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Dell install a DVD player, but nothing else that I've noticed.

(Typing from a Dell M1330 laptop with preinstalled Ubuntu).

It says right in the WinDVD forum:

"This update includes security enhancements as well as updated licensing keys that will be required to view both newly purchased HD DVD/BD titles and those in your existing HD DVD/BD collections."

The key words to note are: "required to view both newly purchased" "and" "existing".

So, apparently it is a widespread myth. Maybe interVideo doesn't understand AACS, or their PR person has seriously goofed by spreading the myth.

There is a legal DVD player on linux:
http://www.intervideo.com/jsp/LinDVD.jsp

The default install of Windows doesn't play DVDs without a DVD codec. There's no reason to believe this wouldn't happen for Linux too. Most Linux users use the free codec which works great, but may be illegal but Intervideo has a Linux version: http://www.intervideo.com/jsp/LinDVD.jsp. I don't see a reason not to make that available to computer manufacturers putting Linux on their machines.

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?

Q: Some computer users say they only want to use DeCSS to view their DVDs on computers that use the Linux operating system. Windows- and Macintosh-based computers can play DVDs, so is it fair to deprive the Linux community?

A: The Linux argument is a false issue. It has always been in the interest of the Motion Picture industry that there be as many legitimately licensed DVD players as possible, including those using non-Windows operating systems. However the argument that DeCSS was written for Linux players is simply false. The De-CSS utility was written for Windows-based software, not Linux.

Also, the development of two, separate, licensed DVD players for Linux systems - which use the CSS system - were recently announced. Sigma Designs (www.sigmadesigns.com) and InterVideo Inc. (www.intervideo.com) both announced the roll-out of LICENSED, LEGAL Linux-based DVD players.

Do you plan on supporting Linux?
There are no plans to support the Linux OS.

So then I look around http://www.intervideo.com/ and all I can find are windows only DVD software. WTF?

So I'm at a loss here.. Where are the liscensed linux DVD players the MPAA is referring to?

I think the problem (from their perspective) is that Linux users don't want to play DVDs in the way the RIAA wants to let them. Also, most Linux users will reject any proprietary / non-Free solution and worship the ground "DVD-John" walks on. On the other hand, many Linux users don't have a problem using the NVIDIA binaries, so maybe there is a place for proprietary dvd playback software on Linux.

That may or may not be the case, but how can they possibly know? There is *STILL* no sign of legal DVD Player software for linux that can be purchased by anyone. The MPAA DVD FAQ uses the excuse that there are two legal DVD players that have been "announced" giving links to SigmaDesigns and InterVideo [The makers of WinDVD]. I challenge you to find and purchase a copy of DVD Player software from either of those websites. A google search for "legal linux dvd player" comes up with some news items from November 2000 mentioning the announcement of LinDVD from InterVideo. But as you can see from the link, it is still not available to be purchased by end users. Gee, it's only been FIVE FARKING YEARS PEOPLE!!!

So until there is a legal Linux DVD player available for me to purchase at a reasonable price [if a hardware DVD player only costs $29 at Walmart, I should be able to get some software for quite a bit less than that], the MPAA will just have to deal with me using deCSS. They have no excuse and no choice in the matter.

I think the problem (from their perspective) is that Linux users don't want to play DVDs in the way the RIAA wants to let them. Also, most Linux users will reject any proprietary / non-Free solution and worship the ground "DVD-John" walks on. On the other hand, many Linux users don't have a problem using the NVIDIA binaries, so maybe there is a place for proprietary dvd playback software on Linux.

That may or may not be the case, but how can they possibly know? There is *STILL* no sign of legal DVD Player software for linux that can be purchased by anyone. The MPAA DVD FAQ uses the excuse that there are two legal DVD players that have been "announced" giving links to SigmaDesigns and InterVideo [The makers of WinDVD]. I challenge you to find and purchase a copy of DVD Player software from either of those websites. A google search for "legal linux dvd player" comes up with some news items from November 2000 mentioning the announcement of LinDVD from InterVideo. But as you can see from the link, it is still not available to be purchased by end users. Gee, it's only been FIVE FARKING YEARS PEOPLE!!!

So until there is a legal Linux DVD player available for me to purchase at a reasonable price [if a hardware DVD player only costs $29 at Walmart, I should be able to get some software for quite a bit less than that], the MPAA will just have to deal with me using deCSS. They have no excuse and no choice in the matter.

MPAA DVD FAQ

[quote]
Some computer users say they only want to use DeCSS to view their DVDs on computers that use the Linux operating system. Windows- and Macintosh-based computers can play DVDs, so is it fair to deprive the Linux community?

The Linux argument is a false issue. It has always been in the interest of the Motion Picture industry that there be as many legitimately licensed DVD players as possible, including those using non-Windows operating systems. However the argument that DeCSS was written for Linux players is simply false. The De-CSS utility was written for Windows-based software, not Linux.

Also, the development of two, separate, licensed DVD players for Linux systems - which use the CSS system - were recently announced. Sigma Designs (www.sigmadesigns.com) and InterVideo Inc. (www.intervideo.com) both announced the roll-out of LICENSED, LEGAL Linux-based DVD players.
[quote]

SO they claim the purpose of DeCSS is for copying movies on windows, not for simply viewing them on Linux, intersting..

For video you have pretty professional apps like Shake ($4999 ~ like softi) Actually, I have run Maya and Softimage on Linux natively . In fact, Softimage come from an Unix world (Irix) ...

For "legal" DVD ... http://www.intervideo.com/jsp/LinDVD.jsp

Read the article, we are not talking about alternatives, we are talking about running GNU/Linux. On the other hand, what you don't get is that if I want to run 3DS Why do I have to pay the Microsoft tax? With either Softi or Maya, I can get them running on GNU/Linux and pay only for the app I want to run (in the case I didn't like Blender, that I do like).

[...]is currently available only to manufacturers for evaluation and integration.

.. if this could in any way be related with InterVideo's InstantON technology? It allows you to watch DVDs and listen to music without booting into the actual OS.

I posted the link earlier, but Intervideo have a license to produce WMA/WMV with DRM products for Linux.

So since it would be easier to buy compatable products then try to recreate compatable ones in Linux while facing legal hurdles and patent problems.

Except there is supposed to a version of Windows Media, with DRM support for embedded Linux.

Bug your software vendors as well. This is now the second major vendor that had InterVideo's windvd working (IBM ThinkPads pre-installed with Linux were the first); but they still don't sell to non-OEMs. As the parent mentioned - one email to support@intervideo.com won't get them to support it for anyone other than IBM and HP; but if as many people ask for Linux as ask for Windows-ME or Win95, they might.

I think it does! lol

Actually InterVideo doesn't offer any Linux DVD software to the public yet. You have to be an embedded developer to get it. See here

I bought a Thinkpad T21 a few years ago that was preloaded with Linux. HP is not the first.

In fact, a later model (the T22) came with what to my knowledge was the only legal DVD playing software for Linux, Intervideo's LinDVD, a port of WinDVD, which could never be purchased seperately and AFAICT is no longer available anywhere.

If you want to cram EVEN MORE CRAP into your life (as I do) you are probably already timeshifting everything you can. So, what to do now to squeeze more episodes of "My Life as a Teenage Robot" into your busy life of sci-fi novels, gameboy programming and gamecube games?

Timestretching!! By cranking up the speed at which you watch something while keeping the audio pitch sane, you can drop a good 25% (or more, if you feel *X-TREME*) from your viewing time. And if you think I'm joking, check out this winDVD page where they outline their timestretching tech. Pop in a DVD, and use your choice of "finish by a specific time" or "finish within a certain amount of time." And voila, suddenly everything takes 25% less time. Which leaves you able to catch up on all those anime reruns your tivo has been accumulating while you were busy watching the Daily Show.

It's important, or something. Who knows.

You didn't mention whether you were looking to run Linux or Windows or OS X, but I think the principles are the same.

This is a good Windows-only setup using mostly freeware tools:

DVD Decrypter to rip the DVDs to macrovision-free/region-free ISO images

Daemon Tools to mount the isos as virtual drives on demand

MyHTPC as a TV-friendly filesystem shell (in combination with some simple batch scripts to control Daemon Tools, several of which can be found in the MyHTPC forums)

Zoom Player to play the DVDs (it's fast, full-featured, and you can turn off the GUI entirely which is nice on a TV.

You will also want WinDVD: not to play the DVDs, because the interface is so bulky and slow, but because you will need good MPEG-2 codecs and I don't know of any free ones as good as the filters that come with WinDVD. Zoom Player has a feature that automatically finds the codecs and registers them for you. (AC3Filter is a free AC3 audio codec that is comparable to InterVideo's.)

There are loads of ways to do it in OS X and Linux. Somebody who knows better than me is sure to post them.

• #1. Get FlashDesktops, you have to pay for it, but it is utterly wonderful. Multiple desktops on windows as fast as Xwindows.
  http://flashdesktops.com/
• #2. Get UxUtils, NATIVE ports of lots of great unix apps.
  http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/
• #3. Get The Bat!, it is a wonderful email client, fast, simple, can be totally driven by keyboard. http://www.ritlabs.com/en/products/thebat/
• #4. Get FireFox, it is a wonderful browser on linux AND windows (I actually prefer the windows version). http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
• #5. Get gVim, vim is great on linux, great on windows too! http://www.vim.org/
• #6. Get OpenOffice, great on both platforms. http://www.openoffice.org/
• #7. Get WinSCP, a wonderful SCP/SFTP client for windows. http://winscp.sourceforge.net/eng/
• #8. Get Putty (and friends), wonderful ssh client and other utils. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
• #9. Get everything from sysinternals, a ton of wonderful stuff here, too much to mention, but will let you track every file access, every registry write, every debugging message. Look around, it gives you control of your box like you expect on a *nix. Ton of great command line tools too. http://www.sysinternals.com/
• #10. ClearTweak, a tool to let you customize your ClearType settings (a must for LCDs). http://www.ioisland.com/cleartweak/
• #11. Daemon Tools, lets you mount up to 4 ISO's as drives, and can emulate security protection. http://www.daemon-tools.cc/portal/portal.php
• #12. Memstat XP, lets you monitor memory usage in tray, small and simple. http://memstat.sourceforge.net/
• #13. NetMeter, lets you monitor network usage in the tray, small and simple. http://readerror.gmxhome.de/
• #14. TrayMeter, lets you monitor cpu usage in the tray, small and simple. http://www.thmundt.com/traymeter/
• #15. TweakUI, get control over some things you might want (like hover-to-focus, autologin, other). http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/p owertoys.asp
• #16. WinRoll, lets you roll up windows just like in lots of windows managers on linux. http://www.palma.com.au/winroll/
• #17. XP Log Reader, lets you watch the XP firewall logs. http://www.winxpcentral.com/windowsxp/fwlog.php
• #18. WinRAR, unzip anything you want, supports tar.gz, zip, rar, arc, and much more. http://www.rarlab.com/
• #19. Beyond Compare, best tool for comparing directories or files, great for syncing backups. http://www.scootersoftware.com/
• #20. Nero, the best CD writer for windows. http://www.nero.com/us/index.html
• #21. WinDVD, watch movies! http://www.intervideo.com/jsp/Home.jsp
• #22. WinImage, create images from CDs, very

Someone should really ask them when LinDVD will be launched to the public. It sounds like a more stable player than Xine/VLC/Ogle/mplayer

Seems to work, they've had it shipping on IBM Linux Laptops for a while.

Someone should really ask them when LinDVD will be launched to the public. It sounds like a more stable player than Xine/VLC/Ogle/mplayer

Seems to work, they've had it shipping on IBM Linux Laptops for a while.

Someone should really ask them when LinDVD will be launched to the public. It sounds like a more stable player than Xine/VLC/Ogle/mplayer

Seems to work, they've had it shipping on IBM Linux Laptops for a while.

One of the IPOs this year was intervideo, a company that sells PVR software for Windows.

One of the IPOs this year was intervideo, a company that sells PVR software for Windows.

Intervideo is the company that makes WinDVD, InterVideo Home Theater, and a bunch of others. The story is at New Scientist. Basically it is an "InstantOn" PC with LinDVD (which is developed by InterVideo) that fits on a read-only memory chip. Linux handles TV, DVD, CD, MP3, radio. The twist to this product is that it also has a bootable MS Windows XP OS so you can run any of the MS Windows app that you still want/need.

/. has turned to the dark side and I am running for my tinfoil hat!

Having played a lot with video encoding in my spare time (which isn't hard to do when you've been unemployed for seven months), I will bestow on you some tips on the world of encoded video, so that you won't have to go through as much teeth gnashing, hair pulling, and head slapping that I have. :) (Note: I work primarily on a Win32 machine, so if you want to do this on another platform, just kindly ignore all the words below. :P)

The most likely problem you are facing is that you don't have the right codecs installed to play the files you want. As someone mentioned before, Nimo is your best friend in this case, as it's a file pack that contains a multitude of codecs and filters to play almost everything under the sun.

But say you install Nimo, and things still don't work. What then? Well, assuming you still don't have the right codec, then it's time to meet your other new best friend, AVIcodec. Don't let the name fool you. This little program will identify the codec you need for AVI's, MPEG's, WMV's, ASF's, and probably a few others I'm forgetting. I also hear good things about GSPot, but AVIcodec works too well for me to change. :)

Now, say you run into a file that uses MPEG2 for video or has an AC3 audio stream. Well, you won't find any codecs for those on the web, because the Motion Picture Experts Group likes to rake in those licensing fees. (Well, you MAY find a codec or two out there, but keep in mind if you download them and don't have to pay a fee, it's almost certainly illegal.) What you then need to do is to install a software DVD player like PowerDVD or WinDVD, and that'll straighten things out for you.

Now let's say you're SURE you have the right codecs installed, and the video STILL won't play. Well, that just blows, because your file is probably damaged, or in the case of an AVI, it's incomplete. If you've got an AVI, run over and grab AVIPreview, which is a nice program that'll let you preview incomplete AVI's (see? "AVIPreview"? :P). If it plays in there, and you don't feel like downloading a complete version of the file (which you sometimes can't find when you're using P2P services), AVIPreview will let you save the file with a complete container so most media players won't complain.

Now... (*takes a breath*), if it isn't an AVI, then the likelyhood you'll be able to fix the problem goes down considerably. Free ASF and WMV editing programs are few and far between (and we all know who owns those file formats), and almost all MPEG issues will continue to niggle you unless you do a full-blown re-encode of the file. You can definitely try downloading VCDGear and checking the "Fix MPEG Errors" checkbox, but this almost NEVER works (i.e., times it worked for me: none).

And keep in mind these are the EASY solutions. If you're actually interested in using video editing/encoding programs, then take a visit to Doom9 or DVDRhelp.com. The forums and guides on these sites are a boon to the video encoding enthusiast, and the forum regulars tend to be pretty friendly, too. :)

Best of luck and well wishes...

There is a licensed DVD player for Linux, except that (1) it's only for embedded Linux distros, and (2) Linux zealots are too incensed at the MPAA to pay for it.

Oh yeah?

Do codecs not count?

Don't worry, WINE will get what we want, but we mostly prefer our own stuff.

Oh yeah?

Do codecs not count?

Don't worry, WINE will get what we want, but we mostly prefer our own stuff.

I've not bought into any sort of propaganda. When I first became acquainted with DeCSS, I saw it as precisely what it was-- a program written for Windows which decrypted a DVD. A "proof of concept", if you would, demonstrating how to decrypt a DVD, and providing the code (small, neat and efficient) to do so. It obviously was not going to help any real "pirate" much, since the "pirates" already had many other ways of duplicating a DVD (and the really serious ones, I've heard, actually have the technology to simply duplicate the entire disc, using the same "stamping" technology the movie companies do to make "the real thing".

At the time I found this code, I did not have any Windows machines. As such, it was useless to me as a program. I only found its source useful-- useful as a possible future source of a DVD player application for Linux. At the time, I was using an ancient cabinet-mounted television and a set-top DVD player to play my DVDs; nevertheless, I had installed a DVD-ROM drive in my computer prior to going all-Linux, and I wanted to be able to use it.

So I posted the thing on my Web site, in the hopes that some hacker, more clever than I am in the ways of multimedia and device I/O, would use the DeCSS source as the core of a nice new DVD player program for Linux.

Fast forward perhaps a month. I received an emailed nastygram from the DVD-CCA's lawyers. Not only did it tell me to take down the mirror (which I did), but it told me (in overwrought legalese, of course) that they were particularly miffed at me, since I had disregarded a previous notice which they had sent me in the past.

A previous notice which I never received. And searching through my inbox (which typically holds several dozen THOUSAND messages, as I'm one of those ditzes who never deletes anything until I run out of RAM to hold the spool in), I could not find it.

I eventually signed a consent injunction to get out of the suit. Which in and of itself was an exercise in frustration. They wouldn't take me seriously over the phone until I had my boyfriend take the phone and demand the attention of someone who could actually help me obtain and sign the "chickening out" forms.

Then I got to take a nice visit to the DVD-CCA's lawyers in Manhattan, where I sat in their ridiculously outsized lobby for what must have been an hour. Finally, as I was finishing counting the number of tiles in their floor (well, just about), I hear "Hello, Ms. (lastname)?" I answer; great! Someone's ready to talk to me.

And of course it's an assistant to an assistant to an assistant of the understudy to some secretary who does part-time work for one of the lawyers' brothers on alternate Tuesdays. He takes the forms, repeatedly tells me he isn't involved in the case, can't answer any questions, etc. etc. etc.

I leave, disgusted, and thankfully have not heard any more from them.

I suppose the moral of all of this is thus: The DVD-CCA, the people who turned "DeCSS" into a dirty word and "legal Linux DVD player for desktops" into a myth (and incidentally, the legally licensed Linux DVD player you mentioned DOES exist... however, it's only available to embedded device manufacturers. Not terribly useful to, say, an end user. So, yes, it exists, but no, you can't have it! Great.), are an immensely powerful organization, and think nothing of threatening and frightening small individual citizens like myself to obtain their goals. They are much like a larger version of these spammers-- using their considerable money and power to frighten people and organizations much smaller and weaker than themselves. Where I come from, we call such behavior "bullying".

But I digressed a bit from my story about DeCSS. Perhaps some summary is in order, so as I'm already tired from all this typing (and need a Tums as I'm getting a bit of indigestion from recounting this whole unpleasant experience), I'll bullet-point what I have to say.

This new release is about their media PLAYER, for which licensing is a separate issue.

See, that's not right. I just read the article and all I could see was a journalist who was confused about exactly what a codec was. It seems to me it's the article asserting that it's player, and, having no press release from Intervideo to link back to, I'd say you're wrong. Here look for yourself.

Surely, if enough people asked them, they'd see the demand?

You can ask InterVideo's customer support and see what they say...

Would you expect to be able to charge for a media player in today's marketplace? Good luck!

why wouldn't someone charge for a media player? doesn't real one cost money (after 14 day trial)? how about quicktime 6 pro? and of course, we can't forget about windvd!

based on your question, one could easily argue that microsoft has no future because a free alternative is available.

Here is a company making a legal Linux DVD player. Its not available to the public, but its possible it could've been licensed in this case.

That's funny, I could swear LinDVD, a fully licensed DVD player for Linux works just great on my Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop.

The price is incredible, but what's even more incredible is that the card is very high quality. It has Coax, S-Video, and RGB inputs, plus an audio loopback to connect to your soundcard. The PVR software that comes with it is very good if you don't need advanced features. It records directly to MPEG-2, although the recording quality is not customizable enough for my tastes.

I personally wanted software that would record to MPEG-1 with custom bitrate settings so I could then use VirtualDub to convert my recordings to DivX. I bought a copy of InterVideo WinDVR for $99.95, and I'm extremely happy with the combination. WinDVR is extremely customizable, letting me choose between MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 formats, as well as giving me a ton of bitrate, audio, resolution, and other options. I highly recommend WinDVR as well.

Based on the review of Creative's card, I wouldn't go anywhere near it. It sounds like a horribly-designed product, and I think the AVerTV Stereo + WinDVR is a much better solution that can be had for about $150

All you get it a black box.

Yeah, I tried and it works fine... my DVD player software, InterVideo WinDVD, even has a convenient keyboard shortcut you can type to save the current frame to a BMP file.

What the DVD Consortium decided what that a DVD video is sent directly to the video card as an overlay.

Someone must not've relayed that decision to InterVideo then, ah?

Here's Intervideo's WinDVD compatibility list (shows a lot of cards support 5.1 and S/PDIF). I would assume that other cards would work fine with WinDVD if they support it, but I skipped over all the ones in the list that don't have those checked.

Here's Neoseeker's audio card reviews. Links to other review sites as well. PC AV Tech seems good as well.

And the list of ones I'm still looking at:

• Midiman's Delta Series. These are professional cards, but the bottom ones might be affordable (the Audiophile 2496 in particular). Good Linux support. I'm considering going all the way and getting the Delta 66 (quite expensive...one place has it at $350) to be sure I have something that works. The audio quality would be much, much better than I need for sure. One thing I'll certainly check out more before spending all that money: I don't know if the Windows drivers support consumer game APIs like EAX and such. None of the professional cards mention this and I'm not sure if it's a "of course, even the consumer cards do that, why bother to mention it" or a "these are for recording, not games" sort of deal.
• Philips Acoustic Edge 705 and 706. These looked pretty good in a review site. I haven't checked Linux support.
• Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. One review site said they had crappy drivers as well (stability problems under 95/98), so I'm not too likely to get this one. It was an old review, though. I hadn't realized Turtle Beach was in danger of going out of business.
• Hercules Game Theater XP. This wasn't on my list before; thanks for the tip.

Intervideo is making a Linux DVD player available.

Oh, you mean companies like this? I hate to tell you this, but that page has only had cosmetic changes since last October. I watched it religiously, holding off on getting a dvd drive for my computer until one came out.

After a several months, I got tired of waiting. I found a couple "unlicensed" players that worked good enough. Now there are almost a dozen that work just fine. The legal ones missed the boat, and now they'll have to compete with free ones.

I hate to tell you, but I don't think we'll see any legal ones coming out for a _long_ time.

Or have I seen 3 open source dvd players but not one of promised commercial players for linux available here and now?

I keep reading this type of comment, and I'm wondering... haven't any of you heard of LinDVD? Sure, the site says that they don't deal directly with consumers at this stage, but they're definately getting their product out there. Take a look at this spec sheet from IBM.

Many posts are saying that DVD players on Linux have to be an attack on the DMCA and no commercial players exist.

Check out Intervideo for their Linux based player. They don't sell it to consumers, it is an integration package. Expect some distro's to start carrying it some time in the future.

"Available only to manufacturers." Do they think that because we like open source that we won't buy a product most of us need?

So the unavailability of a Linux DVD player is not an argument. Of course it isn't GPL but I doubt the judge would be swayed by that.

So the unavailability of a Linux DVD player is not an argument. Of course it isn't GPL but I doubt the judge would be swayed by that.

A linux dvd player was supposed to be released by Intervideo in the second quarter of 2000. We are obviously far past the second quarter of 2000 and they have still not released the DVD player. According to the message on their website, LinDVD still has an unannounced price, and has been released, but only to manufacturers. I'm guessing it won't be, oh.. another couple years until it comes out. I can't stand this shit. Here is the link.