How to Watch DVD, DivX or XviD Movies on a Netbook

I'm going to tell you the easiest ways I've found to watch DVD, DivX or XviD movies on a netbook. If you have a netbook (without an optical drive), this will be of much interest to you. If you have a laptop that includes an optical drive, you may only be mildly interested in the information I'm about to share with you.

DivX or XviD?

I'll get into the software and movie sources in a moment. What I need to explain is that the codecs for DivX and XviD are similar. You may see DVD players and other components with a DivX logo on them, meaning they can read and display videos encoded in that format. The XviD codec (spelled DivX in reverse) can decode the DivX-encoded videos and display them.

Both compression codecs are based on MPEG-4 ISO format. The difference is that XviD is open-source while DivX is not. The player provided with DivX uses the .divx extension while XviD uses the .avi extension. If you change the .divx extension to .avi, it will still work with players that can play both DivX and XviD. Sounds confusing, doesn't it? It really isn't when you start working with the files.

I recommend using XviD over DivX and that's simply because the DivX codec owners keep trying to sell me things that I don't want or need. I had both codecs and multiple players on an older machine and the DivX people were always trying to sell me something. I don't need to buy anything when XviD, along with the appropriate media players, will do everything I want it to do and it doesn't cost me anything.

If you're using Linux on your netbook, DivX isn't even an option since they don't have binaries for anything other than Windows and Mac computers.

External Optical Drives

The most expensive and bulkiest way to watch movies on a netbook is to attach an external optical drive. While you can order an external DVD drive online at places like Newegg.com for under $100, you can probably find them at a local computer store as well. In my case, I would probably have to travel to Manila (Philippines) to find one.

This kind of defeats the reason for having a netbook in the first place. If you own or want a netbook, chances are that you don't want to lug around a bunch of external devices with it. If that's what you want then you really want a standard notebook, which already includes an optical drive.

If the only computer you own is a netbook then an external optical drive is probably a good idea, but not for regular use. You would need it for installing software that you can't download or for doing video conversions, as I'll explain.

Convert a DVD Movie to a Video File

When DVDs are created, the movie is actually stored in one or more .vob files. A .vob file is actually an MPEG-4 file in disguise. The problem is that these files are huge and not suited for independent storage, not to mention the fact that you don't want to have to stop and load a subsequent file when the movie spans more than one .vob file.

The Auto Gordian Knot (or just AutoGK) program will let you convert any DVD into an XviD-compatible .avi file, compressing it as it does the job. While the resolution isn't as good as the MPEG-4 format, it looks fine on the small monitor screen of my netbook.

If you want more control over how your videos are created, then you need to visit VideoHelp.com and read through some of the tutorials. In my opinion, AutoGK is all you need for now.

Playing Video Files

If your netbook runs Windows, you can probably use Windows Media Player, but I wouldn't recommend it. It takes too long and it doesn't always work right no matter how good it looks.

There are two software titles that will play XviD .avi files (that I've heard of), but the only one I know for sure about is the VLC media player. The VLC media player will let you change the aspect ratio on the fly if it doesn't look right on your monitor screen. The older a DVD is, the more likely it is that the aspect ratio will not be in a wide screen format or the wide screen format will be a conversion that isn't quite the right size.

The neat thing about the .avi files is that they do not have to be copied to your hard drive in order to be played. You can play them from something as simple as a USB flash drive (thumb drive, jump drive, USB key or whatever you want to call it) and they won't display in a jerking fashion or anything. That is, unless your netbook doesn't have enough memory (I recommend at least 1 GB).

Alternate Sources

Although the movie industry doesn't like it, you can download XviD-compatible movies from a wide variety of torrent sites. Some are encoded with the additional AC3 codec, so I recommend having the AC3Filter installed on your netbook along with XviD.

Despite the negative propaganda the movie industry puts out, there are a lot of movies that are legal to download, especially the pre-1970s movies. Also, if you want to download a movie that you own on DVD already converted for you (so you don't have to do the work), there's nothing illegal about that either. In fact, downloading a movie this way can be faster than doing the conversion yourself. If the movie industry wants to kill off the illegal torrents, they need to provide a way for people to download movies in the format desired and not charge an arm and a leg for it.

I caution you to be careful if you decide to take this route. There are some malicious people out there and the torrent files you think are good may end up being packed with viruses, trojan horses and other nastiness. The last thing you need is a crippled netbook.

Final Thoughts

I have a ton of DVDs I've collected over the years. I bought some of them, my older son bought some of them and even more have been given to me. It would take years for me to convert all of them into .avi files. By the time I'd be finished, the technology would probably be obsolete. I only convert movies that I really like and would watch anytime and almost anywhere. There are very few that fit in that category.

I would much rather download an already converted movie, that I already own, and watch it one time (like while on a road trip) and then store it for later viewing or delete it if I don't want to store it. One of the problems with DVD media is that it doesn't last 50 years like the industry claimed when they first came out. Digital files are much easier to back up and move around so you don't have to buy something twice (because the original disc is no longer playable). The industry should give us the option of buying digital files versus DVD media in the first place, but I guess it's not part of their business plans.

The movie industry is so worried about piracy, they don't care about the larger percentage of people who don't do these things and just want a fair shake in life. To me, that's just wrong and they need to get over it. Convert DVDs or download movie files at your own risk. The movie industry says it's illegal to do either one, even if you already own a copy.

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