thanks for the reply otahd, but here where i got bunged up. i read the manual and it began the same way, however the VLC player (or any wondow i can get to pop up in its place) does NOT show "File". where file normally is it shows "Media". when i click on that it does have an option to open disc however none of the other things you mentioned are showing in the box that pops up so i dont think its what you're talking about.