Open Source Media Software

I recently received an education in global DVD compatibility, and was encouraged to share my findings with the STJ community.  A professor recently asked me to facilitate the purchase of a DVD for a class.  As I researched its availability I found that it was not available domestically and was out of stock from Amazon UK.  I did locate it from another UK vendor and began to process this order.

The professor then told me that the DVD was made in a PAL format and not NTSC. Without getting into technical details, it means that this DVD is encoded for use in many countries, but not in the USA, which uses the NTSC format. Windows Media Player which we tend to use by default is not PAL compatible. I then found out that DVD players sold in PAL countries play both kinds of discs, but NTSC players can’t play PAL discs.

With the assistance of the IT Department, I was alerted to an open source media software program entitled VLC Media Player available free via CNET that addresses this issue.  Due to the global reach of the St. John’s community, the links listed below might be particularly helpful.

For PC

http://download.cnet.com/VLC-Media-Player/3000-13632_4-10267151.html?tag=main;pop

For MAC

http://download.cnet.com/VLC-Media-Player/3000-2139_4-10210434.html?tag=main;pop