How do I play DVD movies on my Acer Aspire One??

Hello, I own the Aspire One A110 with 8 GB SSD and 8 GB SD card and would like to know if there's a way to transfer DVD movies to either drive? Is there an easy way I can I use my desktop PC to transfer the files to the SD card? I tried copying a VIDEO_TS file to my SD card but it will not play the movie.

Thanks in advance for your replies...

 

Put the dvd in your desktop, then make an iso image of the disc. Copy it over to the AAO, then use Alcohol 120% or Daemon tools to mount it on your AAO. Also you could rip the movie into an avi file, but that will take longer.

 

To expand slightly. You need this program to rip the DVD in to an ISO (note: you need to go to the menu item: Mode|ISO|Read first to do this)

http://www.dvddecrypter.org.uk/ (freeware)

Then use this version of Daemon Tools to mounts the iso file. Don't use a later version as this is the last "decent" version of the program without all the glut that comes in the later versions.

http://www.brothersoft.com/daemon-tools-75293.html (freeware)

 

By far the easiest way would be to simply buy an external DVD-ROM drive. I found one on ebay for $20. It would save a lot of headaches. Believe me, you'll be spending DAYS ripping DVDs. Even if your desktop is a really fast quad-core Nehalem or something, ripping DVDs takes a while. Whereas, with an external drive, you just pop the disk in and you are done. Oh, and there is a player available legally for free: Media Player Classic. http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/

 

Do you power the cd/dvd player through the usb port? Do movies play smoothly or is there a speed limitation due to usb?

 

cyclone 42,

not wishing to be sarcastic, but i want to do the same for my daughter, as she loves watching dvd's in bed and the thought of another piece of hardware on her bed with the netbook is a bit silly i want to achieve the same results i have 160 gb in the netbook, so sohuld hold 20 dvd's no problem, even more if i can be bothered to convert them ...

any more tips on this subject would ne great help especially in speeding up the process. i did try putting a dvd in my desktop and sharing it to view across the network but this did not work using vlc.....

Thanks Alun

 

hi,

got a dvd converted to iso and played it succesfully on my desktop pc with the dvd out of the tray, works great using daemon tools to mount the iso, and play using vlc. the problem i got at the moment is a ccannot copy the 4.3gb file across onto my netbook. it refuses and says not enough disk space...

There is 146gb free any ideas on this ?

I am copying it across my wireless network... this is going to take some time i know, but why wont it copy...Would i be better off buying a 8gbsd card or 8gb usb stick and transfer to that then copy to netbook ?

Thanks Alun

 

You could shell out a little more money and buy a standalone portable DVD player!

 

I bought a slim Targus external USB DVD-ROM drive. Got a good deal on one. The drive I got is powered totally by the USB port. The speed of USB 2.0 is more than fast enough for a DVD-ROM drive. Movies play very smoothly.

 

i'd recommend using Handbrake to compress the Movie so that it becomes like a 1 GB - 2 GB file using classic settings depending on the length of movie.
http://handbrake.fr/?article=download

 

thanks for this, have tried it, it is currently running on my computer. takes ages to decode tho' taking about 2 1/2 hours. i would prefer the dvd decrypt way, and copy the iso over, but for some reason cannot copy iso over across my network aspire says not enough disk space, yet i have 145gb free. bit confused over this.... will have to get a 8b stick and try it that way.

 

Is your windows partition formatted as FAT32? If so, that could be your problem. As far as I know, FAT32 will only stored files up to 4gb in size. You mentioned your movie ISO file is 4.3gb. You need to a partion of type NTFS in order to store a file that big.

I agree that giving an error message "not enough disk space" is very confusing.

 

Maybe I missed it. I agree about not bothering with the long reformat and dicey results of shrinkers, but why not just play the ISO over your network instead of transferring the file to the Acer HDD? I've had a stutter problem playing some commercial DVDs over the network, but if I make an ISO (on my external HDD attached by USB to the "server" PC") I can play it flawlessly with the VLC player.