DVD playback

[chowpappy]

So someone tell me about playing DVD movies and such on your computer. I never paid attention to whats involved because I never figured I would have one. Someone gave me a samsung DVD though and I'm anxious to try it out. I hooked it up with no problems, Windows seemed to have the drivers for it; threw Lord of the Rings in and figured it would just take off on its own like a music CD with MediaPlayer or something. Nothing happened but a list of files..bummer. Its what I get for being lazy and skipping over the multimedia chatter.
Do I need software? A video card with NTSC and a TV? Other hardware? Dumb question I'm sure but much oblidged anyway...

[Trav2003]

Originally posted by chowpappy
So someone tell me about playing DVD movies and such on your computer. I never paid attention to whats involved because I never figured I would have one. Someone gave me a samsung DVD though and I'm anxious to try it out. I hooked it up with no problems, Windows seemed to have the drivers for it; threw Lord of the Rings in and figured it would just take off on its own like a music CD with MediaPlayer or something. Nothing happened but a list of files..bummer. Its what I get for being lazy and skipping over the multimedia chatter.
Do I need software? A video card with NTSC and a TV? Other hardware? Dumb question I'm sure but much oblidged anyway...

The only think you need is software of some kind. I'm sure you can find a free dvd software somewhere

WinDVD or PowerDVD are great players, and i'm sure there are free demos for them, or they generally come on CD's packaged with video cards, or motherboards, or DVd-ROM drives, so you might find an older version of it around somwhere which you can install.

A different video card, or TV, or anythign else is not necessary.

[a ronin]

All that's required is the DVD decoders. Microsoft I believe has them for download which turns Media Player 8+ into a capable DVD player. Alternatively you can get software like Cyberlink's PowerDVD. Here is a trial version: http://www.gocyberlink.com/english/d...id=1&ProdId=28

You can also download this freeware www.vlc.org I personally use this because it can play any video file there is without the codecs. It's like they packaged in a universal codec that handles everything. Only downside is it's very cpu intensive, i.e if you use this, don't plan on doing anythign else as it slows to a crawl - espeically when you are fastforwarding or rewinding. Opensource and still very much in it's early stages, but damn it's free and handles divx, xvid, ac3, etc cetera.. no more complicated measures to get ripped movies to play right.

[chowpappy]

Exactly what I needed to know. Thanks a ton guys!

[chowpappy]

Postscript: I just checked the box my new video card came in yesterday and what was laying in the bottom but a free copy of PowerDVD! hahahaha..............I'm on a roll. I better go buy a lottery ticket.