does anyone know what i need to download to be able watch movies on my computer. i have windows media player completely up to date but it won't let me watch retail discs

you need to have a drive capable of reading dvd's and software with the proper dvd codecs - if you have a dvd drive, your computer should have the proper software on their somewhere

look on the front of the disk drive door for the familiar "DVD" logo

yeah it does. i burn dvd's with it so it recognizes them it just won't play them for some reason

the drive didn't come with any player software? PowerDVD? WinDVD? nothing like that?

if it is just missing the codecs, you could take a look at these:

http://articles.networktechs.com/414-p1.php
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Mega_Codec_Pack.htm

(if the first one doesn't work for you, the second WILL)

perfect. that's exactly what i needed. thanks