Playing DVDs in Windows NT

[Greg]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

I have Windows Media Player 6.4 that will not play a DVD
when I put it in my DVDROM. Is there anyway to get 6.4 to
play a DVD or does anyone know of any free downloads of
DVD players for that will work in NT? Thx

 

[Calvin]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

Hi Greg,

This question gets asked on a regular basis. My understanding is that
_theoretically_ Media Player 6.4 can play back DVD content, but obviously you
would need suitable codecs installed on the machine for MPEG2 video (DVD video
format) and MP3/AC3/PCM etc sound formats (varies from DVD to DVD)

I've never investigated this in detail myself. I added a DVD writer to my NT4
machine for data storage, and in that role it perfoms flawlessly. DVD Video
playback wasn't even a consideration in my case. Certainly there is a lot of
commercial software packages out there for DVD playback on a PC, but all of them
(as far as I have been able to ascertain) do not work on NT4. A couple of
products claim that they do, but I believe this to be in error. (They all
require DirectX8 and above, and NT4.0 can't go past DirectX 3.0)

You also need to consider that even if you can get playback to occur, there will
probably be issues with CSS (Content Scrambling System) and Region Codes
employed in DVD Video.

I understand that Video Lan Client (VLC) - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ my also
be capable of doing what you ask, and does have some ability to mitigate the
CSS. VLC also doesn't need codecs installed on your machine, it does it through
'filters' which are part of the supplied package and cover most common
video/audio formats.

The region code lock is probably best dealt with through a flash of the DVD
drive itself to remove the region coding from the firmware (if possible, not
always so)

Hope this info helps. Good luck, let us know how you go 🙂

Calvin.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

Calvin - thanks for the info. This is my work laptop, so
I don't want to mess anything up. We're moving to XP in a
couple months, so I guess I'll wait till then to play
DVDs. Greg

>-----Original Message-----
>Hi Greg,
>
>This question gets asked on a regular basis. My
understanding is that
>_theoretically_ Media Player 6.4 can play back DVD
content, but obviously you
>would need suitable codecs installed on the machine for
MPEG2 video (DVD video
>format) and MP3/AC3/PCM etc sound formats (varies from
DVD to DVD)
>
>I've never investigated this in detail myself. I added a
DVD writer to my NT4
>machine for data storage, and in that role it perfoms
flawlessly. DVD Video
>playback wasn't even a consideration in my case.
Certainly there is a lot of
>commercial software packages out there for DVD playback
on a PC, but all of them
>(as far as I have been able to ascertain) do not work on
NT4. A couple of
>products claim that they do, but I believe this to be in
error. (They all
>require DirectX8 and above, and NT4.0 can't go past
DirectX 3.0)
>
>You also need to consider that even if you can get
playback to occur, there will
>probably be issues with CSS (Content Scrambling System)
and Region Codes
>employed in DVD Video.
>
>I understand that Video Lan Client (VLC) -
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ my also
>be capable of doing what you ask, and does have some
ability to mitigate the
>CSS. VLC also doesn't need codecs installed on your
machine, it does it through
>'filters' which are part of the supplied package and
cover most common
>video/audio formats.
>
>The region code lock is probably best dealt with through
a flash of the DVD
>drive itself to remove the region coding from the
firmware (if possible, not
>always so)
>
>Hope this info helps. Good luck, let us know how you
go 🙂
>
>Calvin.
>
>.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

PowerDVD 4(XP) works on NT4 as long as you don't install the 2417 Patch of
PowerDVD


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[Calvin]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

Hi Robert,

Very interesting - you are the first person I have seen report success on
playing back DVD (video) on an NT4.0 machine 🙂

How well does it work ? Did the installation of PowerDVD cause any other
problems on the machine - like stuffing up Windows Media Player ??

Calvin.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

It (PowerDVD) requests some DirectShow & DirectMedia components ... but if
you have IE6(sp1) installed it runs.
updated display and sound drivers will help but !!! don't install PowerDVD4
update 2417. This update changes powerdvd.exe which now request a procedure
"GetLongPathNameA" in KERNEL32.DLL which NT4SP6a + Hotfixes doesnt have !



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[Calvin]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

Hi Robert,

As I've said here before, it is interesting to hear that you can achieve DVD
movie playback, but I'm not really interested in doing it myself 🙂

A pity that it sounds like the PowerDVD software requires components of IE - I
wish software writers would stop being so reliant on really badly written
software from Microsoft like IE :-( IE is in fact totally banned on machines I
have anything to do with. It is a second rate, badly written browser, that
'fiddles' with everything on the system that it should have NO right to touch,
and exposes your OS to countless security exploits and vulnaribilities - ie:
plain not worth it!

Thankyou for answering though, I know others in this newsgroup have asked about
doing DVD playback on NT4.0 and may want to give your solution a go - it seems
to be the first viable one offered.

Calvin.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

I didnt said , PowerDVD requiers IE6, only DirectMedia & DirectShow which
are installed by IE6. It needs SP4+ and of corse DirectMedia & DirectShow


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[Calvin]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc (More info?)

Hi Robert,

Do you know what versions of DirectShow and DirectX are required? There has
been an ongoing discussion in this newsgroup about attempting to get later
versions of these 'subsystems' onto a NT4 system.

Officially, the last versions which can _supposedly_ be applied to NT4 are
DirectShow V6.1a and DirectX 3.0, but I have heard unsubstantiated rumours of
people being able to successfully get later versions applied and working.

Just thought I would ask, since the questions about DVd playback on NT4 get
asked regularly and it's nice to be able to give anyone who asks as complete an
answer as is possible 🙂

Calvin.