I went to watch a VCD on my red hat system, i went into the MPEGAV directory, right clicked the dat file and open with GTV MPEG Player, byt the problem is the CD-ROM ligh stays on as if it is reading and the systems keeps freezing up

Also the drive wont Unmount to get the damn disk back out.

The reason why it won't unmount is because the system thinks it's in use. The reason why the system thinks it's in use is because the program you're trying to access the CD with is in a loop trying to access the CD (or so I assume). By "the system freezing up" I assume you mean the program you're using, not the entire system. If it's the entire system, I'd be amazed. Anyway, you can either use a program called xkill that's like a shotgun is to zombie processes (if you don't have it, I highly reccomend getting it), or you can open a terminal window and run top (you might need to be root, I don't remember). Find the program in the list, then hit 'k' and type in that programs process ID (PID).

You should be able to unmount then.

[edit]
I don't know why the hell it's barfing at your VCD. I don't have much experience with that, sorry.

it acted like Windows when the processor is at full, start menu taking 3 hrs to come up, programs taking ages to shut down and start up,i have found a way to sort the VCD problem, just dont play VCD's

teh... get mplayer, it can play vcds without having to mount them and has worked for me