The company finally sent me a replacement* so I am now running Vista! So I went to play a DVD. It’s not a commercial one, it’s an episode of a local Atlanta show that featured our juggling club’s festival, and they burned us a DVD of the show so we could put it on the club’s website. When I put it into the computer, it said that Windows Media Player didn’t have “a compatible DVD decoder” to play MPEG-2. I Googled around and downloaded something called “VistaCodecs” which claimed to be everything to make most things play, but still no dice. Is there a free option out there for getting this to work, or do I have to buy one of the things that Windows is recommending? (I always like to try to find the free answer before forking out money!)
*I guess their claim with FedEx finally went through after the copy they left on my doorstep was stolen–stolen out of the box, might I add. The thief left the empty shipping box!
Oh, while I’m here… what’s the best way to make an .avi or .mpeg file from this DVD? We have permission from the station to post it to our website–that’s why they gave us the disc.
If you have Vista Ultimate edition, you have the DVD codecs you need via the Windows Media Center (which is different from the Windows Media Player). If not, I recommend you download a program such as Cyberlink’s PowerDVD. You should be able to use the freebie version for what you want. Vista Home Premium may also include DVD codes, but I won’t swear to it.
I’m a little nervous about recommending Web sites that offer universal codecs. Though I have used them in the past, I’m nervous about giving access to the guts of my registry to software that doesn’t come from a reputable vendor.
You could also try another free player, Media Player Classic, which plays DVDs. If you also install ffdshow, it will play basically anything. I prefer MPC to VLC, because i prefer the MPC interface.
As for converting to .avi, the best free software for converting from DVD is probably Auto Gordian Knot. This is a streamlined version of Gordian Knot. AGK is easier to use, requiring far fewer steps than GK. These guys have a very good guide for using AGK to convert from DVD to avi.
