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General discussionSometimes Choices Are Overrated(25 posts)(25 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted April 10, 2017
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OldFatGuy: Obviously I don't watch a lot of stuff on DVD/Blu-ray, as this was my first try since I received this nearly a year ago. But I recently bought a couple of Stephen King movies from Amazon (The Stand and It) and decided, today was the day, so I popped some popcorn, put the DVD in the DVD tray and expected to watch a movie (just like you always did back in the "good old days").

Wrong. A box comes up asking what program I want to use for such a thing, and I search and I search my computer and I can't find anything that even remotely resembles DVD player software.
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Klumpen0815: Haha, you think DVDs are a problem?
Try watching any movie on Blu-Ray disc in Linux.
You can't.
Reason? DRM.
Until not very long ago, in addition to buying the drive itself, you also had to buy a program that could play Blu-Ray discs on Windows, which was way more expensive than buying an actual, physical Blu-Ray player. The only one that cost not like twice as much as that was crappy as hell and when I first got it (as a gift from a friend who had heard about my struggles to watch BDs on my PC) was not able to play both discs I owned at the time without constant image artifacts all over the place, making them unwatchable. It took them almost a year to fix this, which was also how long my license lasted. To this day though it doesn't have usable menus. They show up now, but usually the controls don't work, and you have to start the movie and other content from the content list of the player itself.
The good thing is that is player is now free (Leawo Blu-ray Player, in case anyone is interested), but despite that I still advise everyone I know against trying to watch BDs on a PC.
It's a shame that in this regard, BD was a step backwards from DVDs (even though I remember almost the exact same thing happening when I first wanted to watch a DVD on my PC way, way back), but I guess with physical discs and even drives in PCs on the decline, it won't really matter for much longer.
Post edited April 10, 2017 by Pherim
Posted April 11, 2017
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drealmer7: when you come from an era of having to DL codecs and have 5 different players to play numerous types of files, and then none of them playing your DVDs properly, VLC is pretty sweeet
That's fair. VLC also works perfectly fine in 90% (arbitrary number!) of cases anyway.


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drealmer7: curiously, what are the issues?
That it reinvents certain things, e.g., in its internal muxers, and occasionally does that incorrectly. You are bound to hit an issue when using the latest & greatest video tech with VLC -- common cases are watching anime with all the fancy video containers & subtitle tricks.

mpv (the latest in a chain of forks from mplayer) almost always fares better in all situations. That said, no need to switch applications unless you encounter a problem yourself. I'm not certain, but on Windows VLC may even be easier to install and set up too.
Posted April 11, 2017
Assuming you've got a modern Microsoft Windows operating system, Microsoft have scaled back everything. Windows Movie Maker is only free for a limited time, Microsoft Office is a yearly subscription service. Games like Minesweeper have become a separate downloadable app that required you to watch advertisements. Few things 'just work' anymore. One of these days I'm half expecting the calculator to stop working to tell me my free trial is up.
Posted April 11, 2017
Along the subtopic of choices, I make a distinction between what's a choice and what's a decision. I often don't consider choosing amongst someone else's decisions as worthwhile. Choosing amongst my decisions is not the same as choosing amongst decisions I didn't make.

For example, with elections the candidates have already been picked, the decision has already been made who will be in office. Choosing amongst those who have already been picked is meaningless to me, it's not a real decision.

And I despise being offered two options (or more) instead of one. When there is only one option then it's rather obvious the alternative is to not choose it at all. When there's more than one, then it can easily become a matter of which is least undesired, f.e. poisoned or less poisoned or much less poisoned. I try to remember not to forget the option to decide not to choose at all. Choice is such a farcical application of free will that choice readily becomes a means of manipulation. And I fall for it too often.
Posted April 11, 2017
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OldFatGuy: Boy I remember the "good old days" when you bought a computer that had a DVD player and you took it home and later, at some point, you bought or rented a DVD and went home.... and you just put it in your drive and watched it. WHAT A CONCEPT.

Not anymore I guess. I guess everyone wants "more choices" today, so today, even with a high dollar, well-known brand name laptop (and I believe, but am not sure, that my family member that got this for me almost a year ago paid that full "list price" back then) with a built in BVD player/recorder you just can't.

Obviously I don't watch a lot of stuff on DVD/Blu-ray, as this was my first try since I received this nearly a year ago. But I recently bought a couple of Stephen King movies from Amazon (The Stand and It) and decided, today was the day, so I popped some popcorn, put the DVD in the DVD tray and expected to watch a movie (just like you always did back in the "good old days").

Wrong. A box comes up asking what program I want to use for such a thing, and I search and I search my computer and I can't find anything that even remotely resembles DVD player software.

All of this used to be "automatic". Can't get any easier than that. But nooooooooooooooooooooo, that's not good enough. POEPLE WANTS CHOICES DAMMIT!!!! So don't give them any pre-installed DVD players and let them choose their own!!!! Or maybe even with a two thousand dollar laptop a "free" DVD player with it was just too much to ask????

Anyway.... no movie for me. I looked online and was just overwhelmed by the number of...... you guessed it... choices. I have no idea which are any good, which might be dangerous, so I just left them all alone and decided I'll watch some more baseball instead.

Anyone want a couple of DVD movies???
I use VLC player for general purpose video playback, it can play practically anything and is a good general all around Swiss Army chainsaw video app.

I also use kodi for more finesse with its library management features and highly polished user interface.

I'd recommend checking both of these out. VLC for utilitarian purposes and kodi for "movie night with the neighbours" so to speak. :)
Posted April 12, 2017
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tinyE: In the good old days THIS was a computer! :P
Yeah, come back to me when someone has ported Doom to that thing.
(To be honest though, I wouldn't be overly surprised if someone already has.)
Post edited April 12, 2017 by Maighstir
Posted April 12, 2017
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tinyE: In the good old days THIS was a computer! :P
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Maighstir: Yeah, come back to me when someone has ported Doom to that thing.
(To be honest though, I wouldn't be overly surprised if someone already has.)
I don't see why not. I mean, after seeing someone was able to 'port' <i>Quake</i> to an oscilloscope I'm willing to believe anything.
Posted April 12, 2017
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Maighstir: Yeah, come back to me when someone has ported Doom to that thing.
(To be honest though, I wouldn't be overly surprised if someone already has.)
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muntdefems: I don't see why not. I mean, after seeing someone was able to 'port' <i>Quake</i> to an oscilloscope I'm willing to believe anything.
Hence the content in parentheses. The segment display may make it a tad annoying to run though.
Posted April 12, 2017
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misteryo: In the "good ol' days," your store-bought computer came chock full of third party bloatware. Sure you could watch your DVD... on RealPlayer!
You sick bastard!

I'd completely forgotten about that useless pile of $%*%.
Posted April 12, 2017
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skeletonbow: I use VLC player for general purpose video playback, it can play practically anything and is a good general all around Swiss Army chainsaw video app.

I also use kodi for more finesse with its library management features and highly polished user interface.

I'd recommend checking both of these out. VLC for utilitarian purposes and kodi for "movie night with the neighbours" so to speak. :)
And those (few) files that VLC doesn't like Media Player Classic Home Cinema will usually swallow. I liked them both.
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This is my favourite topic
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General discussionSometimes Choices Are Overrated(25 posts)(25 posts)
(25 posts)