DVD playback - what programs are you using?

[Galway]

All our machines are preloaded with the free copy of powerDVD shipped with all the cdroms, and so dont actually cost us anything. I retain all the mountain of CD's in a box. I think the problem you have with media player i had and traced it back to video acceleration. just knock it back a notch utill you have the overlay playing correctly. Right click on the desktop and navigate to the settings/ advanced / troubleshoot. Media player also needs a codec pack to play dvd's.

Hope this is all it is ....

[roland]

I have had the most success with PowerDVD, seem to put in all the codecs that I need.

I got greedy and installed VistaCodecs (as an MSI) and it very kindly installed a QuickTime equivalent with seemed to break many (read ALL) of the educations games which use quicktime.

Still have not got to the bottom of it all, so getting ready to deploy new image and reading this post, to see what others are using.

- tx Roly

[Geoff]

All our machines are preloaded with the free copy of powerDVD shipped with all the cdroms, and so dont actually cost us anything.

Be careful there. Sometimes it's home/personal use only.

[ranj]

VLC is the way, bit more unorthordox to use, but its free and hey its play most format. You cannot go wrong with VLC.

[timbo343]

VLC is the way, bit more unorthordox to use, but its free and hey its play most format. You cannot go wrong with VLC.

We use powerDVD around some parts of the school but am going to start rolling out VLC, a mate at uni had it on his laptop and to be honest, you cant go wrong with it.

[richard]

I have just installed VLC on my Mac Mini as it is the only thing that I can find that will play .wmv files on it

[logonui]

Power DVD does exactly what it needs to do and we get a license with most laptops we buy anyway

[Homer]

my question is has anybody had issues with sound? using smartboard usb speakers?

we use the klite codec pack here, but when a teacher plays back a dvd using MPC the background audio/music is loud, while dialogue is very quiet. we have played around with lots of settings but cannot fix it, and the only way is to use vlc.

logical option, use vlc, but my manager doesn't like vlc so we can't use it. does anybody have any ideas?!

cheers

[mac_shinobi]

what about the latest revision which is called cinema

Media Player Classic – Home Cinema - Video Player

[mac_shinobi]

I have just installed VLC on my Mac Mini as it is the only thing that I can find that will play .wmv files on it

flip 4 mac

Telestream Flip4Mac WMV - Overview

[Arthur]

we use the klite codec pack here, but when a teacher plays back a dvd using MPC the background audio/music is loud, while dialogue is very quiet. we have played around with lots of settings but cannot fix it, and the only way is to use vlc.

IME, codec packs are never a good idea as they almost always cause playback problems (like the one you are describing) and generally mess up DirectShow-based media players like Media Player Classic and Windows Media Player. A much better option would be to install just the codecs you need e.g. ffdshow & Haali Media Splitter or use a media player with codecs built in, such as Media Player Classic - Home Cinema, VLC or KMPlayer.

The K-Lite codec pack for example contains multiple MPEG-4 ASP codecs (Xvid, DivX), multiple MPEG-2 codecs (Gabest's and Cyberlink's - the latter of which would be illegal to use if you don't already have a license for PowerDVD) and so on.

http://www.howtogeek.com/wiki/Why_Codec_Packs_Are_Bad
http://forum.inmatrix.com/index.php?showtopic=107

[Geoff]

Also consider DScaler.

DScaler Media Decoders

A lot less faff than some other codec packs.

[TheLibrarian]

my question is has anybody had issues with sound? using smartboard usb speakers?

we use the klite codec pack here, but when a teacher plays back a dvd using MPC the background audio/music is loud, while dialogue is very quiet. we have played around with lots of settings but cannot fix it, and the only way is to use vlc.

logical option, use vlc, but my manager doesn't like vlc so we can't use it. does anybody have any ideas?!

cheers

Media Player Classic is trying to play 5.1 sound but you've only got stereo.

You need to make a change in the options (see options dialog capture).

Attachment 7733

[aaronjwilkinson]

I have VLC and Power DVD deployed as Msi packages...so either of those.

[TheLibrarian]

The K-Lite codec pack for example contains multiple MPEG-4 ASP codecs (Xvid, DivX), multiple MPEG-2 codecs (Gabest's and Cyberlink's - the latter of which would be illegal to use if you don't already have a license for PowerDVD) and so on.

I'm following this up with a query to CyberLink's technical support - if it turns out that CyberLink do consider K-Lite's distribution of their codec illegal I will be most put out.

Suffice to say I will update this thread when I get a response from CyberLink.