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Commercial DVD Software Comes to Linux

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the years-too-late dept.

timekillerj writes "Turbolinux launched a new version of it's Linux distribution today. The key feature is the first commercial DVD player, provided by Cyberlink. PowerDVD for Linux supports menu navigation, Dolby Digital sound, subtitles, and more."

12 of 416 comments (clear)

  1. Re:commercial? by eviltypeguy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well, as most people have realised by now, that will probably never be legal in the USA or most of the world thanks to our software patent overlords.

  2. It is not the first. by stm2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Lindows (or Linspire) has one commercial DVD player. It was released more than a year ago. It cost 4.95 for CNR members.

    --
    DNA in your Linux: DNALinux
    1. Re:It is not the first. by 13Echo · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is true. Linspire's DVD player is essentially just XINE with an alleged "commercial license" to utilize the DVD libraries.

      http://www.linspire.com/lindows_dvd_info.php

      Of course, odds are that they do have to have the source available for the GPL libdvdcss libraries that it uses, so does that mean that they are violating trade secrets as well? Or, I wonder if they rewrote portions of XINE to link against some commercial DVD libraries instead?

  3. Yes...But... by reality-bytes · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are already some great players for Linux available (they've been around for ages) but they exist in a legal grey-area.

    Remember, just because you bought the DVD and bought the hardware to play it back with doesn't mean you are neccesarily allowed to choose what software you use to play it back!

    --
    Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
    1. Re:Yes...But... by rjw57 · · Score: 4, Informative

      which DVD menu doesn't work with xine? And I watch DVDs on my 500MHz PIII so a 700MHz Celery should manage it.

      --
      Rich
  4. Not for PowerDVD by tmk · · Score: 5, Informative

    Its 69 dollar for Turbolinux not for PowerDVD.

    It is like Acrobat Reader or Realplayer for Linux.

  5. Re:Could DeCSS become legal? by Firethorn · · Score: 5, Informative

    DeCSS was basically a reverse engineered copy of the decryption portion of a dvd player, not to mention using a key.

    To join the group, besides paying $$$, you have to agree to all sorts of rules about player operation like listening to the force play flag, macrovision, and region coding. Oh, and not disclosing some of the specifications (they're a trade secret).

    --
    I don't read AC A human right
  6. Re:compare! by 13Echo · · Score: 4, Informative

    In most respects, DeCSS is actually old and busted. In fact, it's seldom used anymore. Most players use "libdvdcss", which was written independently of DeCSS. MPlayer even includes patched versions of libdvdread and libdvdcss within its own source.

  7. Re:commercial? by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's not the software patent overloads as much as the DVD CCA and DMCA overlords. They own CSS, and DeCSS is illegal. There's no way to legally distribute anything that can decode CSS without sending them a royalty for every copy, so any form of free or Free software is ruled out.

  8. Old News by danda · · Score: 5, Informative

    PowerDVD was first announced on Linux in 2000. See this article in the Register:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/08/18/dvd_play ba ck_on_linux_just/

    To my knowledge, they have never released it for end-users to buy/download.

    However, in 2001 I purchased a ThinkPad T22 from IBM pre-loaded with Linux and it had PowerDVD installed. The software required some funky thinkpad driver to be installed or it could not playback. I long ago dumped that distribution (caldera) and now Xine/mplayer et al run just fine on the same thinkpad without any special drivers.

  9. Re:Ask and you shall receive? by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Informative
    I'd submit that this is a big reason why software companies don't want to embrace the Linux market.

    Sigh:

    • DataBases
      • DB2
      • Oracle
      • Sybase
      • In fact all DB's except for sql server.
    • ERP:
      • SAP
      • Peoplesoft
      • Just about everybody of consequence except those that is trying to sell itself to MS.
    • General Office Applications: Many are being re-written into java so that they will work on all platforms. These have gone to Java to be able to support Linux, Mac, *nix, etc.
    • Office clones: Many have been ported to Linux with the notable exception of MS, Lotus (IBM's stuff which I think that they will allow to simply die), and Corel (who is in the process of port again).
    • Games? A small number are starting to support linux. I think that this will grow over the next year or two.
    Too be honest, there is more commercial software for Linux than many people realize. Perhaps the two area that Linux has not made inroads yet, are home and specialized. That is changing.
    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  10. Re:Do I have to buy TurboLinux? by evilmonkey_666 · · Score: 4, Informative
    PowerDVD is by far the best DVD player for Windows



    I disagree. The best DVD player for Windows (and Linux) is VLC

    It supports menus, surround sound (even DTS) and AFAIK all the other things PowerDVD does. But on top of that it is region free and allows you to skip the commercials and copyright warnings that PowerDVD forces you to watch :)

    It's also free as in beer and speech.

    --


    - PS. This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R where eliminated.