Windows XP [Electronic resources] : Visual Quickstart Guide, Second Edition

Chris Fehily

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Playing DVDs

If you have a DVD drive, you can use Media Player to watch DVD movies. The Play menu lets you display closed captions and subtitles, choose a language track, and use other movie-specific features.

Tips

To play a DVD's special features, choose View > DVD Features > Root Menu.

The Play menu contains commands for using a DVD's language and subtitle features.

To capture a DVD image as a bitmap or JPEG file, choose View > DVD Features > Capture Image (or press Ctrl+I). To turn on the image-capture feature, choose Tools > Options > Performance tab > Advanced; then, in the DVD Video area, check Use Video Mixing Renderer.

Media Player also can play VCDs (video CDs).

To play a DVD:

1. Insert a DVD into your computer's DVD drive.

2. Depending on the AutoPlay settings that you made (refer to Figure 10.8), Media Player opens automatically or offers to do so.

If not, open Media Player; then choose Play > DVD, VCD or CD Audio >

[your DVD drive] .

3. In the Playlist pane on the right, click a DVD title or chapter name, if appropriate.

If the playlist is hidden, choose View > Now Playing Options > Show Playlist.

4. To enlarge the picture to fill the screen, press Alt+Enter (or choose View > Full Screen).

To return to normal, press Esc or Alt+Enter again (Figure 10.32 ).

Figure 10.32. In full-screen mode, the playback controls appear automatically when you move the mouse and disappear after the mouse is idle for a few seconds. To control playback, you can right-click the movie or use the keyboard shortcuts listed in Table 10.4. The playlist (on the right) divides the movie into discrete "chapters"; double-click a chapter to jump to a particular scene. An exclamation mark (!) next to the chapter name means that the player can't skip to that chapter.

[View full size image]

You can control playback with the onscreen controls or the keyboard shortcuts listed in

Table 10.4 .

Table 10.4. DVD Keyboard Shortcuts

TO PRESS

Play/pause

Ctrl+P

Stop

Ctrl+S

Rewind

Ctrl+Shift+B

Fast-forward

Ctrl+Shift+F

Previous/next chapter

Ctrl+B/Ctrl+F

Play louder/quieter

F9/F10

Mute

Eject

Ctrl+E

Play fast

Ctrl+Shift+G

Play slow

Ctrl+Shift+S

Turn on or off captions and subtitles

Ctrl+Shift+C

DVD Decoders

DVD playback requires a software

decoder. If you bought your system with Windows and a DVD drive installed, you probably can play any DVD on your PC as is. If you have an older system, you may have to download and install a decoder from the internet. If Media Player is unable to play a DVD, it displays an error message that links you to Microsoft's web site, where you can purchase (for about $15 U.S.) and download a DVD Decoder Pack. But first check your computer or DVD-drive manufacturer's web site for free, updated XP DVD decoders.