DVDs not playing correctly

Foxy · October 12, 2005, 11:57am

Right i have a new computer (bought in September) Its a compaq presario with a Proview TFT 17inch monitor with built in speakers. I’ve just moved to university so before had no reason to play DVD’s on my PC. But when i try and play DVD’s the sound sort of staggers and isn’t fluent its like its playing while buffering, jittery i guess. I don’t know why, its not the dvd as i’ve tried loads of different ones nor the player as it does the same in media player, real player and intervideo.

Is it my built in speakers just being crappy? Or what?

pelvis_3 · October 12, 2005, 12:05pm

Have you got the Latest Sound Card drivers, Codecs and DirectX installed?
Also in WinDVD, make sure your sound and video options look like these >
http://www.321imagehosting.com/files/1.gif
http://www.321imagehosting.com/files/2.gif

Foxy · October 12, 2005, 12:11pm

I’m not sure how do i tell? In the 2nd gif the top two boxes were ticked so i unticked them but no difference.

pelvis_3 · October 12, 2005, 12:20pm

You can find them in dxdiag, click start > run > dxdiag
http://www.321imagehosting.com/files/3.gif
http://www.321imagehosting.com/files/4.gif

Foxy · October 12, 2005, 12:23pm

In that case everything is up-to-date

Foxy · October 12, 2005, 12:26pm

I don’t know if it means anything but when i put the dvd in the computer becomes very noisy

Addis · October 12, 2005, 2:35pm

No thats just the DVD drive spinning the disc. If it is very unusually noisy then make sure that the disc isn’t damaged as small fragments on it can cause destabilizing when inside the drive.

If all else fails, try using a different sound card in it to see if it still has the same problem.

Nic · October 12, 2005, 6:56pm

Also check you ahve nothing else running in that background when you try to play your dvd this can sometimes cause lag

Foxy · October 12, 2005, 9:52pm

Something else i’ve noticed is that the playback is slightly staggered for the video too and if you try and move the window in which the dvd is playing around the screen its slow to respond..

pelvis_3 · October 13, 2005, 6:34am

What CPU and Video Card are you using?

Foxy · October 13, 2005, 12:30pm

ATI Radeon Xpress 200 series graphics/video card
2.2-GHz Athlon 64 3200+

Foxy · October 17, 2005, 9:28pm

I have had a look around and this it may be something to do with DMA.

Do these screen shots mean anything to anyone?:

Anti-Trend · October 17, 2005, 10:49pm

[QUOTE=Foxy]
I have had a look around and this it may be something to do with DMA.

Do these screen shots mean anything to anyone?:
[/QUOTE]
In your secondary IDE channel, it is using PIO instead of DMA. PIO is terrible. Try setting it to DMA manually (Windows will demand a reboot). Once you’re back up again, you should have full DMA on that channel.

All the best,
-AT

Foxy · October 17, 2005, 10:56pm

How do i manually change it? Thanks by the way

Anti-Trend · October 17, 2005, 11:13pm

[QUOTE=Foxy]
How do i manually change it? Thanks by the way
[/QUOTE]
Just click on the transfer mode menu and reiterate your DMA selection. That should do the trick.

Foxy · October 17, 2005, 11:53pm

[QUOTE=Anti-Trend]
Just click on the transfer mode menu and reiterate your DMA selection. That should do the trick.
[/QUOTE]

Thanks mate it didn’t exactly work but using your help i managed to track down an article which did the trick:

Uninstall the secondary IDE port

To do that, open Device Manager as follows. Right-click on My Computer, select Properties, click on the Hardware tag, click on the Device Manager button, click on the plus sign to the left of IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller, right-click on Secondary IDE Channel, click on Uninstall. Deactivating is not enough.

Reboot to make the changes active and permanent.

After booting Windows will automatically reinstall the IDE channel and the DVD (or CD) drive. This Plug-n-Play process can take a little while, so give it a minute after the boot process finishes.
2. Reactivate DMA

But this is not enough, because unfortunately Windows does not automatically activate DMA on a DVD or CD drive. You have to tell Windows to try to use DMA first.

For that, go to Device Manager again. Right-click on My Computer, select Properties, click on the Hardware tag, click on the Device Manager button, click on the plus sign to the left of IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller, double-click on the secondary IDE channel, click on Extended Settings and change the relevant setting from PIO only to DMA when available.

On Windows NT and 2000 you now have to reboot a second time, but Windows XP applies the change instantly. Then you can go to the same place in Device Manager again and check whether the device is now actually using DMA mode. If so, all is well.

So now i have lovely smooth playback and i can watch DVD’s at long last! I recomend the Blues Brothers by the way!

Anti-Trend · October 18, 2005, 2:42am

Usually you can choose PIO, exit, then choose DMA again, reboot, and it works. But either way, glad you got it working.

All the best,
-AT

P.S. - Yeah, Blues Brothers rocks! “We’re on a mission from God!”

Foxy · October 18, 2005, 10:01am

[QUOTE=Anti-Trend]
Usually you can choose PIO, exit, then choose DMA again, reboot, and it works. But either way, glad you got it working.

All the best,
-AT

P.S. - Yeah, Blues Brothers rocks! “We’re on a mission from God!”
[/QUOTE]

Yeah i tried that but it didn’t work, but never mind eh. Glad you agree about the BB’s!