RANT: DVD decoders

[ratdude747]

Grr...

This has me pissed

I recently switched my main rig from linux to windows xp... and I found a problem.

I bought a brand new DVD burner for it recently... only to find that they included crap like nero 9 (junk) and ASUS e-hammer (ok), but no DVD decoder!

I go to see how much a DVD decoder legit download is, but a barebones one is $20... and it goes up from there...

I miss being able to download plugins via a command at the terminal for free...

This is what I hate about codecs and plugins... if you get something pre-built, you are fine. If you build things yourself you get it up the ass.

For DVD authoring, ok, but for a player/decoder, this is ridiculous... as much as the forum tends to hate adobe, I will admit that at least acrobat reader is free... But the common DVD? HELL NO!

I am temped to buy a blu-ray drive for my computer and pray it has a dvd and blu-ray decoder bundled... but after the f**king expenses of College Textbooks (used ones even), it isn't happening until xmas at $80+ a drive.

So, Am I stuck and if I want to Play a DVD on my main rig, I will have to pay $$ for a $h!tty decoder or is there a way around this besides linux?


(side note)- I had to use xp due to compatibility issues with my HDTV tuner card and mpeg2 channels. otherwise, I'd use fedora 15.

[b700029]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
VLC can play DVDs.

[ratdude747]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

I forgot about VLC... been there, done that. I was loooking for other options, but If I have to VLC, I will.

Remind me, does VLC do encrypted dvds?

[brethin]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

Try http://download.cnet.com/Media-Playe...-10749065.html

[ratdude747]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

I saw that and I saw the number of "don't work" reviews... Have you tried it before?

[pfrcom]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

http://www.filehippo.com/download_klite_codec_pack/

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

I've heard that there are a TORRENT of choices when it comes to DVD decoders....

[toastygoodness]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

VLC, MPlayer, XBMC all play it (in addition to klite). your mistake was, as terrible as this sounds, using windows XP for multimedia (plz no bashing, this is true). they all use libdvdcss, which is what most software uses in linux.

what's wrong with VLC? in all honesty, it is your best bet with winXP.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

Why aren't you running Windows 7? I believe Windows Media Player/Center play DVDs natively in W7. No codecs needed.

[toastygoodness]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

it actually started from vista too... but i know RD's not gonna touch that with a thirty-foot pole lol.

W7 is the awesomesauce for multimedia... especially with aero turned off and windows turned to classic mode.

[ratdude747]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

I've heard that there are a TORRENT of choices when it comes to DVD decoders....

trying to stay quasi-legit... if i have to, I will

VLC, MPlayer, XBMC all play it (in addition to klite). your mistake was, as terrible as this sounds, using windows XP for multimedia (plz no bashing, this is true). they all use libdvdcss, which is what most software uses in linux.

what's wrong with VLC? in all honesty, it is your best bet with winXP.

I dunno... I just never liked vlc... It just doesn't feel right... too much like the oldskool windows media player

Why aren't you running Windows 7? I believe Windows Media Player/Center play DVDs natively in W7. No codecs needed.

because of money... I only get one $30 win7 upgrade per year, which will go to my laptop.

it actually started from vista too... but i know RD's not gonna touch that with a thirty-foot pole lol.

W7 is the awesomesauce for multimedia... especially with aero turned off and windows turned to classic mode.

Actually, I do use vista on my laptop and I like it well... fedora 15 is better, but Vista sp2 is better than xp sp3 was.

the worst issue with vista and 7 on my main rig is that XBCD supposedly will not work on the platform due to driver signing... I use my modded xbox controller a lot and losing it would suck. bad.

Also, according to microsoft, vista doesn't have the decoder, only win 7 has it.

aero? Never had issues with it... what is the point of win 7 if you turn it to classic mode?

[yyonline]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

K-lite codec pack and Windows Media Player together will play DVDs on XP. K-lite is mostly just ffdshow with a custom installer and a few other bundled freeware utilities. To the best of my knowledge, it no longer includes hacked versions of paid codecs. In any case, I use it on all my computers and haven't had any issues.

[ratdude747]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

k-lite also seemed to have a somewhat high failure rate... a lot of these free codec bundles seem dodgy...

ratdude wishes he was able to make the digital tuner work in linux...

[toastygoodness]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

aero? Never had issues with it... what is the point of win 7 if you turn it to classic mode?

aero sucks performance and power like no other. i get at least half an hour more with aero off, and my latency within cubase goes down quite a bit. i can tell that you like eye candy (from your opinion regarding VLC), so you should probably forget my suggestion, heh...

oddly enough, my vista ultimate had a dvd decoder....that or i may have downloaded the ATI one. can't quite remember. you'll probably kill me for this, but what about realplayer?

[Mad_Professor]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

Use VLC.

If it works and does the job then ok. You don't need something fancy. Just get VLC and be happy.

[lti]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

I tried using Media Player Classic to play DVDs, but it seemed to have poor video quality and lots of dropped frames. Strangely, it didn't run any better on a 1.2GHZ processor than it did on a 333MHz CPU.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

I've used K-Lite for years and never had any problem. ACE Mega Codecs pack was the buggy one. It does occasionally need some configuration on certain systems but it works most of the time. Or just use VLC.

[bluto]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

You do realize the reasons behind this? My teamlead was ranting about this very issue today and i told him that had microsoft included a dvd codec in xp or vista, they would have had to pay a royalty to the DVD consortium for every copy of windows sold. And then remember the simpsons episode where bill gates said he didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks. And there you have the reason why the previous generations of the os did not have this capability. By the time Win7 came around, DVD is a far more obsolete commodity so the fee is probably only a few pennies per copy now.

Also remember the first xbox. It could play DVDs but only if you bought the 'remote kit'. This allowed them to break out the cost of the DVD license from the console itself.

Of course free dvd players/codecs based on d-css don't pay any royalties to begin with :-)

[ratdude747]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

You do realize the reasons behind this? My teamlead was ranting about this very issue today and i told him that had microsoft included a dvd codec in xp or vista, they would have had to pay a royalty to the DVD consortium for every copy of windows sold. And then remember the simpsons episode where bill gates said he didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks. And there you have the reason why the previous generations of the os did not have this capability. By the time Win7 came around, DVD is a far more obsolete commodity so the fee is probably only a few pennies per copy now.

Also remember the first xbox. It could play DVDs but only if you bought the 'remote kit'. This allowed them to break out the cost of the DVD license from the console itself.

Of course free dvd players/codecs based on d-css don't pay any royalties to begin with :-)

I know why, my complaint is to the creator of the codec on his business model. hell, adobe could have hung the internet by the balls with the .pdf format... instead, they made the reader free and made money on the file writers...

[brethin]

Re: RANT: DVD decoders

I bought a copy of Nero 7 Ultra many years ago (I think it was like $30) and to this day still use it. The decoder alone was worth what I spent not counting all the other uses I have gotten from it.