Viewing DVD movies on a laptop

I have a couple of questions regarding viewing movies on a laptop.

1) I have WXGA on a 14" widescreen. It appears that there is slight pixelation of images, especially with motion. Is that a limitation of LCD technology, lack of a dedicated video card or the screen resolution, or combination, thereof?

2) When watching a DVD there are times for a millisecond that there is a pause. What is going on when that happens? Is part of the movie being loaded into memory or cache and the memory is being refreshed? I have seen this happen on other computers/laptops. What is the cause of this?

3) I see you can view a movie using Windows Media Player, Interactual and Intervideo Win DVD. Is there one that has an advantage over the other? Alternatively is there a program that alleviates issues #1 and #2 above?

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Im really not sure about number 1 but for number 2 the pauses are prob. the changes between chapters on the disk?

And number 3 id say you Power DVD, i got it free with my laptop so im not sure of the cost but its always worked great for me and it also has a screenshot option which is cool [ ]

 

The intervideo has the worst resolution and is choppy. I don't know why. The other 2 work well.

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DV 1000
1.7 GHZ
512 MB RAM
80 GB 5400 HD
Brightview WXGA
Intel Wireless B/G
Linksys WRT54G Router
Comcast Cable Modem
Palm Tungsten C

 

just for the record, interactual makes winDVD, and i havent tried windows media player with DVDs yet, i have a WXGA brightvew and i dont experience any choppyness with winDVD, maby its the speed of your DVD drive and/or your processor speed, ive noticed that when i play a movie the computer thinks alot, probably has something to do with the decoding engine

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Maybe the software version, when I ran the DVD through other programs, I noticed it had music on the intro screen and sound was better. The other two programs work well.

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DV 1000
1.7 GHZ
512 MB RAM
80 GB 5400 HD
Brightview WXGA
Intel Wireless B/G
Linksys WRT54G Router
Comcast Cable Modem
Palm Tungsten C

 

How do you set which DVD player program is your default?

Titanium...The metal of choice.


DV 1000
1.7 GHZ
512 MB RAM
80 GB 5400 HD
Brightview WXGA
Intel Wireless B/G
Linksys WRT54G Router
Comcast Cable Modem
Palm Tungsten C

 

I also use winDVD and have had no problems and good quality.
Mike.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I use Power DVD on the Dell and the resolution is excellent.

I got rid of the HP DV1000. The native resolution wasn't high enough for me. In the end, I found that my highest priorities in a laptop were screen resolution (WUXGA), Battery life (6 hours) and Size of screen (15.4", 14.1" is too small for me). I have to add though that the HP DV1000 was a solid machine that will serve the average nonintense user very well. It's size and above average battery life were its strongest suits.

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