Last night when I wanted to watch a movie, I inserted a disk in my drive. This automatically brings up Corel's WinDVD welcome screen, but the process was interrupted by an "Update Now" notice from Corel. It was one of those in your face notices that gives two options "Update Now" or "Tell Me Next Time." It wouldn't go away so I reluctantly complied. After the download, my virus protection detected spyware or something, but recommended I let them isolate it or whatever it is that it does.
Now WinDVD is a good program. I've also used PowerDVD, but got rid of it after an update, which made the thing annoyingly funky. WinDVD is slightly more user friendly, but provides much higher sound quality, if you watch movies using a high quality surround sound system.
After the update, it turns out to be a patch for Windows 8 users, which the update notice didn't say, but it's still supposed to be backwards compatible. It didn't work. Corel's screen comes up, but sits there idly unresponsive to actions like clicking on the play icon.
Customer support is now offline, with a notice that says, "We hope you come back to visit us." I think you have to pay for support, too, but I can't get that far.
OK, so in an act of desperation, I uninstalled WinDVD, which was originally a download, not a disk. I then had nothing, but I assumed that I could reinstall it from their website, but if they offer that service, as other programs I've downloaded do, I can't find that option. I could download their 30 day free trial, which works fine like the original, but it appears I'm going to have to buy it again.
As is not uncommon, their support center is difficult to use with a lot of useless registration bla bla, as is their user forum. I left a message on the forum, but haven't received anything yet. The whole thing strikes me as a Microsoft type business strategy to get as much money from you, while providing a minimum of service, possibly even an unethical ploy, but it might just be a lousy patch.
OK, I'm done. Thanks for letting me rant. Suggestions are welcome, but mostly I'm just expressing my frustration.
Try VLC. If that doesn't work, there's plenty of free alternatives.
http://www.osalt.com/vlc (http://www.osalt.com/vlc)
Quote from: "_Xenu_"Try VLC. If that doesn't work, there's plenty of free alternatives.
http://www.osalt.com/vlc (http://www.osalt.com/vlc)
I use it for regular DVDs (low definition) that are not stored on a disk. I haven't had a lot of luck with it for Blu-ray. If it's on a disk, WinDVD will play them.
Quote from: "SGOS"Quote from: "_Xenu_"Try VLC. If that doesn't work, there's plenty of free alternatives.
http://www.osalt.com/vlc (http://www.osalt.com/vlc)
I use it for regular DVDs (low definition) that are not stored on a disk. I haven't had a lot of luck with it for Blu-ray. If it's on a disk, WinDVD will play them.
You'll probably need some sort of commercial software to play Blu-Ray. If you have very many of them, it will be worth the investment.
Quote from: "_Xenu_"Quote from: "SGOS"Quote from: "_Xenu_"Try VLC. If that doesn't work, there's plenty of free alternatives.
http://www.osalt.com/vlc (http://www.osalt.com/vlc)
I use it for regular DVDs (low definition) that are not stored on a disk. I haven't had a lot of luck with it for Blu-ray. If it's on a disk, WinDVD will play them.
You'll probably need some sort of commercial software to play Blu-Ray. If you have very many of them, it will be worth the investment.
If I have to buy WinDVD again, I've decided I'll do it even though it will irk me. I'll buy a boxed copy, so if it happens again, I'll have a fall back option.
Having said that, I checked Amazon's user reviews. WinDVD gets just under three stars. Lots of one star ratings, and the complaints were much like mine. Real crappy user support was among them (The difficulty in using their site or getting help is astonishing with the hoops they have you jump through). It's clear that they really prefer you wouldn't bother them. WinDVD apparently works well on some computers, but not others. Power DVD faired little better, although it's more expensive. I thought it was OK. Lot's of people prefer Windows Media Player. I've tried it, but I can't remember now why I preferred other options. There was something it didn't do. I'm going to watch a movie on it tonight and take another look.
If you're like me and you enjoy the whole 'media center' feel, you should check out xbmc. Its free software like VLC, and very polished.
http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/win32/xbmc-12.2.exe (http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/win32/xbmc-12.2.exe)
Oh, I forgot. I seldom buy or rent a DVD anymore. Blu-ray makes a significant difference on my movie screen. Color, sound, and resolution are all much better. Some DVDs are better than others, and actually approach Blu-ray quality, in resolution anyway, but most of them come up short on my screen. Sometimes, something I want only comes on DVD, and I'll rent it.
I'm feeling better now. I was up late last night trying to salvage WinDVD, and I woke up angry this morning. Well, it is what it is, and I can always buy it again. Oops, now I'm getting pissed again. :-D
Quote from: "_Xenu_"If you're like me and you enjoy the whole 'media center' feel, you should check out xbmc. Its free software like VLC, and very polished.
http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/win32/xbmc-12.2.exe (http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/win32/xbmc-12.2.exe)
I'll check it out. Thanks.
Let me know if I can be of further help.
Quote from: "_Xenu_"If you're like me and you enjoy the whole 'media center' feel, you should check out xbmc. Its free software like VLC, and very polished.
http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/win32/xbmc-12.2.exe (http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/win32/xbmc-12.2.exe)
OK, I just took a really quick look. Is it mostly like a way to organize your media? I see some cool screens, but I'm not sure what it does, exactly. You don't have to spoon feed me. I'll figure it out, but I'm lazy too.
Quote from: "SGOS"Quote from: "_Xenu_"If you're like me and you enjoy the whole 'media center' feel, you should check out xbmc. Its free software like VLC, and very polished.
http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/win32/xbmc-12.2.exe (http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/win32/xbmc-12.2.exe)
OK, I just took a really quick look. Is it mostly like a way to organize your media? I see some cool screens, but I'm not sure what it does, exactly. You don't have to spoon feed me. I'll figure it out, but I'm lazy too.
Have you ever used Windows Media Center? Its the only thing I miss about Windows, and xbmc is sort of an open source alternative to it. You do need to add your media, but once its setup, its quite elegant. It will pull all kinds of content right off the web for you. I've heard there's 'unofficial' sources that will let you watch pretty much anything.
Quote from: "_Xenu_"Quote from: "SGOS"Quote from: "_Xenu_"If you're like me and you enjoy the whole 'media center' feel, you should check out xbmc. Its free software like VLC, and very polished.
http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/win32/xbmc-12.2.exe (http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/win32/xbmc-12.2.exe)
OK, I just took a really quick look. Is it mostly like a way to organize your media? I see some cool screens, but I'm not sure what it does, exactly. You don't have to spoon feed me. I'll figure it out, but I'm lazy too.
Have you ever used Windows Media Center? Its the only thing I miss about Windows, and xbmc is sort of an open source alternative to it. You do need to add your media, but once its setup, its quite elegant. It will pull all kinds of content right off the web for you. I've heard there's 'unofficial' sources that will let you watch pretty much anything.
No, I never used Media Center. Can't say that I'm even aware of it.
Quote from: "_Xenu_"Quote from: "SGOS"Quote from: "_Xenu_"If you're like me and you enjoy the whole 'media center' feel, you should check out xbmc. Its free software like VLC, and very polished.
http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/win32/xbmc-12.2.exe (http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/win32/xbmc-12.2.exe)
OK, I just took a really quick look. Is it mostly like a way to organize your media? I see some cool screens, but I'm not sure what it does, exactly. You don't have to spoon feed me. I'll figure it out, but I'm lazy too.
Have you ever used Windows Media Center? Its the only thing I miss about Windows, and xbmc is sort of an open source alternative to it. You do need to add your media, but once its setup, its quite elegant. It will pull all kinds of content right off the web for you. I've heard there's 'unofficial' sources that will let you watch pretty much anything.
I don't think I've heard of Media Center.
OK, I know what it was about Windows Media Player that didn't work for me. It doesn't seem to play .miniso files right... No sound. I store files on my hard disk that are .miniso files.
There's a video converter called Freemake.com which will convert files to a number of alternate formats. Freemake is free...and one of them should work for you.
Quote from: "Minimalist"There's a video converter called Freemake.com which will convert files to a number of alternate formats. Freemake is free...and one of them should work for you.
Thanks, that could make Media Player work. I'll check it out.