Basic DVD movie playing software for Win98se (the free kind )

[IG-88]

Anyone have some good recommendations for me? Got myself an old laptop that I want to use for watching movies but I can't find any software I like.

[J_K_M_A_N]

I always use Classic Media Player. It plays most anything. Plus you can put the video files on the hard drive and tell it where they are or just click the ifo.

J_K_M_A_N

[ChadTower]

The Media Player for 98se leaves a lot to be desired, though.

Here's a link to a search on DVD player at SourceForge... there are at least a couple decent free players in there.

[J_K_M_A_N]

I cannot tell if you think I am talking about the windows media player or not, but I am not.

I haven't tried classic media player for win 98 but I have heard it works pretty well. Here is a link to the Win98 version. And for those that are interested...the Windows 2000/XP version.

J_K_M_A_N

[ChadTower]

I cannot tell if you think I am talking about the windows media player or not, but I am not.

I did, actually, so you have a point.  This guy's bigger issue could be system resources, anyway, since if he has to go all the way back to 98se it may be old enough to have issues with DVD playing.

[GadgetGeek]

I'm a fan of VLC.

Not sure if it supports W98Se or not...I can't get to the specs right now.

[ChadTower]

Do you use it?  I was seriously thinking of building a box for that but went with XBMC instead.  I would like to stream to other rooms now, too, but have more spare PC hardware than Xbox.

[pointdablame]

VLC is an excellent player.  I use it all the time.  I also use Media Player Classic for some filetypes and situations.

[ChadTower]

I can't find the necessary specs fro VLC, dammit.

[GadgetGeek]

Do you use it?  I was seriously thinking of building a box for that but went with XBMC instead.  I would like to stream to other rooms now, too, but have more spare PC hardware than Xbox.

I use VLC as my only media player on most of my machines.  I don't do anything too fancy, but I'm happy with it.    I was able to get to the site again, but still can't find the specs.  There is also a "portable" version where you can run it from your thumbdrive which is useful for watching at work (during lunch of course) where they uninstalled any video codecs.

I'm hoping to also add XBMC to the mix, but I first have to acquire an x-box.  And that will be a tough one to get spousal approval for (and too big an item to try to sneak into the mix).

[ChadTower]

Yeah, I would want it to stream too, so that would up the specs quite a bit.

[IG-88]

Thanks for answers. I think I am gonna try that VLC. Spystyle also recommended it. I've tried PowerDVD and Sonic DVD players both of which don't like my "copied" disks. The specs on the old laptop are pretty bad. 800mhz 256mb ram, low video spec. ect.

I read at the VLC site that 98se is not supported anymore but should work. We'll see.

[ChadTower]

Those specs are fine.  Should work if the hardware is reliable.