dvd codec for windows media player (1 Viewer)

[Ted Lee]

hey all -

i'm interested in using my windows media player (9) to play dvd's. i'm trying to install minimal software on this laptop, so i'm hesitant to install something like win-dvd, power-dvd, etc. (however, if anyone knows of a very small, simple program to do this i'd be willing to take a look.)

i know i need some kind of codec to allow media player to play dvd's. but the links i follow go to some package where i have to pay for the codec.

is it possible (and/or legal) to use some third-party codec to do the same thing? i'm not looking for anything fancy - it just has to play my dvd and output in stereo.

i checked a couple of free-codec type websites, but i couldn't really find anything.

thx!

ted

 

[Diallo B]

this is a toughie. any reputable mpeg-2 codec will do. the problem is that in order to get anything reputable you usually must pay for it.

if you already have a win-dvd or power-dvd disk then imo, that is the best way to go. to limit how either program accesses you resources all you have to do is turn of their startups in msconfig and turn off any other undesirable features. then you can watch the dvd in wmp.

i actually prefer using windvd because i can view the video as a desktop and work over it. (the feature is called 'video desktop'.)

i'm going to look around real quick and see if i can come up with anything.

 

[Diallo B]

review and try this out.

http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=220#comments

 

[Max Leung]

I'm hearing rave reviews about the DScaler 5 DVD decoder (not to be confused with the regular DScaler deinterlacer software - but made by the same author). However, it is at version 0.0.3 right now, so it is in the alpha stage right now!

AVSForum members (those who can get it to work) say it is the best mpeg2 decoder yet - better than NVIDIA's NVDVD 4 solution that was just released on NVIDIA's website a couple of days ago ($20 US for the NVIDIA DVD/mpeg2 decoders).

 

[Ted Lee]

thx guys. i'm gonna check these out.

how "reputable" and "functional" are these things? do they cause more problems then they're worth, etc?

also, i'm assuming (there i go again...) that installation is pretty straight-forward? just run some executable or something?

 

[Ted Lee]

diallo - i went with the media player classic. it's exactly what i was looking for: simple and small.

 

[Diallo B]

great! glad i could help.

 

[Scott L]

I have the NVDVD codec and it looks great. I'm a long time Sonic user and it's also a good choice for $15.

Li On posted A/B comparison pics between NVDVD & DScaler's free one. I couldn't tell a damn difference but some people were edging ever so slightly towards DScaler's.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html
http://estore.sonic.com/enu/cineplayer/dvd.asp?lang=enu

Installing is a breeze, a simple EXE as you mentioned. However there's a chance you'll soon go into uber tweak mode when you see what FFDSHOW can do and will probably be pulling your hair out like the rest of us.

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

Another open-source solution is VideoLan (www.videolan.org), which is similar to Media Player Classic. The latest version can do DVDs, complete with built-in postprocessing if your computer can handle it.

 

[Ted Lee]

what's postprocessing?