| Microsoft Windows Media Player is great, and it ships | | | | hundred dollar hole in my budget, and did not want to |
| for free with every version of Windows. It has | | | | spend any extra money on, well, extras. So I started |
| powerful features that allow it to play CDs, DVDs and | | | | searching for a free product that could play DVDs on |
| MP3 files. But did you know it can't play DVD movies | | | | my system no matter what. |
| out of the box on many Windows versions? | | | | And finally, I found it - a free product that could play a |
| How would you feel realizing that your brand-new, | | | | DVD and not infect my computer with bugs and |
| almighty PC that comes with everything and a free | | | | spyware! |
| mouse pad cannot play a DVD movie right out of the | | | | Meet AVS DVD Player by AVS Media, ( absolutely |
| box? It happened to me just a week after I bought a | | | | free software that plays DVDs, CDs, MP3s and DiVX |
| brand new Windows Vista-powered PC when I tried | | | | if you're into that! I could finally watch that rented |
| to put a rented DVD into the computer's DVD drive, | | | | movie, and I also experimented with the features |
| only to get an error message. | | | | offered by this wonderful product. It allows taking |
| What? My brand new, dual-core, DirectX 10 PC with | | | | snapshots during the movie, as well as capturing a |
| over half a gig on-board video memory cannot play a | | | | DVD into a single, compressed video file. I am not into |
| DVD that my two year old notebook has no problem | | | | that DiVX mania of today's Internet crowd, but if you |
| with? There must be something wrong, I thought, and I | | | | are, full support is there! |
| clicked the 'Web Help' button. After reading several | | | | After spending some time with AVS DVD Player, I |
| pages of amazingly irrelevant information, I finally found | | | | learned to love it even more. It could play all my DVD |
| a small link that suggested I don't have a DVD | | | | movies, even those foreign PAL ones that my |
| Decoder installed. I was offered the option to pay $159 | | | | stand-alone DVD player always struggled with. It never |
| to upgrade my version of Windows to one that could | | | | displayed a movie in a stretched or distorted way, an |
| play DVDs, or to pay $15 (the cheapest option) to buy | | | | unfortunate feature of my old notebook. And I had a |
| DVD player software that would essentially do the | | | | choice of several skins to pick from (I preferred the |
| same - enable my computer to play DVDs. | | | | Mini look by the way). |
| If it wasn't that it was only last week that I paid a | | | | And, the sound! Those who used Media Player for |
| grand and a half for that new computer with that new | | | | watching DVDs won't believe a DVD player can make |
| version of Windows, I would probably have parted | | | | any difference in this department. Well, AVS DVD |
| with my hard-earned $15 to 'enable instant DVD | | | | Player certainly does! It supports multi-channel and true |
| playback' or get 'the kind of outstanding performance' | | | | surround sound, making it easy to get immersed in the |
| offered by the marketers of Microsoft's suggested | | | | movie with just two speakers and a subwoofer. |
| products. But not at that moment! I still had a fifteen | | | | |