Can Gp2X/cradle/soft Play Dvd's?


CJ Maynard

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Jun 24, 2008
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So I had a thought...we have a massive movie collection here, and the idea of ripping all these discs makes me cringe...looking at a couple of months at best doing it casually. I started thinking about other alternatives. I use the system as an entertainment center with the TV sometimes, so it would be cool to have it double as a DVD player.

Could I purchase an external DVD (USB) drive and use it with the cradle? I know I'd need to find one that is linux compatible, but how hard is it to recompile a linux DVD player program to work with the GP2X?

So, what I am hoping for here is a realistic assessment of this idea. I am mostly a programming noob, but I can handle simple things. Is this hack particularly complex? Any insights at all would be helpful, I only have a vague idea of where I'd even begin to start.
 
I`m not a programmer, In every sense of the word.

But it is probably (technically) possible.

But there is one caveat i can see. The GP2x`s internal hardware does not have enough
grunt (power) to decode full quality dvd`s (Mpeg2 video streams + audio at 4-8 Mbps)
in realtime. Someone please correct me if i am wrong.

Personally, I think your best bet, And probably cheapest route (in time and money)is
to use one of those cheap dedicated portable dvd players instead.

Trooper
 
If the video playback hardware of the GP2X is utilized then you'd have something that should be fast enough. Unfortunately, such a thing is not realistically possible outside of the media player on the GP2X itself. Furthermore, any DVD playback software you port is probably going to only be optimized for x86 and not ARM, not that there's that much you can do for ARMv4 anyway. I also don't know if Linux on GP2X even has support for DVD drives over USB compiled, so you might need to compile a module for it.

Since the cradle kills the portability of the GP2X I'm not really sure what the appeal would be anyway.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, sorry I've been away from this site for a bit.

I'll drop the idea for now. Losing the portability isn't an issue, since what I have been slowly working on is using the GP2X/Cradle combo as a home entertainment system with our television, then taking just the unit as a portable with me on the go. The DVD player aspect would only be part of the home "dock" if you will. Still, all the speculation doesn't change the fact that it'd probably be more work than necessary :)

Nonetheless, I never give up easily. There might still be a solution. I think the using the cradle with accessories is often overlooked as a good home entertainment system, but with Open2X and the instant controller support, it's actually a very cool system. I have controllers, hard drives, etc. It'd be great to round it out. No worries :)
 
The firmware of the GP2X only supports MPEG4 acceleration so it wouldn't work for playing back DVD's.
 
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