I have a very occasional need to play dvd's on my pc. As i do not want to splash out too much on software that i will hardly ever use, does anybody know of any DVD playing 'freeware' that i can download.

Thanks in advance.

There's tonnes - usualy some comes with the DVD drive, then there is windows media player or real player or search in www.tucows.com or www.download.com

Techy n Welsh

All of the free DVD players contain no DVD Decoders. You must already have them. If you already have the ability to play DVD movies on your PC then you have the decoder. If you don't them you will need to purchase a DVD player that has the decoders.

I have tried a few free ones and like the PC Friendly DVD player the most.

Rent the original Matrix movie. It comes with Interactual DVD player and PC Friendly DVD Player. You get the option for the second one the second time you load the DVD into the PC after installing the Interactual DVD player.

On the third load it will ask you to upgrade the PC Friendly DVD player to the newest Interactual DVD player but it is not as good as the PC Friendly DVD player and the install overwrites the good one so decline the upgrade.

Bryan

Thanks for advice.
I found i had a DVD (Lara Croft) with the Interactual player on it. Ive installed it and it plays 'Lara' fine but not any other DVD. I get the error message "Playback failed due to a problem with the video subsystem. Lowering your screen resolution or color depth may fix the problem" - both of which i have tried with no effect. I do not get the option to install 'PC Friendly'
Any ideas?

Thanks again.

???Maybe try the newer version of Interactual player???
http://www.pcfriendly.com/

I tried searching the Matrix DVD for the PCFriendly player but did not find it. It must be buried in one of it's .cab files.

Regards,
Bryan

Also try opening Interactual and then insert the DVD into the tray to see if it will then play. Hold down the Shift key just after you close the tray until the DVD's lights stop blinking to avoid autorun of the DVD.

Bryan

If it still does not work then uninstall Interactual and see if you like Maximus DVD Player. If was a freebie and pretty good. I did not like the controls. In order to get the movie to play I had to use the arrow key pad on the player's console. Other than that it was pretty good. I can no longer find it available on the internet but I kept the installer.

I have uploaded it to my webspace.
Right click on the following link and select "Save target as" to download a copy. It is 4.66Mb .zip.
Max.zip

I will take it off of my webspace in a day or two or when you let me know that you have a copy or you will not be taking a copy.

Please post back,
Bryan

Thanks Bryan, just downloading it now. I have a little more time to play now so i will try and resolve the Interactual player problem first, if not i will try Maximus.

Will let you know how i get on.

RJA66

this is the only place i've been able to find maximus. copy/paste this address and click go. wait about 5 seconds and it'll ask before it downloads. Don't browse this site, has alot of adware/ popups.
http://dl.winsite.com/bin/downl?5000000037342

i also just got a $5.00 (free shipping) windvd install disc from pricewatch.com. go there and click dvd player software towards the bottom

Visited the interactual site which told me that that player needs other dvd software already on the pc.
Installed Maximus but try as i might i couldn't get it to play any dvd (tried region 1 & 2 discs).
Will keep looking for an alternative.

Rja66,

I suspect that you need the decoder that comes with a complete DVD player such as WinDVD.
You may need to make a purchase.

Bryan

Interactual is on the hit list for Spyware/Adware! Use at your discretion.

Also, don't confuse Interactual for InterVideo. Interactual is the free program that comes on many rental/purchase DVDs. InterVideo is a DVD program/player and it is not free.

Dback720,

I am very concerned about spyware and checked out InterActual thoroughly before I used it.
It, although suspect, is clean.

Regards,
Bryan