total newbie live cd question

hi..
Right i dont really know if this is possible or not but i have an old laptop that curretnly has XP on it but does not have the resources to run it so stalls and crashes every time i try to play a movie.
From what i read it is possible to boot linux from a disc, that much i understand but what can i do with it once it is booted?
All i really want to use it for is to play Movies and TV shows mostly in AVI format. Is there a live cd that comes loaded with some multimedia playing software? I know its a big ask from a bootable OS but im wondering if this exists or has been tried before?
Cheers for your help.
Right i dont really know if this is possible or not but i have an old laptop that curretnly has XP on it but does not have the resources to run it so stalls and crashes every time i try to play a movie.
From what i read it is possible to boot linux from a disc, that much i understand but what can i do with it once it is booted?
All i really want to use it for is to play Movies and TV shows mostly in AVI format. Is there a live cd that comes loaded with some multimedia playing software? I know its a big ask from a bootable OS but im wondering if this exists or has been tried before?
Cheers for your help.