Legal mpeg2(dvd) for U.S. residents

[queenorych]

Anybody know how to get a license to encode/decode mpeg2 and master/decode dvds? I emailed mpeg-la and they don't do business with end users.

I'm not asking for the software (mplayer,xine,vcl), I know how to set that up, but I want to actually run it legally(in the U.S.).

[stuporglue]

I read through a short FAQ on mpeg licencing, and it appears that they licence to the person creating the software, not the end user. If I understood the FAQ correctly, then the only way to get a licence would be to buy a piece of software which was duely licenced.

It doesn't seem that if you own one piece of mpeg licenced software, that you can apply its licence to any other software.

The most likely bet for Ubuntu right now might be to somehow get it from Linspire's click'n'run. I think they're both Debian based, so you might have luck, but I'm not currently in a position to try it out. There has been talk (from Linspire) about making click'n'run for Ubuntu. I'd use it just for the DVD codecs, if they were guaranteed to work.