System

OS - Win7 64bit
Motherboard - Asus M4A77D

Over the last 20 + days I have been running a trial version of Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit on a Asus M4A 78T+ motherboard.

About two weeks ago I purchased Vampire Diaries seaon 1 from Amazon's VOD. These videos can be streamed or downloaded to a local PC for keeps after purchase.

To download the video files you must install their "Amazon Unbox" player.

Typically I watch video files with Media Player Classic and K-Lite Mega codec pack (ver 610). Been using this combo for a couple of years. Has worked on everything and I just like it.

But MPC decides it does not like the Vampire Diaries vid files from Amazon. First for everything. So I installed Windows Media Player and successfully watched several fo the vid files.

Well the other day my mobo died. Time to purchase a new board which is an Asus M4A77D.

Installed the new board, validated windows with serial key so that it is no longer a trial and installed several motherboard drivers from the supplied CD except the audio drivers.

On to watching another episode of V. Diaries. No prob. Now I decide to install the audio drivers from the CD. After install I test some MP3's and Top Gun video file (avi). Everything works.

On to watching another episode of V. Diaries. Launching with WMP as usaul but faiure to launch with this error message: "Windows Media Player encountered a problem while playing the file."

Microsoft's Web Help suggests that is audio driver related. So I unistall the audio drivers and try launching again. Same result. This time I go to Asus website and install the audio drivers there, which BTW, are slightly newer.
Attempted to launch V. Diaries but same result. Other vids (.avi and .wmv) launch and play, just not the V. Diaries from Amazon.

So I unistall and reinstall K-Lite codec pack. Still no success. Uninstall and reinstall Amazon's Unbox and redownloaded a couple of the V Diary vids. Still no launch with WMP.

All other vid files and .wmv files works except the V. Diaries after I installed audio codecs.

Any ideas? Thanx!

That's strange. That's absolutely weird. I like.


First of all, try VLC from www.videolan.org and let's see if the error persists.

The VOD files from Amazon are DRM protected, VLC is not going to play them.

Did you reinstall windows?

If your new MOBO reset the windows Activation then it probably nuked the DRM association that you had. In your case you need to contact Amazons VOD tech support if they have it, if not then you will have to buy it again. This is what they want and the main reason DRM and other measures that make copying difficult (but not impossible) are used.

This is a case of buyer beware, DRM sucks. There are ways around this but they can't be discussed here Google is your friend.

Should have read that line "To download the video files you must install their "Amazon Unbox" player."

After I unintstalled the Amazon Unbox from my system and then reinstalled it, and tried WMP again, I did get a notice about aquiring licensing and it looked like I would have to purchase the vids again.

However, Amazon Unbox will allow me to re-download the vids again and watch from my computer through the Unbox player.

Yes I know, the answer to watching these vids is with Amazon Unbox player, but I was hoping to watch them with WMP as before.

BUT, read this part here again :

Installed the new board, validated windows with serial key so that it is no longer a trial and installed several motherboard drivers from the supplied CD except the audio drivers.

On to watching another episode of V. Diaries. No prob. Now I decide to install the audio drivers from the CD. After install I test some MP3's and Top Gun video file (avi). Everything works.

On to watching another episode of V. Diaries. Launching with WMP as usaul but faiure to launch with this error message: "Windows Media Player encountered a problem while playing the file."

That part alone is with audio codecs is kinda like "WTF?"

That is strange, I misunderstood your original post just wanted to save you the trouble of trying VLC, not that it is bad just that it wasn't going to work with DRM.

I'm not sure what it could be, the drivers off the CD may not be WHQL certified that could be it, you might want to get latst drivers from manufacturer OR get the drivers that windows update lists for your sound card if it offers any. I'm not sure if DRM blocks non WHQL drivers as they might allow intercepting the decoded content. This could be something other than a DRM issue, my guess is that it is directly related to it but I have a strong bias against it.