Help! DVD recorded from TV not playing on Laptop

[dvdude]

Hi there, I have many DVD-Rs which I have used to record TV shows, ads etc from the telly. I want to be able to
1. Play them on my laptop -its an Acer Aspire 5100 running WindowsXP.
2. Rip from them so I can play separate clips as mpegs.

I'm totally confused as to what codec I would need to play these DVDs. I've always assumed that I can play these DVDs on my laptop. I normally use Windows Media Player, but have other players installed such as Quicktime, VLC, Realplayer etc.
Any help would be very greatfully received!

[jagabo]

You need a Directshow MPEG 2 decoder. You may also need to finalize your DVD-R media in the DVD recorder before your computer can read it properly.

[dvdude]

Cheers for that, will try it, thanks for the tip.

[jagabo]

Note that VLC has its own built-in codecs so you don't need a DirectShow MPEG2 decoder if you use that player. MPC and KMPlayer also have built-in MPEG2 decoders. But most other players will require a DirectShow decoder because Windows doesn't ship with one (except MCE, I think).

[jagabo]

Yes, s-video connectors have 4 pins. The connector on the ATI cards have more. The extra pins carry component video.



That isn't an ATI card's DIN output but it should give you the idea.

[dvdude]

Hi there, just wanted to say thanks for all your help. I worked out that the problem was the DVD -R was not finalised - had to work out how to finalise it on my Samsung VR-320 and now it plays on my PC! Hey presto!
Thanks all.