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DVD on Laptop

post #1 of 15
1/30/04 at 11:03pm
Thread Starter 
Is an Athlon xp m 2400+ adequate to play DVD movie? Do I need any special software to see a movie on a laptop or will it play with media player? If I connect the laptop to a TV with S Video out will I need any special software?

Do excuse all these very basic questions as I'm a newbie
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post #2 of 15
1/30/04 at 11:18pm
Windows Media Player cannot play DVDs without a 3rd party decoder. You can choose to "purchase" one of those WMP plug-ins or a stand-alone DVD player software. Sending DVD over S-Video requires no special software. But you cannot view a DVD with the LCD and a S-VIdeo monitor simultaneously.
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post #3 of 15
1/31/04 at 12:27am
Your processor should be more than enough to handle software decoding of DVD's. I was able to watch movies on my P3-500 using a software decoder without any problems at all.

Like the poster above me said, Windows Media Player won't play DVD's natively. I use PowerDVD on my laptop and it works great.
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post #4 of 15
1/31/04 at 12:29am
hi Deepak - where are you from?? Im from Chennai in India

Oh and yes - whatever the others said
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post #5 of 15
1/31/04 at 12:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by deltawalkerl
Windows Media Player cannot play DVDs without a 3rd party decoder. You can choose to "purchase" one of those WMP plug-ins or a stand-alone DVD player software. Sending DVD over S-Video requires no special software. But you cannot view a DVD with the LCD and a S-VIdeo monitor simultaneously.
What? That's news to me. I assume that's just for video cards that don't have hardware DVD decryption built in? It certainly works for ones that do.
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post #6 of 15
1/31/04 at 1:20am
I know that for the All-in-wonder cards the ATI multimedia package includes a dvd decoder which is why WMP works with it. I do believe that even with a hardware decoder you will need a software driver. WMP can use that driver to play DVDs.
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post #7 of 15
1/31/04 at 4:16am
Thread Starter 
Thanks all. Ferrari, I'm in Bangalore and am new to this laptop thing. I am buying mainly to use as a portable storage device for my digital images when on vacation so I may also use to see DVD movie on vacation. Is Acer a good make? Would I need this hardware decoder?
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post #8 of 15
1/31/04 at 4:29am
Thread Starter 
Thanks all. Ferrari, I'm in Bangalore and am new to this laptop thing. I am buying mainly to use as a portable storage device for my digital images when on vacation so I may also use to see DVD movie on vacation. Is Acer a good make? Would I need this hardware decoder?
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post #9 of 15
1/31/04 at 10:57am
Can you point me to the model on the website where I can see the specs. Acer is a pretty decent brand. Most laptops are capable of DVD playback as long as they have a DVD player. They will not sell you a laptop with a DVD player which cannot play DVD's

If it has an S-Video out then you can by all means connect it to a TV and activate it using whatever hot-key combo is specific to that notebook. We do this all the time for watching the latest Kamal movies on our TV

You might need an s-video -> RCA convertor because I havent seen too many TV's with S-video input. You can buy one in walmart for around $25.00

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post #10 of 15
2/1/04 at 6:00am
Thread Starter 
Hi Ferrari,

The website of the Acer is:

http://www.notebookshop.co.th/detail...tebook&html=04

Could you give me advice as to whether this is a good buy?
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post #11 of 15
2/1/04 at 10:47am
Deepak - Why are you ordering from that website? Isnt there a retailer in Singapore/Taiwan or someplace? I thought you were in the US anyway...

I dont have the conversion rates with me and therefore I cannot comment on the price of that notebook. I am not familiar with the "saudi" prices - sounds like Iraqi doesnt it?? Baht ?? or is that Saddam's party ?

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post #12 of 15
2/1/04 at 2:29pm
Thread Starter 
Hi Ferrari,

I am from Bangalore, very much in India. I am buying this in Bangkok next week. The converted rate is about Rs: 40000/-. Now can you give me an idea if its OK?
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post #13 of 15
2/1/04 at 4:51pm
Thats about $1000.00 sounds pretty good AFAIK.

Whatcha gonna do about customs? the people in Chennai are pretty anal about these things...I think there was some news about them opening up but i hope thats not just talk because I have three notebooks that I will be bringing home next year

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post #14 of 15
2/1/04 at 10:33pm
Thread Starter 
From 9th of Jan you are allowed to bring ONE laptop per passenger duty free. So you could bring one and ask friends to bring in the others. Where are you now?US?
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post #15 of 15
2/1/04 at 11:00pm
yes - under the username you can find all the info you want about yours truly
he he

One laptop? I'll have to bother my friends in "high-places" to get all three in...
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