dvd's to download

[jabbo]

i am looking to purchase and download movies on-line , then burn them onto dvd so i can watch them on my dvd player. can anyone advise of good on-line retailers , interested mainly in UK and European movies.

thanks in advance

[The Bear up a tree]

doubt many on-line providers offer a fomat/codec that can be burned to a dvd for playback on a standard dvd player. not in their best interests yer' see.

[Jacques]

Get to Argos and buy a bush DVD2051 DVD Player for ?30.

Then burn all your DivX or Xvid files as a data DVD and pop it in the player and bish bosh bash they play on your TV like a normal DVD would.

[eduardo]

I always value your opinion Jaques so would you say that DivX is a better compression than all the .wmv stuff that's out there?

The DivX stuff I have seems to be a smaller file so downloads quicker and I reckon a better picture quality than .wmv.

Or it maybe just the stuff I have.

[Jacques]

DivX is better at making smaller size downloads but there ain't much between a wmv and a divx file in terms of perceived quality at the same bitrate - they are after all the same thing, mpeg4.

The advantage is that many cheap dvd players will play divx but I've yet to find one to play wmv. Also the divx player isn't such a resource hog on your pc as windows media player. And you get a smaller download size.

If you want fancy menus and such like, just like a dvd, then with divx author you can do that too.

Personally I prefer divx to wmv.

[Riley]

DivX Download Shop Here test drive it in our samples area and see it working.

[eduardo]

I've tried to back up some DVD's into DivX for storage and some into .wmv just to see how to do it out of curiousity.

Do you have any advice on any converters to use?

I used InterVideo DVD Copy 5 which converts both and is really just click it and leave it but the problem with the DivX on DVD Copy 5 is that you can't vary the bitrate.

Gordian Knot is too complicated for me.

Any advice?

[Riley]

Cheapest way here: your other option is Pro Coder 2 if you are bulk encoding.

[eduardo]

Thanks for your reply.

I used the trial version of the Converter before and it kept freezing my computer.

My computer is reasonable in it's power although not top spec. Intel Pentium 4 3.06 Ghz and 1GB Ram but it just kept freezing unfortunately.

I'm not bulk encoding but thanks for the link.

[Riley]

May be worth un install and reload from a fresh download your PC should perform ok.

Recommended System Requirements
Windows 2000/XP
Pentium IV 1.3GHz CPU or better for DivX Home Theater Profile video
Pentium IV 2.8GHz CPU or better for DivX High Definition profile video
128MB RAM or better
Graphics card with 64MB of RAM or more and supporting 24-bit color or better for Home Theater profile video
Graphics card with 128MB of RAM or more and supporting 24-bit color or better for DivX High Definition profile video