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    New DV7-2040us owner - Is it just me or does MediaSmart SUCK...

    Discussion in 'HP' started by apocalypse2012, Jul 5, 2009.

  1. apocalypse2012

    apocalypse2012 Newbie

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    I just bought my new laptop and love it. But I am having a hard time separating the wheat from the chaff with the buttload of worthless crap HP installed on this otherwise good machine.

    I domped the obvious stuff. Now I am trying to play DVDs and am running into problems. MediaSmart cant make it through a single DVD without hanging for munites at a time. Is MediaSmart just crapware like the rest?

    I like the idea of a media oriented laptop, but if the software is crap, what good is it. I like WMC, but it just cuts back to mediasmart for DVDs.

    I want to dump the junkware, but I need a DVD component for WMC. Am I doing something wrong and somehow spoiling the greatness of 'Mediasmart', or do I need to junk it? If I do, how do I play DVD from WMC without spending money on something I should already have. Is there a free DVD play app that plugs into WMC, or a hack to unlock some builtin DVD functionality?

    Why is this basic bull available for free on Linux and I can get quality on my brand new machine even when its paid for...?
     
    apocalypse2012, Jul 5, 2009
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  2. Huskerz85

    Huskerz85 Notebook Evangelist

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    Will DVD's play in the regular WMP?? If so, I'd suggest going with that perhaps....

    The first time I played 'Tombstone' in my new dv2, an AutoPlay window popped up with 3 options: Play using WMP, Play using WMC, Play using HP MediaSmart.

    All of these defaults/settings can be changed from within the Control Panel
     
    Huskerz85, Jul 5, 2009
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  3. finestree

    finestree Notebook Evangelist

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    Yup it sucks! Just use Windows Media Center - it is better by miles! :) I think Media Center will play DVD's if you keep MediaSmart installed.. as for without it I'm not too sure as I use Windows 7 which comes with it all built in.
     
    finestree, Jul 5, 2009
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  4. apocalypse2012

    apocalypse2012 Newbie

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    Okay, I successfully changed the autoplay behavior to lanch WMP. That works. WMP is playing my dvds.

    Now, can I uninstall mediasmart and still play DVDs, or do the dvd codecs go with Mediasmart?
     
    apocalypse2012, Jul 5, 2009
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  5. finestree

    finestree Notebook Evangelist

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    Well I know some versions of Windows Vista come with DVD codecs. I guess the best bet is to just give it a go.. :) The latest versions of MediaSmart are available online anyway so you wont have to worry about losing it.
     
    finestree, Jul 5, 2009
    #5