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I guess not for sale anymore as apparently there was no demand.

http://www.cyberlink.com/eng/press_room/view_1849.html

As it stands now nothing but commercial encoders are accessing this I believe as Intel came to the table VERY late for the x.264 guys.

No and no.

From what I've heard (grain of salt) it isn't so much a technical issue but a licensing issue. Nintendo made a calculated judgement to release it without DVD playback because the market is sufficiently saturated at this point. I've wondered if a company like Cyberlink would ever bring a DVD program like PowerDVD out to the Wii store. I suppose it might be too niche at this point though.

Now, I can't personally speak on subjects like Blu-Ray or such (aside from that fact that you'll probably never be able to legally play them on XP in the USA)

Why? You just need a licensed software BluRay player for that, e.g. PowerDVD - and it specifically lists XP as supported.

Actually, yes! Cyberlink seems to have a Linux version, the first version of which was announced sometime in 2006.

Weird link.. It has the info on Power Cinema for linux, but no link to the product. Under products and following Power Cinema to the system requirements, you get this;

Operation System:
Microsoft Windows XP (Home edition or Professional edition)
Microsoft Windows Vista
DirectX 9 or above
Windows Media Player 9 or above

How do you find the Linux one? The link;
http://www.cyberlink.com/english/products/powercinema/pcm-linux/pcmlinuxgpl.jsp
appears to be only a GPL license page for the GPL portions of the product. Is there really a Cyberlink Cinema product for Linux and how do you find it?

I've heard rumors of a legal DVD player for Linux, but have not seen it marketed where I could find it. All links for me tend to dead end in the system requirements for Windows * and Direct X.

Right. And the point is that Microsoft did not pay to include DVD software, the end-user did that when they bought their Windows machine from the OEM. Ubuntu goes a step beyond Microsoft and allows the end-user to determine for themselves if what they are doing is legal in their jurisdiction and allows them to play DVDs if it is. For users that really want a DMCA-compliant player, Cyberlink offers one here: http://www.cyberlink.com/english/products/powercinema/pcm-linux/pcmlinuxgpl.jsp .

It sounds like you hate the DMCA as much as anyone should and are aware of the issues around DVD playback. But Microsoft gets no points for the majority of Windows users being able to play encrypted DVDs without too much hassle, rather that honor goes to the OEMs.

I didn't check the details of my quick-and-dirty Newegg list, but I think all the problems (except for TrueHD or DTS HD) can be fixed with alternate parts or relatively inexpensive software upgrades (supposedly 7.1-capable PowerDVD Deluxe is $35 at Newegg). For TrueHD or DTS HD (which requires HDMI 1.3), I guess HDMI 1.3 video cards and motherboards won't be ready for a while.

No it doesn't. PowerDVD SE $15.

As if any XP system hasn't shipped with a third-party DVD player since August of 2001.

There may be a legal DVD player for Linux. In most cases Linux is distributed for free with an open source license. This distribution model prevents closed source propritary applications from being bundled with the distribution.

It is now true that there is a legal DVD player. The CSS folks are so late to the table on this one, most people don't care. The un-licensed players are more consumer friendly, free, and don't make you suffer through the FBI warning.

Is the legal player free, as in cost? I have a feeling since to license players requires a fee, I would imagine the player is not free. It's probably a per installation fee. They are too late and have not met the conusmers specifications for a player.

The 2 year old in the house brings me a movie to watch. If I play it in the living room, the moment he sees the FBI warning, he knows I put on the wrong movie and hands me another.

I'm a lot like the 2 year old. I want to watch the movie now, not some boring text I've already seen many times.

If you already have a Linux installation, the legal option does not appear to be an option. I went to the CyberLink website and looked for the Linux DVD player. I didn't find it. If you can point me to it and it's price, let me know.

http://www.cyberlink.com/

Getting legal DVD playback is still a problem.

No, won't be any of those.

Open Source; free to obtain, use, and modify

Software and hardware decoding support

Output to DivX and MPEG2

Runs on Linux and MacOS, feeds to Windows (Windows MCE runs on -- guess what -- Windows only!)

Ultra-low system requirements

Support for companion and third-party plug-ins

Scalable network architecture (master/slaves) (MCE has only basic TCP/IP support)

Record once, transcode and play anywhere (in MCE you can only record and play using the same device)

Music: Foobar2000 0.8.3 (iTunes and dumbed down fb2k annoy me)

Video: Media Player Classic with ffdshow

If you are using an iMac or MacBook Pro, then you might be interested in the Windows-only software that enables the ATI Radeon 1600's GPU-accelerated H.264 playback and video transcoding. For GPU-accelerated H.264, I think you need to purchase CyberLink's H.264 decoder. ATI's Avivo Video Converter is integrated into the latest Catalyst Control Center, which I'm not sure is included on Apple's Windows driver disc image.

Does anybody know if GPU-accelerated H.264 playback and video transcoding is enabled on OS X yet?

Music: Foobar2000 0.8.3 (iTunes and dumbed down fb2k annoy me)

Video: Media Player Classic with ffdshow

If you are using an iMac or MacBook Pro, then you might be interested in the Windows-only software that enables the ATI Radeon 1600's GPU-accelerated H.264 playback and video transcoding. For GPU-accelerated H.264, I think you need to purchase CyberLink's H.264 decoder. ATI's Avivo Video Converter is integrated into the latest Catalyst Control Center, which I'm not sure is included on Apple's Windows driver disc image.

Does anybody know if GPU-accelerated H.264 playback and video transcoding is enabled on OS X yet?

I think the answer to that question is in just about every other post. Because you are worse off after buying these products.

Tell me where I can buy a copy of a movie that will play on my linux system from my hardrive. Furthermore, if I'm paying for such a copy I want the codec that it's in and the file format to be documented and don't want to relly on one company to support it.

You can't buy such a thing. Hell you can't even buy such a thing that will go on a windows system.

Sure you can, Linspire sells a licensed DVD player for Linux. And, as far as Windows, there's PowerDVD among other software players that come bundled with the purchase of a system w/DVD drive or an OEM drive. I've never purchased either where a Windows player didn't come with the DVD drive. I must be missing your point on that...

Don't give me any such crap about stealing, I don't do p2p. I can see where people are getting quite frustrated. All I do is buy easily scratchable shiny plastic discs that I can't backup in overly bulky containers. It's no wonder people are sharing this stuff, I may go that route myself in the future.

I can see where they are getting frustrated too, but possibly for different reasons (DRM, EULA, stupid excessive copyright restrictions, etc.). Why aren't you allowed to backup DVDs? That is within your rights under fair use as I understand it (INL). Does the DMCA trump fair use in this regard? If so, why? I don't think I'm dishing out "crap" by asking these questions, or by pointing out the obvious conclusions of the "us vs. them" mentality in the P2P arena. Look, if you aren't using P2P for illegal purposes now, it is an easy bet that you wouldn't walk into a store and abscond out the door with a stack of discs, right? Then why would you want to "go that route" yourself someday via P2P? Ethically, what is the difference? Is it really a load of crap? No, it's just harder to catch and prosecute...at the moment.

Show me where folks like Orrin Hatch and the big media companies are advancing the arguments for further controlling OUR usage of OUR property without invoking copyright infringing P2P transactions. I don't think you'll find many instances where that isn't in the equation. My point is valid. They will continue to use this against all of us and the technologies that we freely employ today (for whatever purpose), who doubts that? It is the catch all excuse for taking more of our rights from us. Those who argue against this concept today (because they aren't getting caught...yet) are simply adding fuel to the power-grabbing fire. Like it or not.

Frogs in the cooks pot, he slowly turns up the heat and we don't even notice until we're collectively cooked...