[wellylug] Quote please for new system install.

[jumbophut]

On 1/29/06, Persian wrote:
> Watch video clips
>
> DVD playing software

You are probably fine with any mainstream distro if you just want to
watch simple (pre MPEG4) avis and MPEGs.  Even Quicktime vids seem to
be fairly well supported.

However (and I realise that this is the Linux list)  if you want to
LEGALLY watch wmv/asf/mpg4 clips and encrypted DVDs, you might be
forced to use another operating system.  Support for the MS/MPEG4
formats  usually involves downloading the mplayer codecs (or similar),
since the main distros deliberately don't include them (note that the
mplayer site is hosted in Hungary, which is not exactly a bastion of
intellectual property rights).

DVD decryption is /probably/ okay in New Zealand for now, although it
appears to be illegal in Australia and is illegal in the US. I
wouldn't count on that remaining the case in NZ for long.  (IANAL)

I am not impressed that a goodly part of the Internet is unavailable
to Linux users due to the impossibility of writing open source
Flash/asf/wmv etc. plugins, but that's the way it is.

Good luck in your search anyway.

--
Tony (echo 'spend!,pocket awide' | sed 'y/acdeikospntw!, /l at omcgtjuba.phi/')