DVD decoder thingy...

[TS2Master]

I have put Windows XP on both my new PC's but they can't just play DVD's straight away. Where can I get an Ad-free, good DVD player program.

Isn't WinDVD good? I've seen it on my friends PC's and stuff....

[mid]

WinDVD can be purchased from their site, and if you've just got a new PC its almost certainly powerful enough to handle good software decoding.

Some people prefer PowerDVD, but they're strange anyway

The other option is that OEM copies of WinDVD seem to come with just about any Retail pack graphics card; someone is bound to have a spare one to give you.

[Papercut]

I managed to piece together a DVD player with free software. Get yourself Media Player Classic and the ffdshow uber-codec.

[mid]

Yeah, but that's not strictly legal, is it?

Besides, WinDVD is (a) better (because it has a bunch of features that MPC can't do), (b) not bank-breakingly expensive, and (c) probably free if you ask around anyway.

[Chadruharazzeb]

Yeah, but that's not strictly legal, is it?

It is actually.

[marcus]

Doesnt the latest WMP9 play DVDs straight out of the box? Personally I use PowerDVD XP for DVDs, we use WinDVD at work though and its all down to preference as they do pretty much the same thing.

[Papercut]

For wmp9 to play DVDs you need to hunt around for the right codecs, or have something like windvd or powerdvd installed (which contain suitable mpeg2 decoders and demuxers).

ffdshow is legal as it is 'educational' and not distributed in binary form.