DVD Playback

[MDH1966]

Hello all,
I have a question about DVD playback.  It is important to me to do things legally and I am in the US so restrictions are tight.  So I was wondering about the feasability of using Fluendos codecs for legally playing encrypted DVDs in LinuxMCE (or other Linux media players).  I know that usually in Windows, when you install a software dvd player, that other applications (such as Windows Media Player) can use the codecs to playback DVDs. Does anyone know if this is the case for Linux?
Sorry if this is a newbie question but I am very new to everything Linux.

Thanks,
M.

[jimbodude]

Please read the most basic documentation we have - the FAQ...
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/FAQ#Does_LinuxMCE_support_encrypted_DVD.27s.3F

[MDH1966]

Thanks for your reply.
I have read that link and I understand it at least at a basic level.  My understaning is that the way that works is to bypass the encryption.  Fluendo's answer to this is a legal way of watching encrypted DVD on it's licensed  DVD player. http://www.fluendo.com/shop/product/fluendo-dvd-player/
I also think that is that LinuxMCE, besides being it's own entity, is also a collection of media players and other software. Also, in MythTV (at least as far as I know), you can use an external software bases DVD player or its own internal DVD player to playback DVDs.
So my question is...Is it possible to use Fluendo's player or it's codecs to playback encrypted DVDs within LinuxMCE environment?  I'm not sure how all this works together and I am not a programmer or a developer so the answer is not necessarily that obvious to me.

[jimbodude]

...there is no way to "bypass" encryption... libdvdcss decrypts the DVD or image and provides a decrypted block device to applications.  It does this by using a generated list of player keys to perform authentication.  There are no legal issues using libdvdcss in most countries.  I don't believe there has ever been a legal case against libdvdcss.

In LinuxMCE, DVD playback is handled by Xine, which uses libdvdcss.  If you are in an area that restricts libdvdcss or you have some moral objection to using it, then you should consider using an external DVD player (physical device, not software) and controlling it with LinuxMCE's A/V control features.

[MDH1966]

Morality is internal, legality is external.  My morality says that I won't copy a protected work and share it.  I also won't store a rented movie on a HDD to watch later no matter what capabilites my software has.

That said, I also want to be legal.  I have been doing some reading since your latest reply.  It seems that DeCSS has been deemed illegal in the US but that uses a different system than libdvdcss. I found this quote on a website.
"However, the Synaptic Package Manager description (if you have the Medibuntu repositories enabled) for libdvdcss2 reads as follows:
Library for accessing DVDs like block device using deCSS if needed" http://ubuntucat.wordpress.com/2007/05/28/the-legality-or-illegality-of-w32codecs-and-libdvdcss2/

Although, I can't actually find that quote on Medibuntu's site so I don't know how accurate it is.

I also referenced this this article on wikepedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libdvdcss2

So I suppose that if there is no legal issue with libdvdcss, than I suppose it is all in how you use it.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.

M.