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DVD software

By DavidLPal1 ·
Since i am new to this i have a question. Is it possible to download DVD software into my computer and watch a DVD disk on my computer. I have CD-RW external burner(iomegaZipCD650) and the CD reader inside my computer. As i said i am new to this thanks for any info.

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It's (kind of) possible...

by El Grippo In reply to DVD software


You can copy DVD files onto your hard drive and play them.... but it takes something like 15GB to play a full movie... not exactly space friendly...

Enter DivX....
DivX does to movies what mp3 does to audio...
Full movies, close enoughto DVD quality with picture and sound, and small enough to fit onto one CD.

The downsides to DivX are that it takes 3 hours (and 15GB...) to encode a movie, and they don't play on DVD drives as video cd's...

All you need to play thesefiles is a simple codec (availabled for free all over the web), and some encoding software (also free).

Try searching either for divx stuff or try

If you can't find anything, I can e-mail the programs I use to you if you want...

Hope this helps,


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If they could copy then...

by LordInfidel In reply to It's (kind of) possible.. ...

If he was able to read dvd's from his cd-rom then he would not be posting this question.

Remeber, cd roms can not read dvd's. Hence he would not be able to read the data on the dvd in the first place to even begin copying it to his hard drive.
Just something to think about

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DVD Player

by oldboy In reply to If they could copy then.. ...

the easy way out is to either by a home DVD player or aDVDROM for your computer both are getting cheaper by the day...if u bay a home DVD player make sue it can read ntsc and pal and is multi zone with DVD VCD CD CDR CDRW MP3 capable, u will find they are available.Chinese are turning them out by the truck load.

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by El Grippo In reply to If they could copy then.. ...

My fault. I must've read the original post wrong...
I guess I just assumed he had a DVD drive in his machine.

I'd better go and slap myself now...

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by Phillip Taylor In reply to It's (kind of) possible.. ...

a dvd cannot be played on a CDRW. If you had a dvd and a cdrw, yes you could rip a dvd to an avi and slap it on a disk (or 2). but how can you copy dvd files to your harddisk with a dvd player? you cant! if someone ripped the disk for you, then sure. but you cant read a dvd (or extract any files) then you cant convert it just as you cant watch it through the software. PS. i am running Win2K on my pc - i got a dvd player but i dont wanna fork out for software. i cant crack any trial installs andmy old version of the dvd player software i cant replace or get upgrades for. i have tried downloads for all free dvd software compatable with win2k but it wont work. if any one can help i would apprecieate it.


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by Mr.Guppy In reply to DVD software

Yes U can Copy DVD s, it will cost U about $45 to copy and $15 Movie, plus the FBI will Fine U $250,000 plus 15 years in jail. Cheaper to buy Used DVD movies at the Video Store, bye now,

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No... Sorry, but good try...

by LordInfidel In reply to DVD software

Having the DVD software is only part of the battle. The other part is having a actual dvd player.

They go hand in hand.

You can not have one without the other.

The authoring/decoding software actually allows your computer to decode the information on the dvd rom. This is comparible to a stand alone dvd player that has this software hard coded into it.

A computer needs the software installed. But this means you can not just install the software and throw a dvd into a cd-rom. The cd rom is not equipped to read dvd's.

This is the same thing as putting a 12x cd into a 2x cd player. The player will be unable to read the cd because of speed differences. But you can put a 2x cd inside of a 12x cd rom player.

Hence you can play a cd-rom inside a dvd player, but not vice versa.

Which brings me to my last point. I have seen all to often people buy dvd players for the computers and throw away the dvd software cd. Do not Do This. Make sure you keep the cd. It will save you heartache in the future.

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Correct on the DVD but whoa on the CD

by James R Linn In reply to No... Sorry, but good try ...

In theory a CD is a CD is a CD, no matter if it was pressed in the factory, or burned in a 2X burner or 12X burner. I'm just talking about write once CDs

It should work in all PCs, the difference being that slower CDs will access the data slower.Early on in the days of CD burners(96/97), I did see some compatibility issues where this didn't always work. And I still occasionally see it today - but its not by intent its usually poor design.


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Nope.....Go ahead and try it...

by LordInfidel In reply to Correct on the DVD but wh ...

Let's say a cd is written at 12x. Are you going to try to tell me that a 2x cdrom can read a cd burned at 12x.

I don't think so. It is basically impossible, short of a miracle.

The phenomena that you are seeing are HigherGrade/Speed cd's burned at slower speeds.

If I burn a 12x capable cd at 1x then yes, technically a 2x cd rom should be able to read it.

However, not all cd- manufactures conform to the 1x standard.

I have seen cd's come from the manufacture burned off at 8x. Which sucks for alot of older systems that have 6x cd roms. It won't read them. No matter how hard you try.

I did notice some of the older cd burners were incapable of using the newer higher grade cdr's. But that is another issue altogether.

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I must agree with LordInfidel here..

by TomSal In reply to Nope.....Go ahead and try ...

He's right, you can not expect with any sound logical reasoning that a cd BURNED at 12x speed with run in a 2x player. Sidenote: there is a misconception that the higher the "x speed" of a CD - Rom, the better the faster. If you want to get **** - after about 24x there is very little gains for each step up in speed, much like RAM.

For example: The speed difference between a 1 x drive and say a 10x drive is FAR more dramatic as say a 24x CD-ROM and a 50x CD-ROM (you can see the proof for yourself if you have any good benchmark software that not only records the access time, but keep an eye on your RAM usage - its pretty interesting).

I was shocked when I found out that THREE (and they were all different brands - Sony, Goldstar and HP)CD-ROMS from 24x - 60x speed, and the performance gains in the speeds were hardly worth mentioning. Yet a newbie computer user would make the common mistake of telling people his 60x CD-ROM is 3 times faster than a 24X CD-ROM, which is not really the truth at all. (And forget it if you throw a SCSI cd-rom into the mix! A SCSI cd-rom at 10x can actually outperform an EIDE CD-ROM at 50x!!!)

I did small research into why this happens because I'm just curious, appartently what I read was basically the "x speed" (which is "supposed" to be the transfer speed)really doesn't matter much, its the caching ability of the drive and the connection media (like EIDE or SCSI) that matter the most.

Finally on the DVD thing, Lord Infidel is 100% correct...its IMPOSSIBLE, TECHNICIALLY IMPOSSIBLE for a standard CD-ROM to play a DVD disc, I don't care what software is on your system. Why? Because a CD-ROM doesn't have all the lasers that a DVD requires.

It's like trying to fire a 9mm slug out of a Barret .50cal, you just can't do it - its not MADE for it!

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