different windows vista editions have one little thing missing

I was just reading a thread here:

http://microsoftwindowsvista.tv/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3&sid=da6d4d52ae2cd5c01c745786f3836bfe

And i'd like to know,because some editions have the dvd decoder missing,is there a free alternative available?What are you using?

If you are using xp, vista or server 2k3 you can get some codec packs to solve any of these type of problems...

Shark007 makes one of the best codec packs and they can be found at (link) Vista Codec Package Homepage There not just for vista too.