# Computer Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 28, 2002, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-movies/106037 "2002-04-28T01:30:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![timjw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@timjw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timjw)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-movies/106037/1 "2002-04-28T01:30:55Z")
What hardware/software do you need to play VCD movies on a computer? ;j ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-movies/106037/2 "2002-04-28T02:21:40Z")
A CD-ROM Drive and Windows Media Player. Open the DAT files in the mpegav folder on the VCD. If that doesnt work, look over the FAQs at [www.vcdhelp.com](http://www.vcdhelp.com) . ---
**Author:** ![Blitzweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@Blitzweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blitzweb)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-movies/106037/3 "2002-04-28T10:04:22Z")
Get a program called the Playa. And Divx. Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-movies/106037/4 "2002-04-28T10:25:32Z")
If it’s VCD 1.0 format, you don’t need anything other than windows media player, I don’t think. If it’s VCD 2.0, you’ll probably need a software DVD player like WinDVD. ---
**Author:** ![RaginAzn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@RaginAzn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaginAzn)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-movies/106037/5 "2002-04-28T10:29:27Z")
Whatever happened to that MPEG card that we used to need? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-movies/106037/6 "2002-04-28T11:47:10Z")
You can still buy MPEG hardware - it generally has hardware correction and enhancement, so it’ll look a lot better and run a lot faster - but you can still watch things without them, it just looks worse and requires your CPU. ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-movies/106037/7 "2002-04-28T12:57:08Z")
**Blitzweb** : DivX and VCD aren’t related at all. The only similarity is that both happen to be types of video (Though technically VCD is just a standard group of settings for the MPEG1 Video codec). ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-movies/106037/8 "2002-04-28T17:23:05Z")
DivX is just a compression codec ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2002, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-movies/106037/9 "2002-04-28T23:11:40Z")
The latest versions of Quicktime will play MPEG-1 files. Just pop in the VCD, dig out the file, and play 'em. Alternately, you can use free software like FreeVCD that will find the files for you and play 'em back.