A DVD driver is also a program that enables communication between your PC & DVD Player/Burner. While the Decoder program enables your PC to recognize the files on your DVD.
:No.DVD is a compression format, a way to reduce data and still transfer what you need, & it is a physical storage format. Straight data (documents, pictures, sounds, regular movies) are non-compressed when burned to a DVD but a DVD movie uses compression to get more data on to the disk. A codec is what tells a computer how to compress the data; a decoder is just the part that reads the DVD movie info and turns it into pictures.
A driver is a piece of computer code that tells the operating system how to deal with a physical device - a drive, a screen, a printer, a mouse .. these all need drivers to translate the physical data from the device into a format the main machine expects. Without a driver you can run a decoder all day long, but it won't be able to read a disc so that it can show a movie. A driver without a decoder can only handle files and no DVD movie.
So, to watch a DVD movie on your computer you need a driver to read the disc and a decoder to turn that data into something useful (frames of pictures.)
A good alternative to the WMP DVD decoder is the VLC media player, which can play DVD movies without the need to run the files through a decoder first.
A free DVD decoder may be downloded on CNET or Softpedia. One of the most popular DVD decoder is VLC Player which can be downloaded from their website VideoLan.
Mabey a DVD decoder isn't installed
If by DVD decoder you mean something to remove copy protection, the best out there is AnyDVD. If you mean the ability to play DVDs download K-Lite Mega Codec Pack.
The device in question is an ATAPI drive that connects to the computer via a PATA cable. These devices do not need / have specific drivers: they all conform to the ATAPI specification, so one generic drive will control them all. If you have trouble seeing the contents of a disc, you may have: 1. A damaged / defective drive 2. A dirty disc 3. An operating system that does not support the filesystem of the disc. If you can see the contents of the disc, but cannot play it in a media player, you likely do not have a DVD decoder installed. A software CD containing should have come with your drive. You can also purchase a DVD decoder, such as WinDVD. VLC, a free media player, also bundles a DVD decoder.
In order to play DVDs, you must have a DVD decoder installed. On a retail computer, this will usually be bundled. If not, you will have to purchase a DVD decoder, such as PowerDVD or WindDVD.
To play DVDs using the Player in XP, you must have a DVD-ROM drive and a software or hardware DVD decoder installed on your computer. By default, Windows does not include a DVD decoder.
The best place to download a free dvd decoder would be on the site softonic. Softonic is a site with different software available for download, completely free.
There is a website that offers a free DVD decoder for the Windows XP operating system and it is called Kioskea. You will need to download the pack that corresponds with your native language.
P467 of A+ Guide to Managing & Maintaining Your PC, Sixth Edition by Jean Andrews MPEG decoder card MPEG decoder software bundled with the drive XP, Vista, and Windows 7 have their own internal decoder software
dvds should be able to play by default as long as you have a DVD player in your computer. once inserted, it should auto play, if not go into your library and there should be a disk icon on the left which you can double click to play. no decoder should be necessary
The main difference between a CD driver and a DVD driver have to do with the protocols that operated individual programs.