Here's where it get's tricky. I tried some of my own DVDs, all of which I've played before numerous times. The drive will play one of them, but not the others. They are all Region 1, and the one that plays (a german film called Stroszek) appears to be printed in the US. The drive still plays video files off burned CDs with ease. I've restarted the computer, reinstalled Jet audio, and rolled back a windows update that dealt with licensing. The messages remain.
Ideas?