Free Media Players For Windows Vista

One thing Vista has in common with its Windows XP heritage is its fairly average ability to handle different audio and video files. While it’s happy to play Microsoft’s own Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Windows Media Video (WMV) files straight out of the box, get any version of Vista to try and handle anything exotic like H.264 video or Vorbis audio and it all goes sour.
The Ultimate version of Vista is capable of playing DVD movies without any trouble, but even this top-drawer version of Vista can’t do everything.

Here are 2 free media players for vista with which you can play almost any media file

Ffdshow To The Rescue
However, there’s a special software package called Ffdshow, which fixes everything in one hit. It’s what is called a ‘video decoding filter’, which basically means that it handles a wide range of audio and video compression formats or ‘codecs’ and allows Windows Media Player to play them rather than just telling you it needs to look for (and seemingly never finds) the codec online.

ffdshow

Ffdshow works exceptionally well in Windows XP and it also does the job nicely in all versions of Vista – from Basic through to Ultimate.
All you need to do is download the software, install it into your Vista PC and you’re done. It automatically links into Vista so that when any media player (not just Windows Media Player) gets set to play a video or audio file, Ffdshow lines up the correct codec so that your file plays.

Media Player Classic

Media Player Classic

Media Player Classic for Vista
However, while Vista comes with Windows Media Player, it’s not the only choice you have when it comes to media players. Back in the days of Windows 98, Microsoft’s Windows Media Player was a lean, simple player that did much the same thing as the current Windows Media Player 11, but without all the extra fluff.
While Microsoft abandoned the older player in favour of newer versions, a keen band of developers has taken the original interface and beefed it up with clever and useful new features, releasing it as Media Player Classic (MPC). If you’re finding that Vista’s Windows Media Player won’t touch your file, even with Ffdshow installed, try playing it with Media Player Classic.
To get MPC to show your videos in full-screen mode (without any Windows borders), just double-click on the video screen window. You can double-click on it again to go back to a Windows view.
There are many different video and audio formats available on the Internet. Installing Ffdshow is the ideal way to ensure that Vista can play anything you throw at it.
Adjusting The Aspect Ratio In MPC
Aspect ratio in video means the ratio between the width and height of the video image you look at. Old tube TVs had an aspect ratio of 4:3, whereas today’s new LCD and plasma TVs have an aspect ratio of 16:9. If you’re watching a video with MPC and it looks too tall or too squished, you can adjust the aspect ratio by going to MPC’s menu and selecting view -> Video Frame ->Override Aspect Ratio, and selecting from the options in the list.

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Netbook Review-Dell Inspiron Mini 12

dell-inspiron-12Netbooks have one feature that’s a bit of a double-edged sword: their small size. Sure, a tiny 10in PC is great for portability and use at school or while travelling, but for more prolonged home or office use they’re not great desktop replacements. Some vendors have recently started mixing netbook components into desktop PC systems, but I reckon the most appealing use for these low-cost parts is putting them into slightly larger, bigger-screened notebooks. The 12in Inspiron Mini 12 does exactly this, and could consequently have been a rather stunning machine. However, in its current Australian incarnation, it’s merely adequate. At 1.26kg (without the power adapter) and just over an inch thick, the Mini 12 is exceptionally light and portable, beating even some 10in models on weight. It also packs a great 1,280 x 800-pixel screen that’s clear and bright, with natural colours and good viewing angles. The bigger chassis has allowed for a larger keyboard, but it isn’t as big as it could’ve been, with a clear 1cm on either side. It is a little light on function keys (with no Pause, Break or numeric keypad), but it’s certainly a lot more usable than most netbooks. Under the bonnet, it packs a 1.6GHz Atom Z530 chip (one of the newer hyper-threaded models), 1GB of RAM, plus 802.11g WiFi, Fast Ethernet, Bluetooth and a 4,200rpm, 1.8in 80GB hard drive running Windows XP Home. In terms of performance the Mini 12 is functional for basic tasks, though subpar compared to many recent Atom N720-processor netbooks I’ve tested. That hard drive is the main culprit for this and it had a huge impact on certain disk-intensive benchmarks like UserBench Security and Image. However, what really lets down the Mini 12 is the machine’s three-cell battery. Given its 2,200mAh capacity, its UserBench Battery result of 1 hour 47 minutes isn’t terrible, but it means the machine is clearly no mobile road warrior. What’s more, Dell doesn’t even offer the option to purchase a six-cell battery. It’s likely that the poor Aussie dollar has pushed Dell to cut some corners to keep the price down. Unfortunately, these cuts have turned what was a unique and appealing netbook into a just passable one.

Overall I give the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 a 7/10 – A light and inexpensive ultraportable with subpar performance.

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