Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 3/13/2006, 9:52 AM
Use either WinDVD or PowerDVD, two software DVD players.
Widetrack wrote on 3/13/2006, 11:14 AM
Thank you John. I'm downloading now.

Do you have a preference?
Chienworks wrote on 3/16/2006, 5:46 AM
I think PowerDVD is a tad less confusing to use. Either one seems to work acceptably well though.

Personal gripe ... i wish these media players would include a skin in which the buttons contained WORDS naming the functions! I would love to see a player that had buttons such as [PLAY] [PAUSE] [NEXT] [EJECT]. But no ... the programmers have to make them look fancy and elegant. I absolutely despise having to try to figure out what the mystical and bizarre icons in each different player/version do. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

End of gripe. Please enjoy your day. :)
craftech wrote on 3/16/2006, 6:13 AM
It's too bad Sigma Designs no longer makes the Hollywood Plus DVD Decoder Card. I bought two of them for $40 each at a computer show sevaral years ago and put them into two computers. They play DVD's flawlessly, exactly like a standalone DVD player.
I have seen them on Ebay really cheap, but make sure it comes with the special VGA to 7-Pin S-Video cable.
Some ATI cards have built in Cinemaster hardware DVD decoding as well. They ALL did at one time (an OEM sales pitch) , but not any longer.

John
johnmeyer wrote on 3/16/2006, 8:38 AM
i wish these media players would include a skin in which the buttons contained WORDS naming the functions!

I completely agree. I have a morbid fear of those cutsie signs on bathrooms at restaurants. I'm never quite sure I'm entering the correct room and usually say something on entering, always expecting a scream in return.

Back on topic ... either player works fine. I have both. I'm not totally happy with either one, but the really, really old WinDVD is my favorite.

Another thing to do, if you want to test a project, is to burn it to a DVD+RW or DVD-RW. The re-writeable disks will probably play in your set-top player. This is the ultimate "zero-coaster" way to test the DVD. There are still some things that won't show up until you actually play on your TV set (like titleset navigation, safe area violations, colors, etc.).
richard-courtney wrote on 3/17/2006, 6:33 AM
John:

Hollywood has been replaced by the Odyssey:
http://www.sigmadesigns.com/pdf_docs/Odyssey_brochure.pdf

most of the development has gone toward networked set top boxes.
Such as the Envision line:
http://www.sigmadesigns.com/pdf_docs/Envision8620L_br.pdf

I still have a couple of the Hollywood+ cards.

I like the software player from videolan.org
Chienworks wrote on 3/17/2006, 4:19 PM
I wouldn't guarantee "zero coaster", but it is very very close. I've had a very few DVD+RW discs that went through bad burns and were unrecoverable after that. It's almost like they became +R instead of +RW and no utility would try to erase them afterwards. True, this has only happened maybe 5 times out of thousands of burns.

And another thing to fret and worry about possibly much more than necessary is that not all DVD players will show the menues and operate the navigation identically. Neither will all TVs show the same safe area. Sometimes you've just gotta hope for the best and hope that not too many people return your discs in an angry hissy fit.

Oh, John, i once went to a wedding reception that was held in a backwater redneck bar & grill. The bathroom doors had plaques showing the outlines of the two types of genetalia to identify which was which. Not much confusion there! The bride asked me if i could find some paper and a magic marker so i could make up "Men" and "Women" signs to tape up over the plaques.