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hello,

I need a DVD drive for an XP machine that came originally with a CD-RW drive.

In addition to burning basic data DVD's I need to be able to watch DVD-Video discs.

I seem to recall that Windows XP does not ship with the necessary codecs to play DVD-Video discs.

Can anyone recommend a (retail?) DVD drive that comes with DVD playback software?

Thank you

Why not get a quality OEM drive (Samsung/Pioneer/LG) and save some bucks and use VLC Player or Media Player Classic?

ASUS's 18x and 20x DVD writers don't come with any DVD playback software. I can't think of any others.

Some OEM LG's came with PowerDVD, the 54 series did. I don't know about newer ones though. Some others come with Nero's free package, which has a player too I believe. SithTracy has a very good point, Media Player Classic is hard to beat. You can probably download PowerDVD's free version too (which is all you get with OEM's anyway), but I haven't looked into that.

SithTracy wrote:Why not get a quality OEM drive (Samsung/Pioneer/LG) and save some bucks and use VLC Player or Media Player Classic?

VLC and/or MPC will play DVD-Video even with out a commercial DVD codec installed?

Really? I had no idea. Are you sure?

If so, what is a good OEM PATA drive?


Thanks

I have never had a problem playing back any format, including DVD's, with the K-Lite Codec Pack. The Standard version is adequate for your needs. It comes with Media Player Classic, so you don't need to download a separate viewer.

As for good PATA drives, take a look at the DVD Writer Poll. Plenty of good choices in there, and you can view past months' polls for more results.

TheWizard wrote:As for good PATA drives, take a look at the DVD Writer Poll. Plenty of good choices in there, and you can view past months' polls for more results.

Am I missing ssomething, or are the top drives all SATA?

Are there PATA versions available, and are they equivalent?