Truely Newbie

[Gayle Richmond]

I am so new to DVD/CD players, I hardly know enough to be able to ask a question. I have just installed a Pioneer DVR-111D to replace my old CD player that died. The sound works great but it will not give pictures or read DVDs. I am using Win 2000Pro and have an 80 wire data cable and the audio is connected to the motherboard. What I realy would like to know, is there a good book about connecting and using DVD players that is written in one cylinder words for the non technical. The only book I found at Borders was so technical it read like how to build a clock and I only want to know what time it is. My intention is to use this DVD to record backups for the data files and to read technical information supplied on DVD formates. To watch movies would be nice but not required. If I can find out how to do the first, the rest should come easy. After reading, at least I can ask better questions. I know I probably need to make changes in the operating system, but don't have a clue as to where to start. Thanks in advance for any help. Gayle Richmond

[ozymango]

Hi, Gayle, welcome to the forums!

I'm not aware of any single good book to help you get started -- you might check out some of the "Blank for Dummies" series, I've no idea what's out there now, but you might flip through some of those.

Frankly I think you'd probably learn faster and have more fun if you just start reading through some of the forums here, check through the guides; this site was invaluable in my own introduction to DVD technology, and the stuff I've learned outside the side is pretty much echoed here, so for your "one-stop guide," it's hard to beat videohelp.com

As for a quick guess at an answer for your DVD problem -- DVD movies uses a type of video format called "MPEG2," which is a standard but also a licensed standard, meaning you have to install a "codec" that allows playback of the MPEG2 video format. I'm sure that your DVD burner came with some additional software on a DVD or DVDs that contains both the MPEG2 codec and a player that, in conjunction with the codec, allows you to watch DVDs on your computer. You may have to dig through all the manuals that came with it to see what's included with your price.

As for you not being able to view pictures, I'm not sure what you mean by that. There are many excellent viewers (many free!) that will display pretty much every type of image format known to man, so we can definitely help you more once you tell us a bit more about your situation. Are you trying to view pictures you've downloaded from the web? Photos that people have sent you in email? Photos from your digital camera?

I hope this doesn't sound overwhelming, it's really not; it's just that the more specific a question you have, and the more information that you can give us, the faster we can help. So take your time, relax, and have fun!

[Jeremiah58]

You need no book.
You'll find all you need here in one place - knowledge, tools, advices...
You should be able to play DVD video. I mean, you probably have Windows Media Player installed, right?
Nevertheless, it would be wise to download and install VLC player for the start. It is a freeware and it will allow you to play DVDs and almost any other video file.