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Watching DVD movies on your PC
Originally posted on January
13th, 2003
InterVideo vs. PowerDVD
I have a TV and a DVD player
at home to watch movies like most us but a lot of people like
to use their laptops or computers to watch DVD movies. Probably
the most popular are college dorm rooms where students with limited
space combine computers with DVD players.
Most laptops, desktop PCs and
Apple Computers come standard with DVD player drive built in.
Surprisingly, Windows XP doesn't have the capability to play
DVD movies right out of the box. Unless of course if you purchased
your PC from a leading reseller like Micron or Dell. These guys
bundle a third party DVD player like Intervideo's
WinDVD or CyberLink's
PowerDVD.
When I first got my copy of Windows
XP home some time ago I was very excited with the idea of watching
DVDs in my office or demonstrating this to prospective clients
who come in to my store. So, I followed the instruction of a
Microsoft tech support person and downloaded InterVideo's WinDVD
XPack for Windows XP. I loaded it up and not soon after that,
I discovered that my video locks up while watching the movie
(Cable Guy).
I called Intervideo and got on
hold for one of their excellent support techs... he came on and
told me to do 2 things. 1. check my Task Manager and look at
the CPU usage. I did and it was at 13% with no other programs
loaded... anyway you get the gist of what he was doing... shrugging
me off. Number 2 was the download the latest driver from my video
card manufacturer... oh the days of Windows 98 are back! Man.
I thought we dumped those days when Win XP came out.
So do you wanna know how I fixed
the problem? I had a copy of PowerDVD by CyberLink sitting right
on my work counter that came in a boxed of DVD reader drives
and I loaded it right up... It worked. I watched Cable Guy and
my Dave Mathews Band video CD with no jerks or skips or anything.
Lesson: the guys at InterVideo
don't right good drivers. At least for my setup.
When I wrote this article my
computer consisted of the following:
Asus A7V333 mobo, 512mb, ATI
Radeon 7500 and a SB Audigy. I didn't have any issues with my
system at all and it ran perfectly.
So, go out and get yourself a
copy of PowerDVD.
Michael
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