Ogle DVD Player
Ogle is purely a DVD player and was the first to support DVD menus and navigation, the code of which is now used in the Xine plugin as mentioned earlier. As with VideoLAN Client and MPlayer, Ogle uses libcss and libdvdread to decode and read DVDs. The MPEG decoder features various levels of acceleration to take advantage of MMX processors and some hardware MPEG decoders.
Ogle can be run directly from the shell, but a GUI is also available if you prefer. The GUI is more compact than VideoLAN Client’s, but manages to contain more functionality. All of the major functions are present, such as pausing, forwarding the DVD and menu keys. That said, the interface to the control GUI is still larger than the standard MPlayer GUI and is not as nice to look at. Unfortunately, although there is an option to edit preferences, it is not currently functional.
When you first access your DVD from Ogle you are presented with the DVD menu, which you navigate using your mouse. You also can navigate the DVD menu by using the arrows on the GUI, but navigation using the mouse seems to be the easiest method by far. Unfortunately, playback of encrypted DVDs is occasionally not as smooth as with VideoLAN Client or MPlayer as there are freezes and audio glitches. However, this is occasional and does not detract too much from watching a DVD, but it might be a consideration. As with the other players reviewed, you can switch between windowed and full-screen mode, and again, switching between the modes goes smoothly.
Ogle does have a few drawbacks, the main ones being that there is no chapter menu support, no angle selection during playback and no closed-caption support. The most annoying issue is that you have to restart Ogle to play another DVD, which is the same problem MPlayer has. These may not be major issues to you but are worth taking into consideration.
Ogle is the only one of the players reviewed here that only plays DVDs and not any other formats. Its main claim to fame was the DVD menu support, but thanks to the fact that Ogle is open-source, the code base is now being used in other players. If you only want to play DVDs, then Ogle is worth reviewing, but if your needs are wider than that, you probably will want to look at one of the other players.
In conclusion, playing your bought-and-paid-for DVDs under your favorite OS is now achieved easily using any of the players reviewed here. There are many other players available; the ones we reviewed here have the most supporters and users. As always, because there are a wide range of DVD players to choose from, you should be able to find a player to suit your requirements. So go ahead and enjoy your DVDs on your GNU/Linux box.