DVD Playback in Windows XP
Published: March 25, 2002
By Galan Bridgman, Windows XP Expert Zone Community Columnist
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DVD is an acronym for digital video disc or digital versatile disc, an optical disk storage technology that has become enormously popular. These discs can store video, audio, and computer data. Movies are stored on DVD in DVD-Video format. From the view here in Silicon Valley, DVDs have been pummeling the VHS market. And rightly so. Introduced in March 1997, the quality of DVD playback, the convenient size of the discs, and extra features such as random access to any point in a movie, make DVDs far outshine VHS tapes. Video cassette recorders using VHS tapes are still useful for certain tasks, such as taping a show from live television. But DVDs are so popular that I've observed customers at the local Fry's Electronics store snapping up DVD players as if they were candy.
Using a DVD player that is hooked to your TV is not the only way to play a DVD movie. Your Windows XP-based computer can play DVDs as well, if it's got a supported DVD drive and a supported DVD decoder installed. Although you are unlikely to sit and watch DVD movies at work or even at your home desktop computer, road warriors will find their laptops are perfectly suited for DVD watching. First, let's take a quick look at how DVD playback works.
Basics of DVD Playback
DVDs contain their video content in a highly-compressed format called MPEG-2. Compression is necessary because each second of video would require 31 MB of storage if uncompressed. At that rate, a DVD would only hold about two and a half minutes of video. Using industry-standard MPEG-2 compression, a DVD can hold a little over two hours of video. (These figures are all based on single-layer DVDs. The highest capacity DVDs—dual-layer, double-sided—hold four times as much.)
Decompressing MPEG-2 requires a lot of computing power. DVD players contain a chip specifically designed to decompress MPEG-2 data. However, modern PCs have enough computing power to decode MPEG-2 entirely by software. For a couple of years now, computers equipped with DVD drives have contained DVD decoder software capable of playing DVDs. These decoders were provided by the PC or DVD drive manufacturer. Until Windows XP, you also needed a DVD player application, but Windows Media Player for Windows XP now fully supports DVD playback, as long as a compatible DVD decoder is installed.
Do You Have a DVD Decoder Installed?
Most users with computers that have DVD drives have DVD decoders preinstalled by their hardware manufacturers. You can easily find out if you have one the first time you attempt to play a DVD movie.
When you insert a DVD movie into your DVD drive for the first time, you'll be prompted to play the DVD movie, as shown in the figure below.
If you select the Always do the selected action check box, you won't see this dialog box again when inserting a DVD. Click Play DVD Video, and then click OK to start Windows Media Player and start the playback.
At this point, one of two things will happen. Either your movie will begin to play right away, or you will get a Windows Media Player error message, saying that a compatible DVD decoder is not installed on your computer, so the DVD will not be played.
If you get this message, you need a DVD decoder. If you bought a PC equipped with a DVD drive, check with the computer manufacturer. They may have updated Windows XP DVD decoder drivers available, often for free. If you upgraded your PC to Windows XP, and you already had a functioning DVD decoder, five minutes after the upgrade is complete Windows XP will launch an upgrade wizard that will help you locate your updated decoder, if possible. If you have any questions about upgrading, check the Knowledge Base article: Supported Software MPEG-2 DVD Decoders in Windows Media Player for Windows XP. If you built your own PC and installed a DVD drive, it may or may not have come with a DVD decoder. Check the manufacturer's Web site.
Purchasing a DVD Decoder Pack Add-on
If you are unable to find an installed DVD decoder, you can purchase one from the same vendors from which PC manufacturers license theirs. Ravisent, InterVideo, and CyberLink all have DVD Decoder Packs available for purchase and download over the Internet. Windows Media Technologies also lists third-party software vendors who have DVD Decoder Packs available. The cost from each vendor runs about $14.95, unless you want to pay a little more and get a combo-pack which also includes MP3 encoding. I tried products from the three vendors mentioned above, and they all worked great. Their decoder packs installed quickly and easily, and as soon as installation was complete, Windows Media Player immediately started to play the movie after I inserted a DVD.
DVD Privacy Issue
When Windows Media Player encounters a DVD for the first time, it sends a unique DVD identification number to WindowsMedia.com, and searches for title names, chapter information, director names, and the release date for the DVD. This information is added to the list of overall information kept in the Media Library. Apparently Microsoft's original privacy policy regarding Windows Media Player and WindowsMedia.com didn't specifically mention DVD information-gathering policies. Rumors began circulating that Microsoft was collecting personal information about you and submitting it to Microsoft during this process. I'm sorry, but I have to laugh when I hear such things. Why would they be so foolish? Microsoft has since amended their Media Player Privacy Statement to make it clear that no personally identifying information about you is sent back to Microsoft during DVD lookup.
Even though no personally identifying information is obtained or stored during DVD lookup, you can disable the feature.
To prevent Windows Media Player from searching for DVD information:
1. | On the File menu, click Work Offline. Note: If you choose to work offline, you will not be able to access any information on the Internet. The Radio Tuner feature will not work because it relies on a connection to the Internet to obtain streaming media. |
Exploring DVD Playback
After Windows Media Player is playing your DVDs, my advice is—experiment! Any icon or button you see that you don't know what it does, click it. There's a lot of functionality in Windows Media Player. Don't be afraid to find it. Windows Media Player is a full-featured DVD player with lots of new features such as full-screen video playback controls, easy-to-navigate DVD chapter listings, and integrated cover art, chapter listings, actor and director credits and more.
You may find that you don't want to run Windows Media Player in the same mode for DVD playback as you use for audio playback. For example, most skins don't allow Windows Media Player to resize to the exact dimensions of the video. (Default Media Player and Classic do.) Your video quality will suffer if the decoder cannot display it at full resolution. You may want to change your skin, or play the movie in full-screen mode. Alt + Enter toggles between skinned and full-screen mode. Also, try right-clicking the movie and checking out the DVD Features menu for specific features available with your DVD Decoder.
My favorite mode is full screen. The controls get out of the way a few seconds after start and are available any time you move the mouse or press a key.
You may want to consider upgrading your barebones DVD decoder for a more full-featured one with additional functionality if you expect to play DVDs on your PC often. Ravisent, InterVideo, and CyberLink all offer more robust decoders. Recent PCs, including laptops, may also support DirectX Video Acceleration (DxVA) and Video Mixing Renderer (VMR) technologies to improve quality and performance, and reduce battery consumption. Just what you need for providing your own, customized in-flight entertainment.
Galan Bridgman is a developer, architect, and enthusiast for digital media technologies. He co-developed QuickTime for Windows for Apple Computer. At Starlight Networks he developed innovative client and backend technologies using ActiveMovie® and NetShow® Server, the precursors to Windows Media Technology. He is a full-time consultant, and is currently developing a next-generation, fully-automated radio station using Microsoft Windows Media 9 Series technologies. After hours he enjoys showing others how to make the most of Microsoft's latest Windows Media applications. Check Galan's Web site for more information about him.
