Hi all,
I have a (probably) easy problem. I have not got a DVD Player or writer at all and want to get started with one. MY PC is up to it. I currently use a liteon 48x24x48x CD ROM and writer, but lately I have had some movie files (video clips) that have not played on Windows Media Player. Plus, I plan on using my PC much more for multi-media operations and viewing movies/TV etc.
Any suggestions that anyone can offer to get me started would be great.
Thanks all.
:o
NEWBIE
Use Gspot to find out which codecs are needed.
Also install vlc tool to watch flicks and clips.
And if vlc doesn’t play it nothing will. I have yet to have vlc fail me.
To watch tv you may also want to consider a tv card. The most popular are the ATI all-in-wonder series. They allow to play 3-d games, watch and record tv shows, and do video captures. If you just want to watch tv, this is a pretty good card The only thing it doesn’t do is the 3-d game part. if you look at the dvd burners you’ll see you can get a good one for about $40. NEC and Benq have a pretty good reputation. Once you get these two devices you could; in essence, get rid of your tv,dvd player,and vcr. If you have the right speakers and sound card you could replace your stereo as well. I’d buy a Creative lab sound card and Logitech speakers.
I’m happy with XP Codec Pack (includes Media Player Classic) which you can find at www.free-codecs.com. Ditch (=uninstall) Windows Media Player and associate all video file formats in MPC. For audio there’s foobar2000 (www.foobar2000.org) or winamp (with the MAD mp3-decoder plug-in).
Why bother with so many when vlc plays them all?
JayC, I’m with you! VLC is the greatest program ever. you can even drag image files right into it and it will play them without having to mount anything.
i use it for music, dvds, and all other video clip formats as well.
my only complaint is that my keyboard controls (stop, play, skip) do not work with VLC, but there may be a fix for that that I haven’t found yet.
You’re right, Jay 
. Just giving my personal preference. Long time ago I found vlc played some video upside down and I’ve used mpc ever since. I also like to use different apps for video and audio, stupid I know.
First of all, thanks to everyone for contributing… Very helpful.
Anyone else had the upside down playing prob using vlc?
Also (mewb q coming…) what is Gspot?
Thanks folks! 
what is Gspot?
If you ever get a clip that won’t play you need to know what codec is used by that clip, for example divx and xvid are probably the two most common codecs.
Never the only time I had an upside down problem was when I installed a codec pack along side other stand alone codecs. Since the I have avoided codec packs like the plague.
I’m no fan of codec packs either, but just installing divx and xvid isn’t always enough. And I’m sure that if it was a problem with vlc (the upside down picture), it will have been corrected meanwhile (this was maybe two years ago).
Two years ago, well that’s a long time to remember.
When XviD and DivX aren’t enough, that is what g-spot is for to see what other codecs are needed, as it is better, in my opinion anyway, to install the codecs seperately.
Chef, JayC30, Cressida and everyone else, thanks a bunch. I downloaded vlc and I have never been happier. The next step is the TV card and DVD burner, but on step at a time.
sikoone - I am packing Nvidia NForce sound with decent if not amazing speakers. I will pmp em out at a later date.
Once again, thanks to all - if anyone has any further suggesstions on how to make my PC mulit-media perfect, let me know!
Fox