Installing the software sucessfully and the ability to actually play a BD disc are two separate issues. You should be able to at least install the software even if your system does not pass the check.

What OS are you using? I think for XP you need at least SP2 and for Vista, SP1 would be your best bet. Make sure you OS is up-to-date with all hotfixes.

You also need administrator privileges.
At what point during the install does the error appear? Can you deselect PowerDVD from the install options and install the other programs without error?

Try copying the CD to your hard disk and run the setup from there.

i'm using vista ultimate 64bit. all the other appliications installed without a problem except the power dvd portion. my pc has all the latest updates. the install fails during the installshield portion. it starts and then fails saying application error: severe. i have tried run as administrator but i get the same results. i'll try installing from the hard drive later as you suggest and post back with my results. thanks.

I have received the exact same error message when I try to install the powerDVD 7.3 software that came with my GGC-H20L drive.

However, I previously had it installed and running but it wasn't working successfully. I was able to run the setup the first time, and as it went through the installer it told me I had to uninstall a version before I was able to proceed. The installer quit. I uninstalled power dvd 7, then when I tried to run the setup.exe from the GGC-H20L disk, it gave me the "severe:application error"

So what I can deduce is that there was an issue in removing the previous version. I wonder if there is a way to completely remove all registry entries etc... I'll do some more experimenting.