Just wondering if there is a decent dvd player that can read commercial dvd's under linux. SuSe's default xine can't :-(

Suse's version doesn't come with libdvdcss. Go to xine nightly builds page an download, libdvdcss and install it. You will also need to download win32 codecs so that you can play ms media file formats. It may helpm just to remove suse's version of Xine and install the one from the link above.

VLC. It's absolutely fantastic! Not only is it a great DVD player, but it's a great all-around media player.

On Suse Xine player behaves, in fact, very good. Just install extra library for DVD and enjoy!
Actually, When I was using Suse that was my favorite

I suggest compiling XINE or VLC instead using RPM files. With RPM files, you will never know if the programmer added malicious code and what options that the programmer picked.

Occasionally VLC crashes for some strange reason, but it works quite well actually. Also VLC can transfer the video to another computer through the network that is running VLC. VLC works on many OS and platforms.

Your arguement about not using rpms isn't valid, someone can just do the same with source code.

You should always download from a trusted source, such as your distro's servers, and md5sum tarballs or RPMs against the signature file, which is almost always in the same place you downloaded the tarball or RPM from. Auto-update tools such as Mandrake's urpmi do this automatically.

It is valid. You have an option to look over the source code. With RPM, you do not have this option.

Adding to what I said. RPM are a nightmare when a library or program depends on other libraries or programs. The utility urpmi will not work if you do not have any servers listed in its database. Sometimes data from the servers is not correct making urpmi worthless. Also urpmi can make the problem even worst by installing the wrong package.

RPMS can be extracted and their contents checked. Also rpm hell exists if you use rpms that are not necessarily built for your distro or version. If you use package managment tools like apt/synaptic, urpmi/rpmdrake and yum, those problems with libraries e.t.c are automatically resolved. I don't know about your personal experiences with yum, but i have always found it to be a very reliable tool. I agree that being able to check the source code is a good thing, but not everyone is able to do this and most users just want to install a program that works without having to tinker around with the source code.