DVD Decoders/players

[Sprint]

does anyone have any suggestions for a free DVD decoder? normally i use FLVplayer, but half my DVD's stall halfway through the copyright screen, and media player refuses to play them, claiming i dont have a suitable DVD decoder......

[Blknight.aus]

I use VLC media player. (its available cross platform) and the toshiba DVD player that comes on all toshiba laptops.

The toshiba one isnt actually propriety to the hardware and can be had from the toshiba website.

VLC is free and does pretty much every format known to PC/MAC and linux.

[Sprint]

VLC also gives me the same problems, gets halfway through the copyright screen and stalls :-(

[dmdigital]

Does it do this on all DVD's?

Hang on reread first post - does it on half of them. Hmmmm????

[hoadie72]

+1 on VLC, as it doesn't actually need any codecs installed, I use it on Windows and Linux.

Are you sure it's not a problem with the media itself, or the player?

[dmdigital]

Check if there is a firmware update for the DVD drive.

[Sprint]

its just wierd that when VLC stalls, it does it at the same point every time.... halfway through the copyright screen......

[hoadie72]

Have you tried these discs in another player, eg a standalone DVD player?

[Sprint]

a couple of them, yes, and no problems......

[dmdigital]

Did you check for a firmware upgrade for the actual DVD drive?

What make/model drive is it?

[MarknDeb]

Ok i dont know if this program will help at all but it certainly cant hurt to try, DVD43

DVD43 v4.6.0 - Download Sites (http://www.dvd43.com/)

What it does:
Commercial copy programs don't include a decrypter to remove CSS copy protection (for legal reasons). Without a
decrypter, you can't copy CSS encrypted DVDs. DVD43 works in the background to remove CSS encryption. The main
advantage of DVD43 over a ripper is that it decrypts "on-the-fly" so you don’t have to rip to the hard drive first. The
other obvious advantage is that it’s FREE and it's the only FREE "on-the-fly" decrypter available.
What is doesn't do:
DVD43 does not modify the contents of the DVD in any way. It only attempts to decrypt all the titles on the DVD.
If your DVD has bad sectors on it, use a good copy program that is capable of avoiding them.
System Requirements:
- IBM compatible personal computer with a 500 MHz Pentium-class microprocessor.
- Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista (32 bits)
- Hard disk space needed: 1 MB
- You must be Administrator to install DVD43.

[Sprint]

nah, dvd43 is essentially a copy protect remover....

[nroach44]

I was about to post the same thing about dvd43 but then i realised, yes it was a dvd copy right avoider

[Blknight.aus]

if its hanging because of a glitched sector in the copyright header that you cant skip past dvd43 might let you get past it.

I used to have a proggie that bypassed the lockouts on the DVD so that once it was in the drive and was playing you could skip straight to the movie without any of the preceding crap that you cant normally fast forwards or skip through.

[isuzutoo-eh]

I had similar problems using bought DVDs as well as downloaded clips, so I downloaded a bunch of open source/freeware/shareware programs. I tend to use GOM Player now, it has one small line of advertising text that doesn't get my attention and isn't visible in fullscreen view.