anyone playing DVDs?
OK I'm about to re-open the dvd can of worms. The video place down the
street rents them out, and since I don't have a tv or a vcr, this
might be an elegant solution to the movie problem (yes, I know about
the MPAA, sigh). Is anyone playing DVDs succesfully in linux? I don't
have any microsoft OS and I don't plan to (this is not so much a
political statement as a question of convenience - administering one
operating system is enough.) By "successfully", I mean well enough to
invite some friends over and not have to worry about it crashing
halfway through. I've also recently gained access to a dvd-rom. Don't
remember the brand, does it matter? Options I'm currently considering
are
1) Sigma Hollywood hardware decoder + cheap ATI xpert98 video card
- not sure if Linux supports the Sigma decoder
- not sure what software to use for playback
2) Matrox G400
- does this card have a built-in decoder, or some features that make
DVD viewing easier?
- assuming it doesn't have a built-in decoder, what software to use
for playback?
- Do I need to upgrade to XFree86 4.x to make it work? Last time I
tried X4 it broke a bunch of things (e.g. DPMS).
3) Software decoder + cheap ATI xpert98 video card
- what software to use for playback?
- is a PIII/500 fast enough? what about a PIII/333?
Any suggestions welcome. Feel free to send me mail, I'm willing to use
"illegal" software if it turns out that no "legal" solution exists for
the operating system of my choice.
-chris
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