HP m300 Will DVD Express play unencrypted MPEG2 clips?, What is CSS and why is it important?

DVD Software Support for Compaq Portables 10

Will DVD Express play unencrypted MPEG2 clips?

Yes, DVD Express will play MPEG2 files that have not been encrypted using CSS. The one-time region choice will not impact the ability to play “region-less” content in any way.

Is the Compaq DVD drive compatible with the Armada 7700 & 7300?

Intel Pentium I processor based systems, like the Armada 7700 and 7300 are too slow to maintain any appreciable frame rate to support acceptable MPEG-2 playback quality. Only those Armada 7000 notebooks with Intel 233MHz Pentium II processors or better are able to use DVD Express to play MPEG2 movies. For notebooks that do not meet these minimum requirements, Compaq provides the DVD-to-Go PC Card option as an alternative, which is compatible with the entire Armada 7000 family including systems with Intel Pentium I 133MHz processors or better.

Why is DVD Express unavailable on the Compaq website?

CSS licensing prohibits distribution of any product that incorporates CSS technology on any publicly accessible medium such as the web. DVD Express is only available with new DVD drive option kits and select notebooks that ship with a DVD drive as part of their shipping configuration.

What is CSS and why is it important?

CSS stands for Content Scrambling System, a security design used for descrambling and playing encrypted DVD content used by all Hollywood movie studio. Without a CSS solution, PCs cannot play encrypted content such as Hollywood movies. CSS also discourages illegal copying and distribution of DVD content through its MacroVision copy protection features.

How can I improve multitasking performance while playing a DVD movie?

Since DVD Express relies on the processor to decode MPEG2 video clips, using additional hardware to assist with decoding may improve performance. In addition to providing DVD Express, Compaq has qualified the DVD-to-Go PC Card for use with the Armada 1500c, 1700, 1750, 3500, 6500, 7300, 7400, 7700, 7800 and select Prosignia notebooks. DVD-to-Go provides hardware assisted MPEG2 decode that relieves the processor to work on other tasks.

Can I play a DVD movie using DVD Express under Windows NT?

No. DVD Express exploits the DirectX 5.2 API (Application Programming Interface). Since Windows NT 4.0 only supports DirectX 3.0, DVD Express and MPEG2 playback will not work. Microsoft has announced that future revisions of the DirectX feature set will be incorporated into Windows 2000. Other multimedia video file formats such as AVI and MPEG1 are supported under Windows NT 4.0 on Compaq Armada and Prosignia portables.

What problems will exist using software playback versus hardware playback?

Optimum playback quality can only be achieved with a hardware solution like the DVD- to-Go PC Card. Software playback solutions like DVD Express, while economical, only

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