T42 battery Q: DivX from CD-R or off HD?

[Kenn]

So I'm going on a trip this month that will require a few 8+ hour plane rides, and I'm stocking up the old T42p with movies. Does anyone have any hard data on whether it's better for the battery to play movies from a burned CD-R or off the HD? My guess is the HD is better, but I've never actually run a side by side comparison.

Also, does anyone know if there are any differences in CPU usage between different media players? I know the WinDVD that comes with the thinkpad shoots NHC into "full speed profile" whenever it's launched, whereas I figure 600MHz should be plenty for acceptable video playback.

[christopher_wolf]

The HDD, IMO, is better for quick movie playback. The Optical Drive needs to spool up and it takes some time with a VCD or CD-R of a DivX. I would try VideoLAN instead of WinDVD; that always seems to take up less resources from my perspective when playing back media files than WinDVD.

[jeffcrilly]

I am also trying to figure out how to play movies from the HD.
(Those, of course, would be movies recorded off-the-air, with a
DVD-Recorder... i.e. not for redistribution, etc. I've got no intention
of violating any copyrights.)

I have an ultrabay battery, and another 6 cell. I figure between the
three batteries I can run the laptop for about 8 hours.

But if i've got the battery in the ultrabay, then I got no DVD drive,
hence I gotta figure how to load up the HD with shows.
What software does this, and how much is it?

jeff

P.s. a better solution might be to use the DVD drive, and figure out a
better external power source - e.g. use the 12V adapter and some
external batteries -- however I just know the TSA is going to freak over
a bunch of taped-together rechargable cells in my carry-on.