Cyberlink PowerDVD stopped working on my (Windows 8) computer.

January 11, 2014 6:41 PM

My computer won't play a dvd using Cyberlink PowerDVD which seems to be my only option in Windows 8. I've tried turning the computer off and on again, using a different dvd, updating the program itself and the graphics driver and nothing has helped. When I put a DVD in the drive the drive makes noise, PowerDVD automatically starts, and the program displays the disc name at the top of the window. So, the program in starting up and recognizes the DVD. However, the DVD won't play and I have to forcibly shut down the program as it gets stuck. Ideas? I've also tried right-clicking on the DVD icon to get to the "Open With" command and use another player but that doesn't seem to be an option in Windows 8. Thanks!
posted by ticketmaster10 to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Start by getting VLC player from videolan.org. It has "open disc" in the file menu. If that can't play it, possibly nothing will.

See if you can update your firmware for the dvd-rom drive. It's unlikely, but maybe the drive can't decrypt the video because something went wrong in its firmware.

Do you have any data dvds, or can you copy files from the dvd to your hard drive? There could be some dirt or a hardware problem preventing reading.

Possibly try loading a Linux live cd to test the drive outside of Windows.
posted by Sunburnt at 7:49 PM on January 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

Seconding VLC. Plays everything without fuss and uses libdvdcss internally so you don't need external DVD decryption aids like AnyDVD to help with heavily copy-protected discs. Also cross-platform; once you're comfortable with VLC on Windows, that's one less application locking you into that OS.
posted by flabdablet at 9:44 PM on January 11, 2014

My wife uses VLC on her Win8 laptop as described above and it works fine. Trying a different player would be a good first step before looking for hardware problems, etc.
posted by werkzeuger at 6:08 AM on January 12, 2014

I had the same problem for some time on my Win 8 All-in-One, I uninstalled the Cyberlink PowerDVD driver and restarted, but this did not help.
I Googled and found the following: Start > and press "Enter" on the keyboard. Then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE , expand SYSTEM , expand CurrentControlSet , expand Control , expand Class
Then under Class click on {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
In the right window, check for a "Name" UpperFilters and/or LowerFilters
Delete the LowerFilter and/or UpperFilter entries to fix the code 19 error
Found a great answer:
Remove/Delete the LowFilter and/or UpperFilter (you might have only one of these) entries from this registry area:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Note: You will have several identical keys like this {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. The one you are looking for will have DVD/CD Rom Drives as the top entry. Reboot after deleting the LowFilter and/or UpperFilter entries.
This fixed the problem and I can now listen to music from CD's using Windows Media Player or ITunes.
I do not like delving into the registry, but this worked for me and hope this helps.


posted by lungtaworld at 3:46 PM on January 12, 2014

PS > Now working well on DVD's too :)
posted by lungtaworld at 3:55 PM on January 12, 2014

If you're tempted to go poking around in the Registry, there are some less error-prone ways to attend to the issue that doing so is intended to fix that you should probably try first: see kb314060.
posted by flabdablet at 6:20 PM on January 12, 2014