Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

I am new to this forum and am quite glad that I found it.

I have a TP600 with 288MB of RAM installed, updated bios to IBMs last release and W2k pro. It's a 300mhz PII machine. 2645-85u

I love the machine, mostly because it is "the right size and feel."

After reading through this forum for a few days I decided to purchase a Margi DVD-To-Go card from Ebay. I d/l Margi software/drivers as well as the Dell ones.

The card works fine and has no probem playing Mpeg2 files properly (although occasionally it loads the file and the audio is out of sync). However I could not get it to read VOB files or open up a DVD from a folder when I transfered it from my desktop machine.

Neither set of drivers/software solved this problem. The error I got was something like 'can not decode this file.' Changing the .VOB extension to
.MPG and everything worked fine.

I d/l Dscale free mpeg2 decoder codec and that seems to have solved the issue of reading VOB files.

So now everything seems to work, except I still can't get the Margi software to open a folder (they're documentation says it can) to play a DVD.

Presently I only have the CD rom drive. I did just order (from Ebay) a DVD-CDRW drive which will arrive soon. I'm not sure if the DVD drive should make a difference though.

SO, anyone else have these problems? Any solutins or suggestions?

Are there any other DVD playing programs that work with the Margi DVD-To-Go card?

I D/L DVDExpress from the Compaq website but this doesn't seem to use the Margi card.

Sorry if this is long winded. I was trying to make the story short

Thanks.

Des wrote:So now everything seems to work, except I still can't get the Margi software to open a folder (they're documentation says it can) to play a DVD.

Presently I only have the CD rom drive. I did just order (from Ebay) a DVD-CDRW drive which will arrive soon. I'm not sure if the DVD drive should make a difference though.

If I understand the above correctly, you are trying to play a DVD disc with a CD only drive. This can't work. You have to have a DVD drive to read a DVD disc.

Actually, at present I am trying to play a DVD ripped to a folder on the Thinkpad's HD (the original foder was on my desktop machine).

The Margi software says that it can play from a folder but so far it does not.

An actual DVD drive is on its way but I really don't see where that is going to change anything.

--Des

Can you get the program to open the .ifo in the folder you ripped to?

I ask because when PowerDVD plays ripped DVDs, it plays them by opening the .ifo file, not by going right to a .vob (although PowerDVD will play individual .vobs). One other thing about PowerDVD that might apply to you is that, menu-wise, opening a media file (vob or mpeg) is different than playing a ripped DVD. Power DVD has three options: play disc, play media file, play DVD on hard drive.

Hope this is of some help.

Hi,

I just tried to open up just the .ifo file with the Margi program but it didn't do any thing.

It's weird. It's not that the card and program doesn't work so much as it doesn't work like it should. Like it's broken.

Guess I might be stuck living with it the way it is, or hope to find other software tha can use the card.

Maybe the DVD drive will make a difference some how. Should have it Monday or tuesday.

--Des

The following may not apply to you, but sometimes when you copy files from one medium to another, the permissions get messed up. I don't remember how to change on W2K, but perhaps it's the same as XP. You have to boot up in Safe Mode. Follow my tip in the following thread, but ignore the delete folder at the end of the post.