Does anybody know of free DVD decoder software and where to get it? I tried VLC media player but it doesn’t seem to work…
You won’t find anything free and legal, since the DVD consortium charges license fees to anyone, who wants to provide css decrypting in their software (or hardware for that matter).
In that case, what would you reccomend? I have an old dvd drive… but I need software.
Well, that depends. You could go the shiny way, download and boot an Ubuntu Live system and install everything necessary with one or two lines in a terminal. You could of course download a DVD software like PowerDVD illegally somewhere, but I’m sure there are places more suitable for stuff like this.
I’d be glad to help out if you choose the Ubuntu path though. 
Well… maybe I will… what do I need to know, and how hard is it? How long would it take? (Btw, I’m trying to do this on an old box with no internet, and windows 2000)
OK - you probably haven’t played around with VLC settings enough - that always works for me, but you have to know your formats. I also use DVD Decrypter (free, illegal) and DVDShrink (best BACKUP program around) also free. also very illegal. you can also use virtualdubmod to convert MPEG2 streams. for macs there are three great ones - FFMPEG tools (also linux and PC) Cinematize (not free) and DIVA (great, free)
In VLC I tried “Open disc”, and It does not work…:(. And I don’t want to open it chapter by chapter. How do you do it?
View->Messages will give you a very detailed log of everything VLC is doing.
If you don’t find the error message, copy & paste here.
It said:
vcd error: could not read entry points sector
vcd error: could not read sector 15215
vcd error: could not read sector 15216
etc.
What does this mean?
It seems you’re trying to open the DVD as a VCD. Either that, or there’s a problem with the disc and/or your drive.
Choose “Open Medium”, then select the option “DVD (with menus)”.
That’s what I did when that error came up. It happens with DVD or DVD(with menus). There’s probably a problem with the drive,
Okay, this may sound idiotic, but are you sure its a DVD drive? (in an old computer they’re not too common…)
umm windows media player can play dvd’s just use that
and winamp might be able to
Windows Media Player can only play DVDs if there’s a decoder installed. I have a secondhand computer with a DVD drive, but media player can’t play DVDs as there’s no decoder.
For ubuntu instructions and support, see the Linux helpdesk thread in my signature…
Its easy to install DVD codecs and players in ubuntu… cause its done for you with easyubuntu http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/overview.html
Yes, it is a dvd drive, lol. I don’t blame you for thinking it might be, though. 