M
Michael Laplante
The recent loss of my commercial DVD program led me on a search for a
freeware version. I know that there are periodically calls for DVD players
on this NG. Media Player Classic is supposed to play DVDs but I find that
some DVDs play choppy on it. Here are some alternatives that might interest
you.
It turns out that Win98SE itself has some "free" DVD players built right
into it as I discovered on some NGs. The following instructions may apply to
other versions of Windows, I don't know.
_______________________________________
OPTION 1:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
It turns out that Windows Media Player -- the "old" one that comes standard
with Win98 (aka mplayer2.exe) -- can be tweaked via the registry to play
DVDs. According to the instructions I saved:
--------------------
1. This setting allows you to use Microsoft Media Player to Play and Open
DVDs.
2. Open your registry and find the key below.
3. Create a new string value called "EnableDVDUI" and set it to "yes" to
enable DVD functionality.
Settings
Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\Settings]
Value Name: EnableDVDUI
Data Type: REG_SZ (String Value)
Value Data: yes or no
Disclaimer: Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may
require you to reinstall your operating system. Backup your registry first.
Once you follow the above instructions, run mplayer2.exe. (Via Start | Run
or create a shortcut to the original in the Windows directory.) You'll now
see that under File is the menu item Open DVD. . .
_______________________________________
OPTION 2:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
It also seems that Win98SE also has a dedicated DVD player, that isn't
installed as part of the normal installation process. However, you can do it
manually, following the instructions below:
---------------
To install the player yourself, you need to extract it from Windows 98 CAB
files using Winzip.
DRIVER11.CAB..........DVDPLAY.CHM
DRIVER17.CAB..........DVDPLAY.EXE
DRIVER17.CAB..........DVDRGN.EXE
DRIVER28.CAB..........DVDPLAY.CNT
DRIVER42.CAB..........DVDPLAY.HLP (French version of Windows 98)
DRIVER44.CAB..........DVDPLAY.HLP (US version of Windows 98)
P.S. Locations of these files might be in other CAB files if for some reason
microsoft decides to repackage Windows 98.
- Extract these 5 files into a folder of your choice
- Move DVDRGN.EXE into the Windows 98 folder
- Run DVDPLAY.EXE.
---------------
You're not quite home yet though, because for either of these methods to
work, you need a DVD registered driver. (These programs are just the "front
end" loaders needed to use the driver. Without a driver neither one of these
techniques will work.)
I found a free DVD codec at:
http://digilander.libero.it/frbat/software.htm#FreeDvdCodec
This one is meant to be used with MaximusDVD (see below) but it seems to
work just as well for the techniques discussed above.
I have tested both techniques above. My initial observations is that they
work superbly. However, mplayer2.exe doesn't have the navigation control
system that dvdplay.exe does. It's strictly an on/off program.
I also came across references to two freeware programs that might work
better for you.
_______________________________________
VideoLan
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
You can dl this program here.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
It is self-contained. It installs its own drivers and a front end program.
I've tested it -- it works wells, although the interface is a little clunky
to figure out and it seems capable of doing a bunch of other things that I
didn't check out. Also, once it stole my video file associations, I couldn't
seem to release from within the program preferences.
_______________________________________
MaximusDVDPlayer
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
The original site of this freeware program seems to have disappeared.
However, you can still find it by Googling for it. I found it here:
http://digilander.libero.it/frbat/software2.htm
As I mentioned above, you have to dl and install the free DVD codec that can
be found on the same site. I haven't tested this one at all, so I can't say
anything more about it.
Hope this helps someone. . .
M
freeware version. I know that there are periodically calls for DVD players
on this NG. Media Player Classic is supposed to play DVDs but I find that
some DVDs play choppy on it. Here are some alternatives that might interest
you.
It turns out that Win98SE itself has some "free" DVD players built right
into it as I discovered on some NGs. The following instructions may apply to
other versions of Windows, I don't know.
_______________________________________
OPTION 1:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
It turns out that Windows Media Player -- the "old" one that comes standard
with Win98 (aka mplayer2.exe) -- can be tweaked via the registry to play
DVDs. According to the instructions I saved:
--------------------
1. This setting allows you to use Microsoft Media Player to Play and Open
DVDs.
2. Open your registry and find the key below.
3. Create a new string value called "EnableDVDUI" and set it to "yes" to
enable DVD functionality.
Settings
Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\Settings]
Value Name: EnableDVDUI
Data Type: REG_SZ (String Value)
Value Data: yes or no
Disclaimer: Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may
require you to reinstall your operating system. Backup your registry first.
Once you follow the above instructions, run mplayer2.exe. (Via Start | Run
or create a shortcut to the original in the Windows directory.) You'll now
see that under File is the menu item Open DVD. . .
_______________________________________
OPTION 2:
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
It also seems that Win98SE also has a dedicated DVD player, that isn't
installed as part of the normal installation process. However, you can do it
manually, following the instructions below:
---------------
To install the player yourself, you need to extract it from Windows 98 CAB
files using Winzip.
DRIVER11.CAB..........DVDPLAY.CHM
DRIVER17.CAB..........DVDPLAY.EXE
DRIVER17.CAB..........DVDRGN.EXE
DRIVER28.CAB..........DVDPLAY.CNT
DRIVER42.CAB..........DVDPLAY.HLP (French version of Windows 98)
DRIVER44.CAB..........DVDPLAY.HLP (US version of Windows 98)
P.S. Locations of these files might be in other CAB files if for some reason
microsoft decides to repackage Windows 98.
- Extract these 5 files into a folder of your choice
- Move DVDRGN.EXE into the Windows 98 folder
- Run DVDPLAY.EXE.
---------------
You're not quite home yet though, because for either of these methods to
work, you need a DVD registered driver. (These programs are just the "front
end" loaders needed to use the driver. Without a driver neither one of these
techniques will work.)
I found a free DVD codec at:
http://digilander.libero.it/frbat/software.htm#FreeDvdCodec
This one is meant to be used with MaximusDVD (see below) but it seems to
work just as well for the techniques discussed above.
I have tested both techniques above. My initial observations is that they
work superbly. However, mplayer2.exe doesn't have the navigation control
system that dvdplay.exe does. It's strictly an on/off program.
I also came across references to two freeware programs that might work
better for you.
_______________________________________
VideoLan
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
You can dl this program here.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
It is self-contained. It installs its own drivers and a front end program.
I've tested it -- it works wells, although the interface is a little clunky
to figure out and it seems capable of doing a bunch of other things that I
didn't check out. Also, once it stole my video file associations, I couldn't
seem to release from within the program preferences.
_______________________________________
MaximusDVDPlayer
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
The original site of this freeware program seems to have disappeared.
However, you can still find it by Googling for it. I found it here:
http://digilander.libero.it/frbat/software2.htm
As I mentioned above, you have to dl and install the free DVD codec that can
be found on the same site. I haven't tested this one at all, so I can't say
anything more about it.
Hope this helps someone. . .
M