Does anyone watch DVDs on their Thinkpad?

[teknoT42]

Hello All,
I am just writing to ask if anyone out there watches DVDs on their thinkpad and whether or not it has any bad symptoms on your LCD screen or heats up your computer etc...
And if so, what suggestions would you make when watching a DVD on your laptop ie. put it near a cool place...
Another question, just for interest wise, is where do people watch DVDs on their laptop? would it be when your away on a business trip for example?

[lfeagan]

I watched a DVD on my T42 a few days ago. I didn't notice it getting hot or anything. I played quite well and I was very pleased with how it looked. I watched a DVD over at my office in the University while working on building some load boards for student's projects.

[zzyss]

Yes, my T40 does get quite warm when watching DVDs. I presume that the extra heat is coming from the constant spinning of the DVD drive, so there probably isn't a whole lot you can do about it.

One alternative would be to take advantage of the s-video out and connect it up to a TV, turning off your LCD and watching the movie on a TV screen instead. Not that it will help the heat issues much, but if you're concerned about the longevity of your LCD then that might help, I guess.

[sktn77a]

Actually, decoding/decompressing the video is quite CPU intensive (especially if done well). That generates quite a bit of heat also.

[lvlolvlo]

i don't generally watch movies but wheni do normally it's on some sort of trip, so I just make an image of it on an external drive of mine and then when i want to watch it just copy it over as it takes a few minutes (4-5) maximum to copy it over and watch i do.

[RCube]

I plan to watch some dvds on my flight to hk in dec. Come to think of it..that is one of reasons why I bought a laptop. :p

[puco]

Actually, decoding/decompressing the video is quite CPU intensive (especially if done well). That generates quite a bit of heat also.

I think that MPEG-2 compression that DVD uses it not so complicated and can be done without breaking any sweat. I don't have any DVD here, so I can't test it, but I think the load should be far below 50%.

[Daniel]

MPEG-2 decoding is assisted by the video chip as well.

Previously, hardware (decoder chip) was needed to decode it smoothly, but that was around the time of 400mhz processors. Hardware decoders almost became obsolete after CPUs became powerful enough to decode it themselves. Our Pentium-Ms run at 600MHZ in their slowest state and that is plenty for watching a movie and running cool. I'll run a check later to see what CPU usage is at.

[Elhabash]

Actually watching a DVD is one of the nicest things to make a long train ride shorter!
I believe most of the heat (Not much, btw) is generated by the DVD drive, and maybe by the battery.

[Daniel]

I just checked. Going in Super Power Saver, CPU usage is around 18-35%. In High Performance - 5-12%.

[ruykava]

i didn't really notice much heat problems while on DVDs. seems more than comfy enough to put on my lap (especially now that winter is approaching )
but do find that my thinkpad's DVD-RW drive is pretty "sensitive" to scratches and stuff on DVDs. quite often it'll skip a little on well-used discs. but nothing too bad at all.

[Txiasaeia]

MPEG-2 decoding is assisted by the video chip as well.

Previously, hardware (decoder chip) was needed to decode it smoothly, but that was around the time of 400mhz processors. Hardware decoders almost became obsolete after CPUs became powerful enough to decode it themselves. Our Pentium-Ms run at 600MHZ in their slowest state and that is plenty for watching a movie and running cool. I'll run a check later to see what CPU usage is at.

600MHz? My X31 1.6GHz P-M runs at around 200MHz at slowest - at least that's what CPUID is telling me.