The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    dvd codecs?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by metalneverdies, Nov 27, 2006.

  1. metalneverdies

    metalneverdies Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    151
    Messages:
    314
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    i tryed to play a dvd in my pc and i guess im missing a codec cause it gave me an error when i tryed to run it with winamp and media player...does any one have a link to power dvd?
     
    metalneverdies, Nov 27, 2006
    #1
  2. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    4,982
    Messages:
    34,001
    Likes Received:
    1,419
    Trophy Points:
    581
    Not sure about winamp, but WMP will not play DVDs out of the box. I would suggest VideoLan. It is free and works well.
     
    ZaZ, Nov 27, 2006
    #2
  3. metalneverdies

    metalneverdies Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    151
    Messages:
    314
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    thanks man
     
    metalneverdies, Nov 27, 2006
    #3
  4. jeffmd

    jeffmd Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    65
    Messages:
    554
    Likes Received:
    20
    Trophy Points:
    31
    If you havn't baught anything that gave you an OEM version of a dvd software player like windvd or powerdvd, you will probably need to buy one (There are liscensing fees which keep dvd support from being in free players). The ffdshow codec (wich vlc uses) can decode mpeg2, but you wont be finding a free player that supports the menus or seemlessly play the movie (Its video files are fragmented for older OS support, and needs the player to stitch them together during playback).
     
    jeffmd, Nov 27, 2006
    #4
  5. Lysander

    Lysander AFK, raid time.

    Reputations:
    1,553
    Messages:
    2,722
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Umm... VLC does support DVD menus... And I havent had any troubles playing DVDs with it. Plays smoother than WMP 9 on my P3 500MHZ.
     
    Lysander, Nov 28, 2006
    #5
  6. skywalker

    skywalker Business Notebook FTW!!

    Reputations:
    100
    Messages:
    2,126
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Try StormCodec, all in one cocec very complete
     
    skywalker, Nov 28, 2006
    #6
  7. Pitabred

    Pitabred Linux geek con rat flail!

    Reputations:
    3,300
    Messages:
    7,115
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    206
    A DVD doesn't need an installable codec. A codec is a coder/decoder. DVD's are encrypted with CSS, the Content Scrambling System, and you need a player that has licensed the descrambler in order to play them. You can also use something that includes libdvdcss, but that's another ball of wax, and I believe it's technically illegal in the US of A. That's why they ship PowerDVD or CyberDVD with DVD drives and new computers. That's the only 'legal' way to play DVD's and be able to decode DVDs, with the license from that program.
     
    Pitabred, Nov 28, 2006
    #7
  8. dragonrage

    dragonrage Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    9
    Messages:
    176
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Incorrect, an MPEG-2 decoder and a decoder for whatever audio you use (MP2, AC3 or DTS - none needed for PCM) are required for DVD. DVD players like PowerDVD, WinDVD and VLC include them already, so it just looks like you don't need them.
     
    dragonrage, Nov 28, 2006
    #8
  9. Pitabred

    Pitabred Linux geek con rat flail!

    Reputations:
    3,300
    Messages:
    7,115
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    206
    Doh. Forgot about that. Windows apparently doesn't even include MPEG2 decoding. Nice they charge so much for their OS and then don't pay for licenses of standard media types people will use.
     
    Pitabred, Nov 29, 2006
    #9
  10. Miller

    Miller Notebook Consultant NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    108
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    What? M$ leaving some feature out so that they can find a way to charge you for it later? Say it ain't so! :D
     
    Miller, Nov 29, 2006
    #10