Watching DVD 

Can You Watch DVD?

I use two kinds of DVD player: Xine, VideoLAN and Og―

Among the software that can play DVD and other film formats are such diverse pieces of software as Xine, VideoLAN and Ogle, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.

But seriously, DVDs other other MPEG subtypes play very nicely under Linux, thankyouverymuch. All of the players I've seen play at full frame rates on Vennëa, taking good advantage of the available disk and video hardware. There are, admittedly, a few rough edges, but fresh releases of the software generally fix the problems (and add extra nice features). You can even play films on your console.

Thanks to the LIRC project, I can use a remote control with the TV tuner ― and any other application, as a matter of fact.

Mini rant: these are my DVDs, I bought them with my hard-earned money, and I have a right to watch them on my computer without using an MPAA-approved player on an MPAA-endorsed operating system.

Xine playing The Abyss. Click to enlarge (249 kbyte 1280x1024 JPG file).

There's a version of Xine linked against AA, the ASCII Art library. It plays video streams on a text console. At 160x64, the text resolution of my Linux console is higher than the ‘graphics’ resolution of many an Eighties micro I've known. Retro city!

aaXine playing Galaxy Quest. Click to enlarge (130 kbyte 1200x910 JPG file).