DEVA on TP770E

[CRJ343]

I have a TP770E running Windows 2000.
I recently purchase an DVD Enhance Video Adapter (12J0411)
I downloaded the drivers from the Lenovo site (MPEG driver IV) and it seems to be installed correctly
I understand that WinDVD is bundled with Windows 2000 so I was a bit surprised that it didn't seemed to be available to install once I'd setup the adapter.
Can someone please give some guidance here ?

Best Regards
Christopher Jones - London UK

[pkiff]

WinDVD was not bundled with Win2000. Possibly, WinDVD came with one or more Thinkpad Recovery disks for the Thinkpad 770ED (the ED had the DEVA, the plain E did not), I can't say for sure.

But to make use of the DEVA under Win2000, I don't think you want to use WinDVD anyways. You need to use either some Microsoft DVD player, or you need to use Mediamatics DVDExpress. I don't think any other DVD player will correctly communicate with the hardware MPEG decompression that the DEVA uses.

You can obtain a copy of the Mediamatics DVDExpress CD that originally shipped with some DEVA cards here:
http://thinkpads.kiff.ca/files/DVDExpress-27L2581.ISO

I consider DVDExpress abandonware, and also essential to the proper funcitoning of a 770E/ED/X/Z with a DEVA card, and so it should be available for download on the web. You will need to burn the ISO to a CD to install it.

After installing it, you will want to update it using the update available from Lenovo for the 770 series. The only reason you need to have the original disk is so that the update program will allow you to update it. The update completely replaces the old version with the new one. Make sure you update to the correct version for the 770. There is another update of DVDExpress that is available for the 600 series, and that is a later version of DVDExpress, but it is not clear to me if it is compatible with the DEVA (I don't think it is).

Alternatively, you can use the built in DVD player that comes with Win 2000. I forget how to find it, but it is a file called DVDplay I think that is hidden away on the Win2000 install disk somewhere in order to make it difficult for people to play DVDs without installing other software.

Lastly, some people have had success using some version of Microsoft Media Player to play DVDs too. I doubt that version 10 or 11 supports the DEVA, but I'm pretty sure that version 6 did, and probably a couple versions after 6 do too.

Phil.

[CRJ343]

So if I wanted to install DVDPlay how would I do that - I suppose I expected it to be shown as an install option on the W2K Control Panel once I'd got the DEVA setup. BTW I was never asked to put in my W2K CD when I setup the DEVA

Rgds
Chris

[pkiff]

Not sure. I used it with Win98, but never with Win2000. I think it only installs it during initial setup if it detects a hardware decoder, and since the DEVA wasn't there when you installed Win2000, it might not have installed the file.

You should check to see if the file named "dvdplay.exe" is present in the Windows/System32 folder. Also, you could try just Start -> Run -> dvdplay.exe and see if anything runs. Here is one possible way to find the file within the Windows 2000 install disks:
http://www.allformp3.com/dvd-faqs/411.htm

Once you get a hold of the file, you should be able to just copy it to the System32 folder and run it.

I would recommend Mediamatics DVDExpress or over the built-in Win2000 DVD player. The built-in player is VERY basic.

Phil.

[CRJ343]

Thanks I installed the Mediamatics and the Version IV drivers and it works - though it doesn't seem to read all DVDs. The Eject option on Mediamatics also doesn't work

Brgds
Chris

[pkiff]

Problems reading DVDs are probably related to the specific DVD drive you have installed. Some of the old DVD drives that shipped with the Thinkpad 770 series had problems reading "dual layer" DVDs or reading DVD-RW/R+/R- disks.

I recall vaguely having problems with the software eject function working correctly on one or more of my 600/770 machines. But I think that this too may have been a hardware problem. Swapping in a different DVD drive resolved the problem if I recall correctly.

Phil.

[CRJ343]

One thing I find slightly confusing is which MPEG driver set to use for Windows 2000
Should I use mptpdw9x.exe or mptpcw98.exe