DVD Playback - Anything better than my TV?

So I've gotten a new L2000 laptop with a nice 14" widescreen. I was always of the impression that DVD playback on a computer LCD was supposed to be better than my nice Widescreen (but NOT HD TV). I have tried Windows Media Player, WinDVD 7 (trial) and PowerDVD (trial).

Based on the trials, all my playback sucks in quality, and not what I would expect from a computer.

Can anyone shed some light on what I might be doing wrong (if anything?) Is it because the trials, even though they claim to be full versions, aren't? (for example, the WinDVD trial won't let me choose widescreen format (16:9) even though that's one of the reasons why I got my computer. Most of you seem pretty happy with PowerDVD or WinDVD, but I don't get it. Do I have to suck it up and buy the programs to get the best quality? (if so, why offer trials?)

Thanks!

 

software doesn't really affect the playback quality... it's the hardware (your LCD, but not the vid card) and the encoding that the file underwent (if you're viewing actual dvds, this doesn't apply)

just get VLC player, it's free/open source and does everything you should need

 

When playing DVD's on a computer screen, you will notice more artifacts than yuo would on a TV. If you were to wantch a DVD on your notebook and then using the same notebook, output it to your TV, you will see that it's MUCH sharper on your TV than on your screen. I believe it's because your LCD is capable of displaying much more detail than your TV, so you will notice all the small artifacts or pixelation. While on a tv, you're sitting a few feet back and it's not as detailed as an LCD. A TV has a .39dp or higher vs a .20 or lower for an LCD (LCD aren't measured with dp's anymore, but you still see it in the specs).

There may be some missing enhancements that the full versions of the software may provide, but I doubt you'll notice too much of a difference. You should be able to play the movies in Media Player now since you've installed an MPEG-2 codec into your system. See how it works in Media Player.

In my opinion, you're probably not gonna get the quality you're expecting on an LCD screen. The best place to watch a DVD in on a TV.

-Vb-

 

I second Venombite's opinion. Another thing to take into consideration is that laptop and computer LCDs are ment and designed to be looked at from about 2'-3' feet. Where as LCD TV's are ment to be seen from beyond 5' feet. That's why even regular LCD TVs don't work good as computer monitors and computer LCDs as TVs.

A reasonable work around (but not a fix) is to sit further away from the laptop when watching movies. The farther away you are (5' +), the less you'll notice the artifacts and the more sharper the image will appear to be.