Click to view LinDVD on desktop

One thing that I think many users of Windows and OS X take for granted is how easy DVD playback is. I know that back when I was using Windows full time, DVD playback was as easy as installing WinDVD that came with my DVD burner and boom, I was good to go.

In the Linux world however, nothing is as easy as it could be when it comes to mixing the proprietary with the non-proprietary. While a user can indeed install a variety of things to get their default video player to play most encrypted DVDs with legal concerns not taken into consideration, the fact remains that it was never really that great. The deal breaker for me came when I went to watch what was apparently a fairly beefy DVD and it kept skipping and freezing. Had I paid for this, I would have been pretty frustrated. Then I realized that I needed to stop skipping out and just pay for LinDVD (WinDVD’s sister application).

It’s true, I was crazy enough to fork over $50 for something that is bundled with DVD-Roms for free. But I was willing to do it as I had a suspicion that it was going to provide a vastly better experience than anything Totem or Xine was giving me. Turns out I was right times 10 over – wow, massively improved!

Now it has been a long time since I have used WinDVD, but I suspect the starting UI is roughly the same and LinDVD did provide all of the functionality I wanted. I could close the program, then restart it to have the DVD start up where it left off. Skip, fast-forward, same in reverse, all of the basics are covered. Now my screen capture did not catch the DVD controls, but it does give you an idea of how it presents a DVD menu.

Hellboy II on LinDVD

And as anyone would expect from a good video application, you can full screen your movie easily. Looks a little weird on dual-monitors, but setting my PC to a single monitor fixes that easily enough. Another thing to note is that you will be prompted (Ubuntu 8.10) as to which application to use to run the DVD when it is first installed. Just use the pull down menu to select “PCM” and then set it to do this from now on. That is all there is to it.

Now it should be said that while I found this to be very stable to use after testing this with a number of DVDs, there are some issues to be aware of. One, outside of Mandriva and Ubuntu, good luck finding LinDVD elsewhere. Apparently you must maintain cult status to reap the benefits of this software as it is not available for other distros to the best of my knowledge. If I am wrong, please send some links our way in the comments.

In addition to limited availability, there is the issue of price. Seriously, $50 is too much. $20, okay. But asking for the current asking price is going to turn off newbies and experienced users will likely revert back to using the age old methods for DVD watching that range from using VLC to installing various decoders via apt-get.

The final issue was the fact that I had to wander into the Canonical store to discover that someone finally was making LinDVD available again! How about a heads up to this fact? I realize that Ubuntu needs SERIOUS help with their marketing efforts to those that are not frequenting Linux user groups, but at least mention this option in the product tour. As fascinating as it is to see screen caps of old black and white movies, seeing a screen capture of a simple means of viewing DVDs that are from this century is a bit more compelling I am afraid.

Is this for you? Depends. If you are happy with however you are currently viewing DVDs, then no. But if you happen to use Ubuntu 8.04-8.10 32 bit (only) and are really ready to move beyond what Totem and VLC have to offer for something with a bit more polish to it, then yes, I highly recommend it.