Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
whereas Windows 7 Starter edition does not. No MPEG-2 decoder was included with
Windows XP (not even Media Center Edition) or any earlier versions of Windows.
If an MPEG-2 decoder is the missing piece of software needed to play DVDs, where do
you get one? Normally you get an MPEG-2 decoder bundled with standalone commer-
cial DVD player programs such as WinDVD and PowerDVD; however, you can also pur-
chase a decoder separately, or even download one for free. To see if you have a DVD
decoder currently installed, you can use the Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility
You can purchase standalone MPEG-2 codecs (coder/decoders) that are compatible with
WMP for about $15. Microsoft has a page listing plug-ins for WMP at
You can also get MPEG-2 codecs as part of several free “codec packs.” My favorite
codec packs are the K-Lite Codec Pack (I recommend the Standard or Full versions;
ht-
tp://codecguide.com
)
and the Vista/Win7 Codec Packages (
http://shark007.net
).
If you have the proper hardware plus a compatible MPEG-2 decoder installed, you can
play DVDs using WMP 8 or later.
Optical Disc File Systems
Manufacturers of early data CDs required their own custom software to read the discs.
This is because the Yellow Book specification for CD-ROM detailed only how data sec-
tors—rather than audio sectors—could be stored on a disc and did not cover the file sys-
tems or deal with how data should be stored in files and how these should be formatted
for use by PCs with different OSs. Obviously, noninterchangeable file formats presented
an obstacle to industrywide compatibility for optical disc-based applications.
In 1985-1986, several companies got together and published the High Sierra file format
specification, which was the first industry-standard CD-ROM file system that made CD-
ROMs universally usable in PCs. Today several file systems are used on optical discs, in-
cluding the following:
• High Sierra
• ISO 9660 (based on High Sierra)
• Joliet
• UDF (Universal Disk Format)
• Mac HFS (Hierarchical File Format)
• Rock Ridge
• Mount Rainier (also known as Mt. Rainier)
