Best FREE and best CHEAP DVD Program Available?

[geoffkin]

My friend has been using winDVD and - it sucks so I am going to buy power DVD, which I heard was way good. Do you have any thoughts on that, or maybe a program that you already have that I could use? Let me know. I was going to order the Power DVD program tonight off of Amazon.com for $40. so if you have a chance to let me know soon that would be great

Is Power DVD for $40 her best option? THANKS!

 

[T9D]

..

 

[gururu]

powerdvd is great IMO. I've used powerdvd, windvd and the ATI decoder. the ati decoder is great but very sensitive to overclocking. but you can't go wrong with powerdvd.

 

[sandorski]

I really like PowerDVD, but WinDVD is good too, IMO.

 

[DaveSimmons]

For around $40 you can get PowerDVD OEM version -and- a DVD drive if you go to mwave.com or newegg. You have to buy the OEM version with a drive or video card. Iit's bundled with some drives and cards, and for others you go to the software section and pay $3-10 for the OEM CD.

 

[Auric]

What DaveSimmons said.

I prefer PowerDVD also and recently upgraded to the new version 5. WinDVD 5 also just came out.

 

[wicktron]

PowerDVD 5 will be out soon!!!

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: wixt0r
PowerDVD 5 will be out soon!!!

I guess it depends on where you shop.

 

[Need4Speed]

Originally posted by: Auric

Originally posted by: wixt0r
PowerDVD 5 will be out soon!!!

I guess it depends on where you shop.

alt.binaries?

xine is free and available for win32 platform

 

[geoffkin]

She already has WINDVD on the machine, which some say works fine.
What else could be wrong with her machine, so that DVD's won't play?!
Could it be a driver problem?

 

[Wigwam]

usd both windvd and powerdvd; have to say that i didnt see that much diff between them but as it happens like the simpler windvd.....just throwing it in to say that this preference is personal but if you hate one there is no guarantee you wil like powerdvd when there isnt much to choose betwen them

lets see if the much-heralded powerdvd5 changes things!

 

[Auric]

You'd have to be more specific. First you said WinDVD sucks, but now you say it won't play DVD's. If she has a problem with WinDVD it is unlikely to be magically solved with PowerDVD. Other than making sure the latest A/V drivers and directx are installed and check out okay with diagnostics, make sure DMA is enabled for the drive.

PowerDVD 5 is much the same as 4. If you do not use direct SPDIF output and hardware acceleration there are a few new A/V options, OSD has transparency option (oooh!), new skin (actually nice), and the best thing is an extended overlay option to output full-screen to the secondary display while windowed or minimized on the primary (much the same as ATI's Theater Mode).