DVDs on LD Trains

[Bob Dylan]

For Anyone????? Does Amtrak still have the DVD playersavailable on LD trainsthat one could rent

if in coach, also @ one time Ive read sleeper passengers could get them free??????If so where, what, when

etc. does one have to do to get them, reserve etc. Also the same with turn it, for example a trip from

SAS to Lax to Sea to CUS to NOL to SAS is my intenerary in July-Thanks for any info!!!

 

[amtrakwolverine]

no the company the supplied amtrak with the digipak players went out of business in i think 2008. so no more digipaks.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

..., also @ one time Ive read sleeper passengers could get them free??????

I don't think they were ever free to sleeper passengers.

Also, at some point in the past, the Viewliners (single level sleeper car) had a small LCD screen in each room, and videos were played. But those are long gone.

 

[AlanB]

..., also @ one time Ive read sleeper passengers could get them free??????

I don't think they were ever free to sleeper passengers.

Actually there was a short period of time, maybe 6 months or so, where they were free to sleeping car passengers on the Coast Starlight. I don't believe that they were ever free elsewhere, only on that train. Shortly after that period, if not during that period, is when Digi-Player went belly up.

Also, at some point in the past, the Viewliners (single level sleeper car) had a small LCD screen in each room, and videos were played. But those are long gone.

And of course at one point they also had movies in the Sightseer Lounge cars too. That is also now long gone, except on the Auto Train where they still do show movies in the lounge cars.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

I think it's possible to buy a new portable DVD player for under $100. Compared to the cost of multiple round trips in a sleeper, $100 isn't very much money.

 

[Upstate]

I think it's possible to buy a new portable DVD player for under $100. Compared to the cost of multiple round trips in a sleeper, $100 isn't very much money.

you can get a netbook for $200 these days that will do DVDs, internet, GPS, whatever. its almost a waste of money to buy just a portable dvd player.

 

[Longford]

On my Empire Builder trip from Chicago to Seattle at the end of May I brought along my laptop and some DVDs. My time was so well occupied peering outside the window, hopping off/on the train at stops short and long, etc., that I didn't have the opportunity or desire to watch a movie.

 

[the_traveler]

I think it's possible to buy a new portable DVD player for under $100. Compared to the cost of multiple round trips in a sleeper, $100 isn't very much money.

you can get a netbook for $200 these days that will do DVDs, internet, GPS, whatever. its almost a waste of money to buy just a portable dvd player.

The only thing is a netbook (not a notebook) does not have an internal DVD drive. That's how they can be <$200! But it does everything else. I have my GPS on a netbook, and would rather carry ~2 lbs than >8 lbs!

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

I think it's possible to buy a new portable DVD player for under $100. Compared to the cost of multiple round trips in a sleeper, $100 isn't very much money.

you can get a netbook for $200 these days that will do DVDs, internet, GPS, whatever. its almost a waste of money to buy just a portable dvd player.

The only thing is a netbook (not a notebook) does not have an internal DVD drive. That's how they can be <$200! But it does everything else. I have my GPS on a netbook, and would rather carry ~2 lbs than >8 lbs!

If you had a home video you'd made yourself on a DVD (which would avoid copyright issues), and you had enough flash memory on your netbook to copy the DVD to the netbook (which is actually kind of problematic, since the ~$200 8.9" Asus netbook newegg is selling only has 4GB, and a single layer DVD can have more information than that), would the netbook have sufficient CPU power to decode the MPEG4 file you'd copied from the DVD?

 

[the_traveler]

If you had a home video you'd made yourself on a DVD (which would avoid copyright issues), and you had enough flash memory on your netbook to copy the DVD to the netbook (which is actually kind of problematic, since the ~$200 8.9" Asus netbook newegg is selling only has 4GB, and a single layer DVD can have more information than that), would the netbook have sufficient CPU power to decode the MPEG4 file you'd copied from the DVD?

I haven't tried it, but if you can put it on a thumb drive, and plug it into your USB slot (I have a 32GB stick), it shouldn't matter!

 

[Bierboy]

On my Empire Builder trip from Chicago to Seattle at the end of May I brought along my laptop and some DVDs. My time was so well occupied peering outside the window, hopping off/on the train at stops short and long, etc., that I didn't have the opportunity or desire to watch a movie.

Same here...I had a bunch of stuff on my laptop to watch and didn't view any of it.

 

[Upstate]

If you had a home video you'd made yourself on a DVD (which would avoid copyright issues), and you had enough flash memory on your netbook to copy the DVD to the netbook (which is actually kind of problematic, since the ~$200 8.9" Asus netbook newegg is selling only has 4GB, and a single layer DVD can have more information than that), would the netbook have sufficient CPU power to decode the MPEG4 file you'd copied from the DVD?

I haven't tried it, but if you can put it on a thumb drive, and plug it into your USB slot (I have a 32GB stick), it shouldn't matter!

or an SD card for a more streamlined, but pricier approach. My Nokia N810 has even less internal memory at 2GB, but I have a SD slot that allows me to keep my music and movies on it as well.
As for the processor it should be fine. When I rip movies onto a PC I always use DVDshrink to make them small enough for a single layer in case I want to burn them later. I remember putting some of my movie collection on my brothers 900Mhz Celeron with 512MB RAM (and it was an emachines so the other specs couldn't be good either) and not having problems.

 

[RRrich]

I've got a bunch of movies ripped to the 500GB HDD in my Asus 1000HE but on the train I mostly watch our progress on software linked to my GPS.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

If you had a home video you'd made yourself on a DVD (which would avoid copyright issues), ...

Or if you have one of those new DVD movie titles which include a "Digital Copy".

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

No need for DVDs or laptop entertainment when you may enjoy something like this (it's actually a cut from a movie but I've seen from pretty entertaining "discussions" onboard):

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

No need for DVDs or laptop entertainment when you may enjoy something like this (it's actually a cut from a movie but I've seen from pretty entertaining "discussions" onboard):

She didn't even leave a tip. :blink: