Playing DVD w/o dvd-rom

[Soth]

I have just a regular cd-rw burner. Is it somehow possible to play a regular DVD on my PC ?

My son is driving my nuts , if i cant get his Harry Potter to work soon im gonna flip.

We're really low on funds so purchasing a dvd-rom is not a possibilty.

Any help or suggestions you could offer would be appreciative. Thank you.

[Hardcoreruss]

I am afraid this is not possible you will need a dvd rom to play the disc.

Not sure where you are in the world. I am in England and I can get a dvd rom for £25

[LeoNapier]

You definately need a DVD-ROM drive and the appropriate software to be able to play yr Harry Poter disc.
Prices are around 32.00 euros (26 USD) for the drive in Europe and you could download a trial version of the DVD software from the Internet for free.
Mind ya, this price is near about the price of a newly released DVD film, so I reckon its good value for money! That is unless ya arent planning to get yr son any more Poter films!!

[Soth]

not to disprove anyone but i could have sworn about a year ago or so there was something like 'image' or 'ghost'..or maybe Virtual drive...something on those lines.

Maybe ill do even more of an extensive search. If i come up with anything ill return and post my findings.

Thank you for your advice

[holistic]

not to disprove anyone but i could have sworn about a year ago or so there was something like 'image' or 'ghost'..or maybe Virtual drive...something on those lines.

Hmmmm.... OK and how did you plan on getting that image file on the computer??
Sure you can run a dvd in a 'image' but whats the point if you have a DVD-ROM !

][

[Soth]

"virtual cd rom drive by Alcohol 120% can run DVD's"

is what ive heard. Like i said, not to disprove anyone - you fellas here probably know more about this then the average joe - i was just hoping on a falling star. heh-heh.

Sure you can run a dvd in a 'image' but whats the point if you have a DVD-ROM !

Thats the thing , i dont have a DVD-ROM.....

[Craig Tucker]

Thats the thing , i dont have a DVD-ROM.....

Then there is no way to get the image onto your hard drive, softare such as alcohol 120 and daemon tools can mount images as virtual drives and play them without a DVD-ROM, but obviously you need a DVD-ROM to be able to get the image of of your DVD in the first place. There is no way around this you need a DVD-ROM drive.

[Soth]

understood

thank you for correcting me

Obviously we'll have to go and get a cd-rom


once again, thank you for your knowledge

[mats.hogberg]

You could of course connect to a computer that has a DVD reader and download the whole DVD (either as a pre made image or the decrypted files) to your HDD - No need to use image drives, as most software DVD players can "Play DVD From Folder"

/Mats

[macleod]

Or go buy a cheap dvd player and hook it up to the TV. You can get an apex for around $30 at many stores.

[Viper10000]

soth,

Here's what you can do, if you don't have a DVD-ROM reader.

1. Detach your hard drive.
2. Go to a friend/relative that have a PC with a DVD ROM reader, and hook to his/her PC.
3. Upload your Harry Potter DVD as an image to your hard
4. Detached your Hard drive to and re-attached back to your PC.
5. Now your son can watch Harry Potter on your PC

Or you can

1. Buy a DVD ROM reader for about $23 (www.ussa.com are selling a Toshiba SD-M1212 6X and a Samsung SD-608 8X for $22.99 + free S&H)
2. Hook it to your PC
3. Now your son can watch Harry Potter (and other DVDs) on your PC

There's no way a CD-ROM can read a DVD, just because the laser on the CD-ROM wasn't designed to read the small picth on the DVD. But the reverse is true. A DVD-ROM can read both CDs & DVDs.

Hope this will help.

Cheers

[Soth]

thank you all for your help. I think at this time though our best option would be just to purchase a DVD-ROM.

My son has a computer in his room. He wanted to watch it on his computer at night. We have a dvd player on the tv in the living room, dining room, and my bedroom. (yes theyre all APEX).

I dont buy anything online , but i will stop in at Best Buy and see what they have to offer.

Is there anything i should look for when buying one ? I want to buy one as cheap as possible. Are there any telltale signs i should watch out for like " 4xreading speed" or anything on the like about that ?

[Craig Tucker]

understood

thank you for correcting me

Obviously we'll have to go and get a cd-rom


once again, thank you for your knowledge

Umm, that wont work

[malcolm grant]

just hope your sons PC has enough spec for playing back DVD video flawlessly. In the UK you can pick up a good DVD ROM drive for as little as £15 at some of the computer fairs. Man you must be real skint not to be able to afford a DVD drive. I mean you can even buy DVD burners now for as little as £60 and thats from PC"robdog"WORLD.
regards
Malcs

[waheed]

We're really low on funds so purchasing a dvd-rom is not a possibilty.

We have a dvd player on the tv in the living room, dining room, and my bedroom. (yes theyre all APEX).

Wow, cant afford a regular dvd rom but has 3 dvd players (and obviously 3 TVs for each one) in the house.

[bigshotceo]

We're really low on funds so purchasing a dvd-rom is not a possibilty.

We have a dvd player on the tv in the living room, dining room, and my bedroom. (yes theyre all APEX).

Wow, cant afford a regular dvd rom but has 3 dvd players (and obviously 3 TVs for each one) in the house.

First of all, it doesn't really seem fair to criticize her (she's not trying to argue a controversial point, and she hasn't been rude about anything).
Second, simply because one has three tvs does not mean they cannot be low on money. The might have lost their job, or maybe they own a small business that isn't doing to well, either way it's not our business to criticize them. It's not like they were asking us to give them money.

[Soth]

Yes, the tv's and dvd players were all gifts. I have 3 children and go to school full time and work in the hospital. I have money for my children and their needs.

A dvd-rom was not on the priority list , it still isnt but we're going to buy one anyways.

My sons computer is a 466 celeron with 256 ram and a geforce 2. Do you think that would suffice enough to handle a DVD-ROM ?

Thank you for all the information you have all given me. I appreciate it

[offline]

Soth,

your computer spec's are right on the margin line as far
as playing a DVD goes under XP. Can I suggest that you ask the
dealer that supplies the DVD rom drive to throw in a free
copy of either winDVD or PowerDVD software, and demo
a DVD working in your computer. Ask for the
oldest version of DVD player software they have as the
newest versions are overloaded with memory and cpu hogging features.

[Soth]

Thank you, we shall do that

[malcolm grant]

i have a dvd rom drive on my old pc which has a 300 processer & 128mb ram and it plays perfect. i also have a rage 128 graphics card with tv out on it with no probs. running WIN98 SE and latest power dvd xp software which came with the drive for free (includes the serial number) ie its the full version. DVD drive cost £17 - ASUS

regards
Malcs

ps
didn't mean to criticize you

[SLK001]

I dont buy anything online , but i will stop in at Best Buy and see what they have to offer.

Why does buying online bother you? If you pay by credit card, you have a far amount of protection from fraud (just make sure that the site you want to buy from has a secure ordering page - that "lock" on the bottom of IE).

BestBuy sells a lot of crap, and expect to pay almost double for your item.

[Soth]

thank you for your input , slk001. However, we do not use credit cards.

We will take our chances at Best Buy since they will also install it for free

[offline]

malcolm: running WIN98 SE and latest power dvd xp software

You are running win98, soth is running XP. You
have a rage 128v/c which directly improves mpeg-2 overlays, soth does not.

What I said is accurate 8)