[videobruce]

I upgraded a Sony Vaio RX460 to 2k and there is no software for the DVD player.
I have looked at this from M$ on DVD players in 2k:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;249334

What software would be best for this setup. The MB has a Athlon 1.2GB. I believe the MB is made by Asus if that matters. The DVD player is Sony AFAIK.

[Avalanche]

Cyberlink PowerDVD will work, that's what I use, and I used it under win2k and now winXP.

WinDVD is said to be good too, I've never used it, but I understand it is about on equal footing with PowerDVD, I just own a license for PowerDVD so it's what I use.

But the newest version of Windows Media Player will play dvds also, so if you donw want to pay for more software perhaps upgrading to Windows Media Player 9 will be enough. I don't particularly like the look of dvd played on WMP though, the colours don't seem quite right, they look like an over explosed photograph. There may be video settings to adjust that, but I haven't bothered to look.

[Lord Riff Raff]

http://www.ntcompatible.com/category5.html , 3rd item.
PyroDVD , if you don't want to shell out any cash. tis free.

[Copernicus]

I personally like Sonic Cineplayer 1.5. It uses less ram and processor time than WinDVD and PowerDVD.

[Lord Riff Raff]

Is it free though?

[Copernicus]

Nope,but if you like free players Interactual is really good.

[Mr.Guvernment]

Media player? - is free and plays dvd's

[clutch]

Quote:

Media player? - is free and plays dvd's

Only if you have a hardware or software decoder installed, otherwise it will prompt you to install one.

[Avalanche]

Quote:

Quote:

Media player? - is free and plays dvd's

Only if you have a hardware or software decoder installed, otherwise it will prompt you to install one.

And it looks all grey and washed out when compared to PowerDVD or any of the other players I've used. Rather ugly I'd say, but that may be because of my video card, it's hard to say.

Has anybody else noticed this with wmp?

[Mr.Guvernment]

^^^ grey and ugly?


i am missing something media player looks like media player to me

i do personally use powerDVD - but issue with it is it does not always keep the aspect ratio on Xvid and DivX's i get, which really pi**es me off - but media player does fine - and yes, ihave checked off in powerdvd keep aspect ratio, but it just stretches it out to full screen anyways!

[Avalanche]

Yes, I think you are missing something.

The picture being displayed by media player when playing dvds is grey-ish, as in what should be black is instead dark grey, and all the colours look washed out and dull looking. This doesn't happen with any other media (divx, xvid, or even basic mpeg-2 files that aren't on dvd media), just when playing back dvds.

But like I said, it might just be because of my videocard/driver combination, cause it doesn't look like anyone else has this same issue.

[videobruce]

What/how do I get/do to have hardware solution?
Is the only benefit less processor usage or is the video better (less compression artifacts)?