# DVD player software



## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

My dad (daddy to me) wanted to be able to watch DVD's on his PIII 1 gig Dell computer. Small case, no room to add internal drive. I steered him towards an external 16X dual layer Plextor. He bought the drive from Tigerdirect for $49 after rebates. I bought him a USB 2.0 PCI upgrade card so he would have good throughput. The Nero Express software bundle that came with the drive won't play a DVD unless you purchase a $25 plugin. Winamp, Windows Media Player, Real Player and whatnot won't play a DVD either. I'm guessing it's because of CSS and $$$. 

I installed a (legal) copy of Cyberlink Power DVD and it doesn't work too well. Constant lockups and restarts and really just not acceptable.

Question - is there a free, high quality DVD player out there? If not free what would ya'll suggest to BUY? Also, need something EASY to use. Dad is approaching 80 and needs a very user friendly solution.

Thanks guys!


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

For free there's Windows Media Player, or RealPlayer.
For money I like InterVideo WinDVD.


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

Bogy said:


> For free there's Windows Media Player, or RealPlayer.....


But my point was you have to buy a codec for those players although the basic players are free.

I'll check out WinDVD


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

Also, for downloads, comparisons and lots of great information try http://www.doom9.org/


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## Geronimo (Mar 23, 2002)

There were stories (disputed) about WIN DVD including spyware. What was the resolution on all that?


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## Redster (Jan 14, 2004)

I just googled "dvd player software" , plenty out there. Here is one that is free and looks fairly easy.

http://www.avsmedia.com/DVDPlayer/index.aspx


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

Geronimo said:


> There were stories (disputed) about WIN DVD including spyware. What was the resolution on all that?


I have five different spyware programs I run, and nothing about WinDVD seems to attract any attention.


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## airpolgas (Aug 13, 2002)

ntexasdude said:


> But my point was you have to buy a codec for those players although the basic players are free.


I found that I can use WMP for DVD playback after I install Divx. Try that. I just install the latest free Divx, unless your dad will do some encoding.


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

Redster said:


> I just googled "dvd player software" , plenty out there. Here is one that is free and looks fairly easy.
> 
> http://www.avsmedia.com/DVDPlayer/index.aspx


Appeared to be exactly what they advertised, unfortunately it's hardware hungry. They promised it was absolutely free with no spyware or ads. It requires a P4 or better processor and a better video adaptor than the one built in dad's motherboard. I tried it on MY 1.7 Mhz Athlon with GeForce 3 nVidia graphics card. It worked, sort of. Graphics and audio were out of sync. Full screen was a mess but small screen was actually a bit better. It had a very nice GUI and appeared to be VERY user friendly. It was a 14.7 meg download which took less than a minute on my SBC enhanced DSL connex (I luv high speed). Sooo.....I need to keep looking. Maybe someone else could make use of this apparently excellent software.


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

airpolgas said:


> I found that I can use WMP for DVD playback after I install Divx. Try that. I just install the latest free Divx, unless your dad will do some encoding.


I'm a little confused by that????? Does installing a DIVX codec somehow disable another feature??? Dad will be using his DVD writer to watch movies and maybe occasionaly copying a DVD. I know dang well there are solutions out there for watching a DVD without a P4 chip and a $200 graphics card. Many moons ago I used a factory 500 mhz Dell PII without issues whatsoever. Tragically, I can't remember what software it was. Sony, maybe? It was a Sony drive in that old machine.


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## airpolgas (Aug 13, 2002)

No, I meant that when I installed the free Divx, I can now use WMP to play my DVDs. Since you mentioned something along the lines of "free" that's what I suggested. Now you may want to buy the "pay" version of Divx that will give you other capabilities, like encoding and such.


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

Ah, excellent. Can you point me to a site where I might download such a codec as the one you mention? A precursory search turns up dozens of sites to purchased codecs. I found a robust one for $15 but now money is not the issue. I quest to find one that's FREE. 

Several years ago I purchased one of the first internal DVD/RW's available. It was a Sony 2.4x and I paid $350 for it at Circuit City. Yeah, I know.:nono2: It came with a software disc that played DVD's flawlessly on very light hardware. Now - fast forward 4 years - I seem to be having difficulty finding a hardware light solution without buying a codec - which I really have no idea if it would even work until after I enter my credit card. Hmmm....has DRM changed the business model?


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

Okay, this is bizarre - at least to me. 

Just to be clear. I'm now talking about my AMD 1.7 mhz and nVidia GeFrorce 3 machine and not my dad's older PIII 1 ghz with onboard video.

As mentioned earlier I installed the PowerDvd player by Cyberlink that came with a cheapo internal D/L DVD/RW I bought a few months ago. Some of the reviews and media hype say it's the best player out there - but it comes bundled with a drive or is available for purchase - it ain't free. As mentioned it played very jerky video with out of sync audio and constant freeze ups. The freeze ups seemed to be related to wiggling the mouse.

After installing the avsmedia.com player from redsters link, (which didn't work so well due to my hardware limitations) I have now found the Cyberlink PowerDVD software works perfectly. I read on doom9.org and a few other sites that the codecs are not program specific. I.e., once installed for a certain application, they could be found and accessed and used by another application.

I'm now wondering if the free avsmedia install didn't heal the PowerDVD software due to installing a codec it needed? Am I way off base here? Am I making sense? 

This DVD crap is really way over my little mechanical/electrical engineer old timey head. I looked at the doom9 site to explain the inner workings of a DVD file structure and it floored me. But that's just me. I'll design and sell you a $5 million system that will convert fart gases into rough diamonds but don't ask me to explain DVD's.


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

ntexasdude-

_"As mentioned it played very jerky video with out of sync audio and constant freeze ups. The freeze ups seemed to be related to wiggling the mouse."_

I had the same problem with an older machine.

Simply put it is because the dvd computer players rely on the CPU to process the file data to send to your basic video card. Your observation is quite correct in that when you move the mouse, the CPU would need to stop what it is doing on the DVD file processing and calculate the screen position for the mouse. In faster machines it still has to do that but takes a much shorter pause that you don't notice on the DVD playback. Bottom line- don't expect to do more robust video processing on a slower machine in real time. The processing must be faster than the inbound video stream from the spinning DVD to play without hesitation. In set top box players the video processing is done by a dedicated hardware chip so computational sharing is not an issue as it is with a computer. 
I also believe there are some players that are more efficient than others and you may find one that has a CPU threshhold that is within the CPU cycles of your slower machine. In a faster computer, all players work well, but in a slower computer, some will and some won't. In a really slow computer none will work!


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

ntexasdude said:


> Ah, excellent. Can you point me to a site where I might download such a codec as the one you mention? A precursory search turns up dozens of sites to purchased codecs. I found a robust one for $15 but now money is not the issue. I quest to find one that's FREE.
> 
> Several years ago I purchased one of the first internal DVD/RW's available. It was a Sony 2.4x and I paid $350 for it at Circuit City. Yeah, I know.:nono2: It came with a software disc that played DVD's flawlessly on very light hardware. Now - fast forward 4 years - I seem to be having difficulty finding a hardware light solution without buying a codec - which I really have no idea if it would even work until after I enter my credit card. Hmmm....has DRM changed the business model?


ntexasdude, I guess I could have made it clearer, but I mentioned that Doom9 was a good source for DOWNLOADS, including Divx.


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## CoriBright (May 30, 2002)

Bogy said:


> I have five different spyware programs I run, and nothing about WinDVD seems to attract any attention.


Nothing found here either.... and I've had WinDVD 2000, v3, 4, 5, 6 and now am running v7.


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## digital223 (Dec 19, 2002)

ntexasdude,

I may be off base here, but could this be a DMA problem?
I just gave an AMD K2/500 based computer to a friend with a 1999 vintage Compaq dvd rom drive. I installed Cyberlinks Power dvd and it plays dvd movies without a hitch. 
Check Window's dma settings for the new Plextor. If it's not there, it could be your problem.


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

Thanks Digital, I haven't been to dad's house in a week but I need to go finish what I started.

I would check the DMA settings in the bios or through device manager? Or both?


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## digital223 (Dec 19, 2002)

ntexasdude said:


> Thanks Digital, I haven't been to dad's house in a week but I need to go finish what I started.
> 
> I would check the DMA settings in the bios or through device manager? Or both?


Both Device Manager and Setup bios.

One other thought. I may have missed it, but you haven't stated what version of Windows your Dad has on his computer. If it is XP, make sure you have the SP2 update. I mention this because you said the Plextor DVD drive being used is USB. I never had a USB DVD drive. So I am not sure if it requires DMA. In that case I'm pretty sure you will have to have USB 2.0 installed. If it isn't, the picture may stutter and audio may be out of sync, when playing a dVd movie. 
Also sometimes even though SP2 is installed, [and it should contain USB2.0], only USB 1.0 shows up in Device Manager. 
To initiate USB 2.0 you may still have to install it form a utilty disk that should have came with your Dad's computer.
While in Device manager, check to make sure that, under *USB Controllers*, "USB Enhanced Host Controller" is listed! If it isn't listed, but there is other USB listings, then only USB1.0 is present.

Since the Plextor drive is recent, I am almost sure, for it to work effectively it would require USB 2. Using other apps without it, may or may not show any problems, but to properly play a dvd movie, all requirements must be up to snuff.

Good Luck


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