Thread: Watching a dvd film.

  1. #1
    It's full of stars adrianxw's Avatar
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    Watching a dvd film.

    Until this afternoon, I'd never had a dvd drive in any of my machines, but I figured it would be good to be able to see dvd films. This afternoon I installed a Sony DDU 1621 dvd drive into this machine. Works fine, will read a cd for example.

    So, I borrowed a dvd film from a neighbour to see if it works, and wmp complains that I have no dvd decoder installed.

    After a bit of research, it would seem I need either a hardware or software decoder.

    Browsing download.com there appears to be a lot of negative comments about s/w decoders, but, MS seems happy to endorse a few of them.

    So, what do you lot do? Hardware, how is it, which one? Software, how is it, which one? Any other omments?
    Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity unto the dream.

  2. #2
    &TH of undefined behavior Fordy's Avatar
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    I run mine via PowerDvD....and it works fine.....slightly better on my real Dvd player.....but the SW version is pretty good

  3. #3
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    I use PowerDVD too - sharpest image of all software decoders. Naturally, if you're feeling flush, you could invest in a ReelMagic hardware decoder. That has lots of nice outputs (Even SCART, via an additional slot plate!)

  4. #4
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    PowerDVD is good. Mix and match video cards, tv out, and tv sets while you're at it to improve the experience.

    I ran an early 4:3 Full-screen DVD through my computer using PowerDVD to output to my 4:3/16:9 ehanced mode 36" Sony Wega flat-screen and it looked fantastic.
    The world is waiting. I must leave you now.

  5. #5
    Redundantly Redundant RoD's Avatar
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    I also use PowerDVD, version 4.0 to be exact, and i LOVE it. Its never had a problem. I used a few others; LiquidDVD, DVDxPress, WinDVD, and DVDPC and i disliked them very much.

    I liked PowerDVD enough to actually pay for it, and that should mean something from me

  6. #6
    It's full of stars adrianxw's Avatar
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    I have bought PowerDVD and it seems to work. Thanks for the input people.
    Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity unto the dream.

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