Software reccomdations

okay building up a new PC and it is the first to have a DVD rom

So any reccomdations for a reasonably priced or better free DVD player as i got no frebies with it

And while i am at it what do folk consider to be a good download manager as i am still on dial up which drops every two hours so i need something that can resume a download

It's not free, but I use PowerDVD. I've tried WinDVD and didn't like it at all.

Those are the common pay programs that I've seen. I'm sure someone else will have a better one, though

Gotta agree with PowerDVD... FAR better than windvd. Never tried free ones though.

It's been a while since I tried it, but the only free Windows player I know of is VideoLAN Client. I don't know its feature set or quality these days, especially under Windows, but it's probably worth looking.

PowerDVD

Leechget

Hmm. It's probably worth checking out the HTPC forum at www.avsforum.com to find out what the flavor of the day is. In my (limited) experiences, the 'best' player can be dependant on OS version and sometimes on hardware too.

It can get even more complicated - players comprise 2 elements, the decoders and the GUI. Most of the players today use directshow filters to implement the decoders. This means that you can plug and play various filter sets into a different UI. For example, in my HTPC I use Ravisent Cineplayer video decoders with WinDVD audio decoders using Zoomplayer as the UI. Zoomplayer is freeware from an Israeli coder called Blight, and is incredibly flexible and extensible. It will allow you to pick and choose your decoders, it plays nicely with girder (automation tool), it is skinable, it is _totally_ configurable. It doesn't come with any decoders though, so you will still need to buy at least one player to get some.

Last I checked, Cineplayer was considered the highest quality DVD engine. You can buy just the codec for $15 then use Windows Media Player or a free player like ZoomPlayer as the front end.

-Dylan

I've always used PowerDVD, but then i found Nvidia's NVDVD program. I would check it out.

If you're putting a retail ATI video card in that PC, you'll already have the DVD codec taken care of when you install the software for it. You can then use the included DVD player, MS Media Player or any other player you want, including the free ones mentioned here.

Bruno

Thanks that give me a good start but how about download managers or shall i stick with Gozilla

I suggested Leechget