I installed PowerDVD 8 a couple days ago. The installation broke Windows Media Center - it would hang when I tried to play TV. (Windows XP SP3, Media Center Edition 2005 (w/Update Rollup 2.) After reinstalling Rollup 2, Media Center works again, but now PowerDVD hangs when I try to play a DVD.
Note: Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility reports that PowerDVD 8 - CLVsd.ax - version 8.2.0.926 is set as the preferred MPEG-2 decoder. (I did not manually change that.) This is the current setting, after I did the procedure below.
Note: PowerDVD is version 8.0.2217.00. I assume that's the latest update to v.8, as I just purchased/downloaded it yesterday.
Details of what I did:
I installed PowerDVD 8, and then Media Center hung when I tried to play TV, requiring a manual reboot. I then uninstalled PowerDVD 8 and Media Center still hung when I tried to play TV. I then reinstalled Update Rollup 2 for Media Center, and then Media Center played TV okay again. I reinstalled PowerDVD 8 prior to reinstalling Rollup 2, so PowerDVD 8 was installed, but the Media Center drivers were written last. Media Center now works again, but PowerDVD hangs when I try to play a DVD. I can play the DVD with Media Center.
Note: I did not try to play a DVD with PowerDVD 8 prior to reinstalling Update Rollup 2. I noticed the problem with Media Center before I got to that, and didn't think to try playing a DVD with it - I just tried uninstalling PowerDVD 8 to see if that restored Media Center. Due to the work involved in reinstalling Update Rollup 2 (which got Media Center playing TV again) I am not reinstalling or installing any updates to PowerDVD8 (if available) until I know what's wrong. (I had to reinstall Update Rollup 2 manually - following steps from a website - as it was installed before and I had updates that came after it.)