what is the best software for notebook dvd playing?

what is the best software to use to watch dvds on a notebook?

i dont need any crazy features, just quality playback

 

there really isn't a best. quality of playback depends mostly on the quality of the source file. that being said, there are many free players, WMP being one of them. it really depends on your personal taste regarding the interface, etc.

your rig probably came with some software player as well if it came with a dvd drive.

personally, i use vlc player as it has pretty much every codec already set to go. and it's free

 

do u know any way to make VLC media player stretch a 4:3 dvd movie to the full size screen w/o having bars on the left and right sides???

 

I always liked NVidias DVD software. I think there is a trial on their website.

 

if it's possible (i don't think it is), the image would be immensely distorted horizontally. it is physically impossible to fit a 4:3 image into a 16:10 aspect ratio without distorting. you can hit "f" for full screen or double click on the screen to maximize, but you will have bars on either side of the image

 

I'm a fan of two players: WinDVD 7 (nice improvement over version 6 which I also liked), and VideoLAN. It really depends on what I'm watching. I prefer WinDVd 7 for DVDs and DVD ISO images. I like VideoLAN for everything else (e.g. avi, mpeg, mp4, .mov, wmv, etc). If VideoLAN can't play the movie file, it's probably not worth seeing. Well, I take that back, the only format missing from VideoLAN is RealPlayer's video format.

 

yea..i tried that..and the only player that does fix it for me is Cyberlink which came with my laptop...it stretches 4:3 movies to fit full screen on 16:10 aspect ratio...but it doesn't distort it ..no bars on the sides

 

I'm with LuckMC11. I have tried other players on the market from free ones to other commercial ones and I always end up going back to PowerDVD. It gives the best overall playback quality. I don't think you'll be disappointed with PowerDVD.

-Vb-

 

I think PowerDVD will give you the best quality, as well as a boatload of features to make the viewing experience easier. I like it because i can make my widescreen DVDs look like fullscreen, by forcing a different aspect ratio.

 

I used to use VLan, but I found it crashing on me alot, so I switched to Media Player Classic, and it's allright, Can't complain, it's doing well when I watch anime

 

Does anyone know what the deal is with Sony only providing a branded WinDVD Version 5 with their laptops? I just got a T-series and it's loaded with a DVD player 2 versions out of date! I prefer VLC to it though, since you can skip the warning and such and go directly to the movie.

 

What about Battery Life?? Does any player Rival over the next when you compare battery life? Currently, Im using Asus DVD software. It uses about 46% CPU load when watching a DVD.

 

Just a quick comment - I'm pretty sure the Asus DVD software is a rebranded edition of PowerDVD. If it's not, someone should be suing someone for patent infringement - the interface is extremely similar.

One other note - if you use WMP to play a DVD, you still need codecs to play the DVD. These are usually installed along with DVD player software.

 

I second Coriolis' opinion. Media Player Classic is the best out there. Combine that with VLC and you can play any video format out there. Best part is they are both free.

 

PowerDVD is supposed to be the best, but the volume problems I have with it stops me from recommening it. Try Media Player Classic first. You don't even need to install, just dl unzip and run.

 

I use Nero ShowTime. It came with my Nero 6.6 Ultra....for me personally i find that it works better then cyberlink's software (which i also have) However the viewing quality depends on alot of things, the quality and speed of your DVD reader, your graphics card, processor.... the list goes on

 

For everything except DVDs, since you have to pay for the full version to view DVDs on it, I suggest CoreMediaPlayer. This player is by far the best I have used.

Shortcut keys are very convenient and make sense. Volume controls are the up and down arrow keys, fast forwarding frames by 10seconds is done by using the left/right arrow keys, spacebar for pause/play, "z" for fullscreen/window, pgup/pgdn for pan/scanning to make the image bigger, etc, etc.

Try this player out you won't regret it. Trust me

Cheers,
Mike

 

My Fujitsu came with Intervideo's WinDVD 5. I like it so far.

 

woah...wat is ur avatar!!!!

 

Appears to be an IBM PC-XT if I'm not mistaken.