USB drive to play a music CD or MP3 tracks from a CD or DVD? If so, it proves that the drive is working. Any netbook should be able to play music: if it fails this test there is a problem with the DVD drive, its connection, or its Windows driver.

For video playback, I'd suggest PotPlayer. This is a new development based on KMPlayer, which for a long time was one of the best options for low-powered machines like netbooks, but which was sadly abandoned by its developer. VLC, despite being possibly the best free media player available, is too resource-heavy for many netbooks.

For games, you might like to try this site. It will assess whether your daughter's PC has the capability to run most common software, including The Sims. It will need to download an ActiveX component to do this.

Hammyman

Sims needs Pixel Shader 2 capable graphics cards. The internal graphics of the netbook doesn't support this nor is there a way to make it. There is no problem at all with the DVD Drive, it is the Sims installer saying the netbook doesn't meet the minimum hardware requirements and halting. There is no workaround to this without buying a laptop with a suitable graphics card.

TrickyDicky101

fenlander_uk wrote: »

Does her netbook have graphics acceleration (i.e. ION Graphics)? If not, it may well struggle with DVDs and most games.

This is not the case with DVDs - my two year old Samsung NC10 plays them without any problem at all.

penrhyn

As suggested previously, download VLC.
Chances are the netbook won't have the appropriate codecs to play commercial DVDs on WMP.

Netbooks are only fit for chatting to mates on Friendface, for anything else you need a proper laptop.

Lum

Win7 starter does not come with support for DVD playback. You'll need a separate piece of software for that.

VLC as others have suggested will play it, alternatively Media Player Classic HC which I personally prefer as the UI in VLC is a bit odd.

paddyrg

This is because commercial MPEG2 decoder licenses cost $, and netbooks are corner-cuttersfor simplicity and cheapness for the majority of users (they don't come with DVD drives so why support DVD playback and make the machine $10 dearer for the few % who will use that?). VLC is awesome.