Why is it that movie DVDs or CDs recorded using a basic DVD Recorder
cannot be played on a PC running say Windows XP?

And why is it that movie files such as MPG, AVI or WMA recorded onto
CDs by a PC cannot be played on a DVD player?

The above may be possible using special conversion software, but all I
want to do is :

1/ play an ordinary DVD on my PC, and

2/ play an ordinary CD with WMV files copied to it on my DVD Player.
Or am I misunderstanding something here?

Cheers - CJB.

MPEG2 is the format that DVD players expect for a DVD, that's why you
can't play a WMV file on your standalone DVD player.
MPEG1 is the VCD format that is also recognized by DVD players.

There are several software apps that will play a commercial DVD on your
PC (Media Player should be one, WinDVD, PowerDVD are others)
You should also be able to find freeware apps to play DVD's on your PC

Every PC has Media Player. Latest version is v10 (may need Win SP2
free upgrade disc) or v9 (if you don't have SP2 on your XP system)

<csaagpDIESPAMDIE@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1102612419.991835.309860@c13g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...
Media player can if you have the MPEG 2 codec Which means also installing
win DVD or power DVD.

"CJB" <chrisjbrady03_nospam@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1102610464.907405.165260@f14g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...
The machine you refer to as a "basic DVD recorder" has the ability to write
a disc playable on your PC. You need a DVD-ROM drive and software playback
module. Most DVD_ROM drives come with a starter kit of this software which
will play only the first 5 minutes of the disc - and you need to buy the
full version to play the entire disc. Some ship with full versions. Some VGA
cards such as ATI come with software DVD playback modules which play the
entire disc. Check the drive/software updates for you VGA card.

without having the disc in VCD format. They will also display various bitmap
formats: JPG, BMP, etc. and MP3's. I have yet to see one that will playback
Windows Media Video, Quicktime, etc.

For these to playback on either targeted device the files must be
converted/re-encoded to match the requirements of the device in question.
You will need to convert these files to match your video standard either in
VCD or DVD format. You can create a miniDVD or cDVD as some calll them,
which is DVD quality on a CD disc. They just don't hold as much information.
To do these conversions you will need a DVD authoring software package, like
DVDit!, DVD Workshop, Encore, etc.

If the WMV files are less than full screen for your video standard and the
frame rate differs your end product will most definitely not look that good.
Just to get a view of what you may end up with play back the WMV files at
double their size.

--
Larry Johnson
Digital Video Solutions
webmaster@digitalvideosolutions.com
http://www.digitalvideosolutions.com
877-227-6281 Toll Free Sales Assistance
386-672-1941 customer Service
386-672-1907 Technical Support
386-676-1515 Fax

"Digital Video Solutions" <video@digitalvideosolutions.com> wrote in message
news:B22ud.92068$Oc.75065@tornado.tampabay.rr.com. ..

Well stated

The latest crop of DVD players are starting to play diferent format s -
eg AVI & DIVX. Special reserve have a good offer on one at the moment -
- Yamada Dvx-6700 . See
http://uk.special.reserve.co.uk/q_GG..._player__.html

On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 19:53:05 GMT, "Digital Video Solutions"
<video@digitalvideosolutions.com> wrote:

Don't know about Windows XP, but Millenium came with a fine Ms DVD
Player. By getting the freeware Fraunhofer DirectShow filters, one
would play DVDs with it.

Many thanks for the advice and info. - its a complex subject!! I hope
that your succinct ansers will also benfit others as cinfused as I am.

I welcome DVD players that play WMV files - my Pioneer doesn't.

Also I see now how I can get to play DVDs on my PC - I need to download
a codec.

Cheers - CJB.

WELSHBOY wrote:

"CJB" <chrisjbrady03_nospam@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in
news:1102610464.907405.165260@f14g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com:

Actually there are a couple of stand alone dvd players that will play
'raw' (non-compliant) mpeg, avi (DivX & XviD), wmv, & asf files burned to
a disk as data. I have the Philips DVP-642 which plays these fine.

Tom

Most DVD players have a ~100MHz CPU that cannot render any video format. They
do have hardware for mpeg-2 A/V decoding. Newer designs also do divx/xvid. WMV
is rare.

"CJB" <chrisjbrady03_nospam@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1102610464.907405.165260@f14g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...

"Eric Gisin" <ericgisin@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:cqncon42mj@enews2.newsguy.com:

I have the Philips DVP-642 & it will play wmv & asf video files.

Tom