When I was at the park today doing a uni demo gig with Kris Holm… well, he was doing a lot more demo’ing than me… anyways, I snagged a DVD of ITTD from him. But, alas, in my enthusiasm I failed to recall that I DON’T HAVE a DVD player, oops…
So I could either drag my relatively new hard drive (got it in January) back to the store and have them install a DVD player…any idea how much such a maneuver would cost me? Or go and search out a fairly cheap player for our older model and hardly ever used TV. And what might that cost?
As you can tell I am not very tuned in to the latest when it comes to technology. Any suggestions would be vastly appreciated.
Do you want a DVD player for the computer or one that attaches to the TV?
If you already have a DVD drive for the computer then you just need the software to be able to play a DVD. The necessary software may have been included with the DVD drive. If not, the software is about $40 or $50 (USD). If you have Windows XP you can get the DVD decoder software for about $15 (USD).
my apex DVD player has been going for a year now and it was only $89 dollars.if it broke tommorrow i would feel satified.i say buy a cheap one and hook it to the Tele.
whatever you do though dont get a Sony or a big name because they dont let you play CDR,VCD,MP3’s etc. only DVD.
sony is the worst they have there hands in the music industry so they will never let you play MP3’s.
VCD’s are really cool too,thats how i saw the Matix.think versatility.even the crappiest DVD player sounds better than a VCR,so dont break the bank on your 1st.
I don’t already have the DVD drive installed in the computer… should have probably gone for it when I first bought the computer but I sort of cheaped out.
Thanks for that link John, very helpful.
And good to know that maybe a cheapo DVD player for the tv may be a good way to go as you said Jagur… afterall probably it would be more comfortable to watch ITTD on the tele than the 'puter.
AFAIK most non-OEM DVD ROM drives tend to come with software, but it’s always a good idea to check first. I’ve even seen several OEM drives come complete with player software.
If you’re going via the standalone route, I’d recommend checking that you can play DVDs from all regions on it, unless you’re really sure you’re not going to want to in the future.
In that case then go for a basic DVD player for the TV. The standalone DVD players are easier to deal with. You plug them in to the TV and they work. Not much to go wrong. With computer DVD players there are the software issues that you may have to deal with and computers are short term items anyways while a standalone DVD player for the TV may last you many more years than the expected lifetime of a typical computer…
A third option is to get a PlayStation 2 or an XBox. For the cost of the console plus about $30 for a remote you have a DVD player. I use my XBox for watching DVDs on the TV.
If your television has the red white and yellow RCA INPUTS, or red and white INPUTS for audio, and an SVHS/Svideo input for video, then go ahead and purchase the tv dvd player. If your tv doesn’t have one of those two styles of input, you’ll have a dickens of a time connecting it, so go with the 'puter version
Nobody’d mentioned this, and you .did. say that it was a rather old and disused television, so…
I think John Childs’ third option sounds best. I went to a local appliance store and asked about DVD players. The cheap ones are apparently satisfactory, but they get more expensive rapidly as you look for better models. Theres always more fancy options on the ones that cost more, and I don’t think getting the cheapest is the best idea if you get a DVD player. Originally I thought that Playstation 2 was not the best option because I heard it only plays Zone 4 DVDs. After talking to the storeperson, he suggested that you can get a disc that comes with the Remote control, and it installs the required software to be able to play all the different Zones. It seems silly to me that they don’t just run the disc in the machines before they sell them, but it must be a money making scheme. It sounds like the best option to me because it is a games machine too. I reckon get either an X Box or Playstation 2. They are getting cheaper all the time due to the competition. Into the Thunder Dragon is a cool DVD to watch, maybe ask your friends if they have a Playstation 2 in the meanwhile and you should be able to find somewhere to watch it before you have to fork out for your own player.
thanks for the heads up John, yes, in fact the TV is a 1988 model that was given to us… generally is fine given that we don’t watch tv at all and use it only for the occasional video. However, I don’t think it will accept the DVD hook up - no real surprise given the vintage of the beast.
It has one cable input labeled VHF 75 (followed by an omega sign, I think) and 2 screw in type attachment points labelled UHF 300 omega.
Hope this makes sense.
The long and short of it, I think, is that I either has to upgrade the tv to one that works with a DVD (rather expensive proposition) or go the add-the-hardware-to-the-computer route. Going for the computer definitely invites problems with the software, as mentioned in this thread, and does not have as long a life span but it may end up being the less expensive option for me as I think I may be able to get the hardware plus installation for under $100 Cdn.
if you have an older tv you can run the DVD though your VCR,VCR’s usally have the audio/video mounts that a DVD needs.
the other choice is a RF modulater.it goes between your old tv and DVD.they are usally sold at the same store as DVD players just for that purpose.they are about $30 bucks though.i decided to use that $30 twords a new tv instead when my VCR my DVD was hooked to gave up the ghost.
as for Playstations or X-box
i just thoght i’d mention that alot of DVD’s have special hidden features called easter eggs,for example on the starwars movie Phantom Menice if your push the numbers 1138 (on the remote) in the right place you get to see the out takes and bloopers.Easter eggs are very hard to activate on game systems,especialy the X-box and some cant be ativated at all.
RE: DVDs through VCRs… Look out, Jagur; most dvd players pass macrovision copy protection through their signal, which most VCRs honor, meaning that every 5 seconds or so, the picture will go to crap, then fade back in, then out, then in.
As far as the RF adaptors go, I haven’t ever played with one [though I’ve seen 'em in stores], so I don’t know where those stand on the copy-protection issue.
used to work in the electronics
department of target store,
John M
I was sitting right here in front of my computer, just minutes ago, watching Kris and Nathan ride through Bhutan! Yes, I went for the computer DVD option - it was only $63 Cdn. But my main reason for going computer rather than stand alone with the tv was that the tv was a 1988 not-so-hot-got-it-for-free-as-a-handmedown-from-motherinlaw special. In other words it badly needs to be replaced by an improved more current model…but I’m not ready to spend that kind of money right now.
So the simple and immediate fix to enable me to view Nathan and Kris riding in the comfort of my own home was to go for the computer. And I must say, I am enjoying the results.
Thanks for all your advice and suggestions. The people on this board are better than an extended family! Way better!
Sweet!
The computer option can have some advantages depending on the capabilities of the software. Software players can do things like take snapshots of the video and save the snapshot as a BMP file. Software players can also zoom in and stretch a widescreen video to play full screen (it will get rid of the letter box). Amazingly very few standalone DVD players can turn a widescreen movie into a full screen movie. But these features depend on the capabilities of the software. The basic software that is included with a DVD drive may not have those features.
for that effect on a DVD player just watch the movie on 1.5 zoom.it looks about the same and doesnt cut off near as much of the sides like Pan Scan does
Ah, but that’s just the kind of daftness that Big Media wants. The vcr usually doesn’t distinguish between the two activities… it makes the assumption that if you’re playing from an input, you might want to record from that input.
