Can you watch a dvd in normal cd-rom unit?

[elkin_ro]

I wonder if there's a way (a program or something) I can watch dvd movies in a normal cd-rom unit without having to buy a dvd-rom unit. If you know any please let me know.

[Watto]

I don't think it's possible. The hardware of a CD-ROm drive is different to that of a DVD ... concerning the laser and so on ...

[elkin_ro]

I understand that it's possible to burn dvds with a common cd-rw using a special software, how is this posible? Maybe there is something like that so you can play dvds in a cd-rom unit. Don´t you think so?

[setarip]

The "special" software you ask about is referred to as DivX compression software. Rather than actually burning a copy of your DVD toa CD-R (which is physically impossible due to file size), you first have to "rip" (remove copy protection) a copy of the DVD to your hard drive and then convert and compress the movie (not the entire DVD's contents - just the movie) into a DivX .AVI video file, which is typically 75-85% smaller than the original DVD-format movie. This compressed file can then be burned to a CD-R.

[Watto]

Absolutely right. It's impossible to get DVD's working with common CD-ROM, CD-R and CD-RW drives.
They're completely different ...

As long as DVD-R drives aren't available at affordable prices (and based on an established standard), DivX is a very good solution to get DVD Movies on normal CD-R's.