Tech people - please explain DivX/codec technology in plain English because I don't get it.

[HughBeaumont]

Does anyone out there have DivX? Here's the deal. All I want to do is be able to watch DVDs on my PC, and so far, every site I've seen indicates that I need to download some 14-20 dollar codec to do it. When I home-built my PC I got an OEM DVD-Rom drive and no codec was included.

I've done two free programs so far and neither one has allowed me to view a DVD on my PC. Will this DivX thing allow me to do that? Also, will their player overtake the Windows Media Player? Any help would be appreciated.

[crispini]

1. Hum. Well I can watch DVDs on my PC, but it came with a program.

Called "Cyberlink Power DVD" :shrug: Good luck.

[shugh514]

2. VLC media player

Try this. It plays many formats.

www.videolan.org

[billyskank]

3. The problem is the encryption

Almost all commercial DVDs are encrypted. It's not that it's hard to break; it was broken a long time ago. The problem is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which makes it illegal to distribute software that decrypts the DVD unless you have a licence. This is why in the US the only legal DVD playing software is commercial software for which you must pay.

That isn't to say you can't find free stuff to do it, I watch DVDs on my Linux machine in England without having paid for software to do it (we have no DMCA, you see). But the software in question will be illegal where you live.

Usually people don't have to buy software separately because they get it bundled with their DVD drive (like PowerDVD, for instance).

The codec program (coder/decoder) includes the decryption software. If you buy a commercial copy of PowerDVD then you will get the necessary codec with it, and once installed you will find Windows Media Player will be able to play DVDs too. The codec will be installed when you install the DVD player software. Without the codec, you won't be able to do it.

[HughBeaumont]

4. Mine didn't come with software, only the drivers.

I'll pay for it if that's what I must do, it's just kind of lame that a DVDRom drive, OEM or not, comes incapable of playing DVDs.