Chapter 20: Working with Video

Playing Video Disks (DVDs)

A DVD (Digital Versatile Disk or Digital Video Disk) is like a large CD--it's a digital disk that can contain video material. If you buy movies on DVDs and you have a DVD drive connected to your computer, you can play DVDs on your computer by using the Windows Media Player program (previous versions of Windows came with a separate DVD Player program). Before you try this, make sure that your DVD drive has the appropriate decoder card and software drivers to play DVDs.

You cannot play a DVD movie with just a DVD drive and a disc. You must also have a decoder, either built in to the drive, on a separate card (or integrated into your systems video card), or from a software package like WinDVD or PowerDVD. Windows comes with the program--Windows Media Player--but not with the decoder. The next section includes a source for decoders if your DVD drive didn't come with one. Your DVD player may have come with its own player program that you can use for playing DVDs--you don't have to use the Windows Media Player program.

Configuring Your DVD Decoder

If your computer has a DVD drive, you probably got it in one of two ways: preinstalled in your computer or as a third-party add-on. If the DVD drive was part of your computer system, it should have been tested and properly configured from the get-go, so no additional configuration should be needed.

If, you installed a third-party DVD drive, you need a decoder to read the DVD media. There are two kinds of DVD decoders: hardware and software. Hardware decoders are uncommon (we were only able to locate a single PCI-based DVD decoder card in two hours of searching).Software decoders, however, are easy to find and inexpensive. WinDVD (http://www.intervideo.com) is the most popular package, retails for $30 and ships with various third-party DVD drives, and installs in seconds. We found it capable and easy to use, though we recommend at least a 500 MHz Pentium III with 128MB of RAM for reasonable playback performance (an 800 MHz Pentium III with 256MB of RAM and an 8MB video card works about as well as a hardware DVD player).

Another option is PowerDVD from CyberLink (http://www.gocyberlink.com). At $49.50 it's not as cheap as WinDVD, but it does have some compelling pluses, such as smoother playback and better color even on slower machines. An 800 MHz PC becomes a powerful multimedia center when PowerDVD is at the helm.

Either WinDVD or PowerDVD installations allow Windows Media Player to play DVD titles, as they provide the decoder. However, the DVD support in Windows Media Player has resulted in crashes and in most cases does not work as well as the third-party player.

Needless to say, with such high entrance stakes, DVD on the desktop has not taken off. (Another reason, of course, is that most people prefer to watch movies on larger screens in the comfort of their living rooms, rather than on computer screens at their desks--although they are great for long trips.)

Playing a DVD with Windows Media Player

To play a DVD, insert the DVD in your DVD drive, and Windows Media Player starts automatically. If it doesn't, choose Play | DVD Or CD Audio from the menu bar. If you have more than one CD drive (i.e., CD-RW, DVD, CD), you see a list. Select the drive letter assigned to your DVD player.

When you are playing a DVD, the Windows Media Player works like a VCR (as shown in Figure 20-5). Additional controls may appear for the advanced features that a specific DVD offers: consult the DVD itself. These advanced features may play video clips, alternative edits, different endings, or the ever-popular outtakes. Windows Media Player has a few added DVD interface options. To view them, click Now Playing on the toolbar and make sure that the Equalizer And Settings pane is displayed. Click the Select View button and select the DVD Controls item. If there is a problem with your DVD drive's installation or if you are missing a DVD decoder package, this item doesn't appear.

Figure 20-5: Windows Media Player playing a DVD--it's like an onscreen VCR.

Controlling Rated Movies

One popular feature with parents is Parental Control, which is amazingly simple and effective. The Parental Control feature uses the already existing and well-established MPAA ratings system. Each DVD movie has a lot of additional information encoded into the DVD, including the movie's rating, so the decoder software can tell a G-rated movie from an NC17-rated movie.

Before you can use parental controls, you must set up user accounts for yourself and other users of the computer. Assuming that you are a parent, give yourself and other adults administrative user accounts, and make any children's accounts limited-user accounts. Once you set a maximum DVD rating in Windows Media Player's parental controls, only administrative users can play DVDs with higher ratings.

To control which DVDs people can play on Windows Media Player, choose Tools | Options from the menu, and click the DVD tab (shown in Figure 20-6). Select the Parental Control check box, and select the highest rating that you want nonadministrative users of the computer to be able to play.

Figure 20-6: Parental Control in Windows Media Player