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Playing a DVD problem

E

Eddie

Flightless Bird
Hi all,

The problem isnt mine, I am helping a friend.

When he puts in a dvd it takes forever for it to find a program with
which to associate itself, but does bring up a dialogue with options
eventually.
We choose the VLC player because at least that one allows it to work,
the other options dont. (windows players and another couple.)

The problem is that the sound either plays slow (out of sinc) or it
speeds up and sounds like the chipmunks etc. After a very short while
the DVD player ejects the CD and he is back to start point again.

His system is:
AMD ATHLON 64 processor; 3000plus MMX now 2.0Ghz
NVidiaGeForce 7600GT with 256Ram
1Gig DDR ram.
XP(not sure whether home or pro)

He is a motor mechanic and his CD's/DVD's get filthy with his finger
marks....(yes, I have berated him on many many occasions.) but on this
occasion I found a couple that were reasonable and worked fine on his
telly via his lounge dvd player.

Any one got any ideas? Codecs maybe?

Ed
 
B

- Bobb -

Flightless Bird
If he is messy as you say ... as he ever cleaned the dirty CD's/DVDs/inside
of his player(s)
The fact that it works eventually might mean that it is trying and can read
some info, the offsets a bit and reading some more info, retries, again and
again.
Get one that has an issue at his house. Then clean the media, then try
again.If it works right away, then the player is Ok - just dirty media. If
still an issue, clean it and try it on your player ( if you want to get
involved). If still an issue on yours - just bad media ? Are these store
bought movies or home made ? .


"Eddie" <albert@greenacres.far> wrote in message
news:-Ozg5sUBILHA.1996@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Hi all,
>
> The problem isnt mine, I am helping a friend.
>
> When he puts in a dvd it takes forever for it to find a program with which
> to associate itself, but does bring up a dialogue with options eventually.
> We choose the VLC player because at least that one allows it to work, the
> other options dont. (windows players and another couple.)
>
> The problem is that the sound either plays slow (out of sinc) or it speeds
> up and sounds like the chipmunks etc. After a very short while the DVD
> player ejects the CD and he is back to start point again.
>
> His system is:
> AMD ATHLON 64 processor; 3000plus MMX now 2.0Ghz
> NVidiaGeForce 7600GT with 256Ram
> 1Gig DDR ram.
> XP(not sure whether home or pro)
>
> He is a motor mechanic and his CD's/DVD's get filthy with his finger
> marks....(yes, I have berated him on many many occasions.) but on this
> occasion I found a couple that were reasonable and worked fine on his
> telly via his lounge dvd player.
>
> Any one got any ideas? Codecs maybe?
>
> Ed
 
E

Eddie

Flightless Bird
- Bobb - wrote:
> If he is messy as you say ... as he ever cleaned the dirty CD's/DVDs/inside
> of his player(s)
> The fact that it works eventually might mean that it is trying and can read
> some info, the offsets a bit and reading some more info, retries, again and
> again.
> Get one that has an issue at his house. Then clean the media, then try
> again.If it works right away, then the player is Ok - just dirty media. If
> still an issue, clean it and try it on your player ( if you want to get
> involved). If still an issue on yours - just bad media ? Are these store
> bought movies or home made ? .


Thanks for reply bob,,
Yes, 60% are store-bought media,, (some second hand from video rental
shops clearing their shelves.)(and yes, he is messy, so they get filthy
within a short time of him bringing them home.)(why oh why wont he just
listen to me and keep his bloody fingers off of the CD's write side.)

I agree with all you have said, and with a bit of luck I will get back
to his home mid-week; and I will take a couple of my own CD's/DVD's for
checking purposes.

All that aside, do you think he has enough Ram and a good enough
processor to handle dvd's? I think he does, but what I think doesnt
matter at this stage as getting his player to play is more important.
Also, is VLC good enough for the average movie? Some of his music CD's
didnt play either.... Filth again no doubt.
(the most annoying part for me is the fact that he says things play ok
on his lounge player, plus, his music cd's play fine in his car, but I
feel sure the laser in both these players are not really superior to his
computer player.)

Ed


--------------


> "Eddie" <albert@greenacres.far> wrote in message
> news:-Ozg5sUBILHA.1996@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> Hi all,
>>
>> The problem isnt mine, I am helping a friend.
>>
>> When he puts in a dvd it takes forever for it to find a program with which
>> to associate itself, but does bring up a dialogue with options eventually.
>> We choose the VLC player because at least that one allows it to work, the
>> other options dont. (windows players and another couple.)
>>
>> The problem is that the sound either plays slow (out of sinc) or it speeds
>> up and sounds like the chipmunks etc. After a very short while the DVD
>> player ejects the CD and he is back to start point again.
>>
>> His system is:
>> AMD ATHLON 64 processor; 3000plus MMX now 2.0Ghz
>> NVidiaGeForce 7600GT with 256Ram
>> 1Gig DDR ram.
>> XP(not sure whether home or pro)
>>
>> He is a motor mechanic and his CD's/DVD's get filthy with his finger
>> marks....(yes, I have berated him on many many occasions.) but on this
>> occasion I found a couple that were reasonable and worked fine on his
>> telly via his lounge dvd player.
>>
>> Any one got any ideas? Codecs maybe?
>>
>> Ed
>
>
 
B

- Bobb -

Flightless Bird
PC specs are fine , but it CAME with no DVD software ( either from factory
or when he added the DVD himself ) ? The DVD drive should have come with
SOMETHING to play DVD's or did it USED to work ok and now ONLY VLC player
allows it to work ? If it came woth OEm drive, check the PC maker's site for
a free DVD player download.

"Eddie" <albert@greenacres.far> wrote in message
news:-OgEXMMPILHA.4824@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>- Bobb - wrote:
>> If he is messy as you say ... as he ever cleaned the dirty
>> CD's/DVDs/inside of his player(s)
>> The fact that it works eventually might mean that it is trying and can
>> read some info, the offsets a bit and reading some more info, retries,
>> again and again.
>> Get one that has an issue at his house. Then clean the media, then try
>> again.If it works right away, then the player is Ok - just dirty media.
>> If still an issue, clean it and try it on your player ( if you want to
>> get involved). If still an issue on yours - just bad media ? Are these
>> store bought movies or home made ? .
>
>
> Thanks for reply bob,,
> Yes, 60% are store-bought media,, (some second hand from video rental
> shops clearing their shelves.)(and yes, he is messy, so they get filthy
> within a short time of him bringing them home.)(why oh why wont he just
> listen to me and keep his bloody fingers off of the CD's write side.)
>
> I agree with all you have said, and with a bit of luck I will get back to
> his home mid-week; and I will take a couple of my own CD's/DVD's for
> checking purposes.
>
> All that aside, do you think he has enough Ram and a good enough processor
> to handle dvd's? I think he does, but what I think doesnt matter at this
> stage as getting his player to play is more important.
> Also, is VLC good enough for the average movie? Some of his music CD's
> didnt play either.... Filth again no doubt.
> (the most annoying part for me is the fact that he says things play ok on
> his lounge player, plus, his music cd's play fine in his car, but I feel
> sure the laser in both these players are not really superior to his
> computer player.)
>
> Ed --------------
>> "Eddie" <albert@greenacres.far> wrote in message
>> news:-Ozg5sUBILHA.1996@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> The problem isnt mine, I am helping a friend.
>>>
>>> When he puts in a dvd it takes forever for it to find a program with
>>> which to associate itself, but does bring up a dialogue with options
>>> eventually.
>>> We choose the VLC player because at least that one allows it to work,
>>> the other options dont. (windows players and another couple.)
>>>
>>> The problem is that the sound either plays slow (out of sinc) or it
>>> speeds up and sounds like the chipmunks etc. After a very short while
>>> the DVD player ejects the CD and he is back to start point again.
>>>
>>> His system is:
>>> AMD ATHLON 64 processor; 3000plus MMX now 2.0Ghz
>>> NVidiaGeForce 7600GT with 256Ram
>>> 1Gig DDR ram.
>>> XP(not sure whether home or pro)
>>>
>>> He is a motor mechanic and his CD's/DVD's get filthy with his finger
>>> marks....(yes, I have berated him on many many occasions.) but on this
>>> occasion I found a couple that were reasonable and worked fine on his
>>> telly via his lounge dvd player.
>>>
>>> Any one got any ideas? Codecs maybe?
>>>
>>> Ed
 
E

Eddie

Flightless Bird
- Bobb - wrote:
> PC specs are fine , but it CAME with no DVD software ( either from factory
> or when he added the DVD himself ) ? The DVD drive should have come with
> SOMETHING to play DVD's or did it USED to work ok and now ONLY VLC player
> allows it to work ? If it came woth OEm drive, check the PC maker's site for
> a free DVD player download.


Hi Bobb,

Best I can figure at this stage (without yet going back to his house),
is that he got the computer with the dvd player already in it, and there
is no software that I know of...... yet!.

Vlc was the choice the other day because at least it brought something
visual up on screen, and even audio, even if it were chipmunks... and as
you know, the dvd player spit it out after a minute or so anyway.

I think the best bet at the moment is to put in a Good dvd (or even
music cd) and see how we go from there. (dont you just hate it when you
havent got the offending computer in front of you, yet you are trying to
explain to someone what you believe may or may not be happening)

Thanks bobb, and please keep this thread on alert at your end til I can
give more info.

Ed

ps:: I have a Nero CD that came with my dvd player, but it is useless
to me due to the O/S I use,.. perhaps I should take that with me to his
house next time. (I bought my dvd player only a year ago,, and only
decided on a dvd player because they were the same price as cd players.)
 
S

Spamlet

Flightless Bird
"Eddie" <albert@greenacres.far> wrote in message
news:-Ozg5sUBILHA.1996@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Hi all,
>
> The problem isnt mine, I am helping a friend.
>
> When he puts in a dvd it takes forever for it to find a program with which
> to associate itself, but does bring up a dialogue with options eventually.
> We choose the VLC player because at least that one allows it to work, the
> other options dont. (windows players and another couple.)
>
> The problem is that the sound either plays slow (out of sinc) or it speeds
> up and sounds like the chipmunks etc. After a very short while the DVD
> player ejects the CD and he is back to start point again.
>
> His system is:
> AMD ATHLON 64 processor; 3000plus MMX now 2.0Ghz
> NVidiaGeForce 7600GT with 256Ram
> 1Gig DDR ram.
> XP(not sure whether home or pro)
>
> He is a motor mechanic and his CD's/DVD's get filthy with his finger
> marks....(yes, I have berated him on many many occasions.) but on this
> occasion I found a couple that were reasonable and worked fine on his
> telly via his lounge dvd player.
>
> Any one got any ideas? Codecs maybe?
>
> Ed

Not wishing to butt in too much on the flow of advice, but if this guy is
putting dirty dvds/cds in his pc drive. I would imagine it might benefit
from a clean up. Also, some drives don't like some discs. I had a whole
stack of 100 verbatims that, for some reason, skidded in our Sony DVDR, and
were turned into coasters, but recorded ok on other devices.

I bought a Phillips DVDR drive for our pc a couple of years ago. It didn't
come with any software, and I've been using VLC quite successfully. One odd
thing - that I never have worked out - is that Explorer never shows anything
on a disc, until Windows Media Player has 'had a look at it'. A puzzle, but
no great deal to open WMP and then switch to VLC once the files are visible.

S
 
B

- Bobb -

Flightless Bird
"Spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:i1fmdh$muc$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>
> "Eddie" <albert@greenacres.far> wrote in message
> news:-Ozg5sUBILHA.1996@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> Hi all,
>>
>> The problem isnt mine, I am helping a friend.
>>
>> When he puts in a dvd it takes forever for it to find a program with
>> which to associate itself, but does bring up a dialogue with options
>> eventually.
>> We choose the VLC player because at least that one allows it to work, the
>> other options dont. (windows players and another couple.)
>>
>> The problem is that the sound either plays slow (out of sinc) or it
>> speeds up and sounds like the chipmunks etc. After a very short while
>> the DVD player ejects the CD and he is back to start point again.
>>
>> His system is:
>> AMD ATHLON 64 processor; 3000plus MMX now 2.0Ghz
>> NVidiaGeForce 7600GT with 256Ram
>> 1Gig DDR ram.
>> XP(not sure whether home or pro)
>>
>> He is a motor mechanic and his CD's/DVD's get filthy with his finger
>> marks....(yes, I have berated him on many many occasions.) but on this
>> occasion I found a couple that were reasonable and worked fine on his
>> telly via his lounge dvd player.
>>
>> Any one got any ideas? Codecs maybe?
>>
>> Ed
>
> Not wishing to butt in too much on the flow of advice, but if this guy is
> putting dirty dvds/cds in his pc drive. I would imagine it might benefit
> from a clean up. Also, some drives don't like some discs. I had a whole
> stack of 100 verbatims that, for some reason, skidded in our Sony DVDR,
> and were turned into coasters, but recorded ok on other devices.
>
> I bought a Phillips DVDR drive for our pc a couple of years ago. It
> didn't come with any software, and I've been using VLC quite successfully.
> One odd thing - that I never have worked out - is that Explorer never
> shows anything on a disc, until Windows Media Player has 'had a look at
> it'. A puzzle, but no great deal to open WMP and then switch to VLC once
> the files are visible.
>
> S
>
I'd always gotten some software when I bought a DVD / Cd burner, but if you
need one, here's a email from 'computer newsgroup" CDburnerxp works fine for
a friend of mine.

try CD Burner XP
--------------------
CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including
Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create
ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies,
can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious
components.

Main Website
http://cdburnerxp.se/

Download Link
http://cdburnerxp.se/en/download

Help File
http://cdburnerxp.se/help/




ImgBurn
------------
ImgBurn supports a wide range of image file formats - including BIN,
CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI.
It can burn Audio CD's from any file type supported via DirectShow /
ACM - including AAC, APE, FLAC, M4A, MP3, MP4, MPC, OGG, PCM, WAV, WMA
and WV.
You can use it to build DVD Video discs (from a VIDEO_TS folder), HD
DVD Video discs (from a HVDVD_TS folder) and Blu-ray Video discs (from
a BDAV / BDMV folder) with ease.

Main Website
http://www.imgburn.com/

Download Link
http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

Help File
http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=guides
 
S

Spamlet

Flightless Bird
"- Bobb -" <bobb@noemail.123> wrote in message
news:ux6hkNhILHA.4596@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
> "Spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
> news:i1fmdh$muc$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>>
>> "Eddie" <albert@greenacres.far> wrote in message
>> news:-Ozg5sUBILHA.1996@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> The problem isnt mine, I am helping a friend.
>>>
>>> When he puts in a dvd it takes forever for it to find a program with
>>> which to associate itself, but does bring up a dialogue with options
>>> eventually.
>>> We choose the VLC player because at least that one allows it to work,
>>> the other options dont. (windows players and another couple.)
>>>
>>> The problem is that the sound either plays slow (out of sinc) or it
>>> speeds up and sounds like the chipmunks etc. After a very short while
>>> the DVD player ejects the CD and he is back to start point again.
>>>
>>> His system is:
>>> AMD ATHLON 64 processor; 3000plus MMX now 2.0Ghz
>>> NVidiaGeForce 7600GT with 256Ram
>>> 1Gig DDR ram.
>>> XP(not sure whether home or pro)
>>>
>>> He is a motor mechanic and his CD's/DVD's get filthy with his finger
>>> marks....(yes, I have berated him on many many occasions.) but on this
>>> occasion I found a couple that were reasonable and worked fine on his
>>> telly via his lounge dvd player.
>>>
>>> Any one got any ideas? Codecs maybe?
>>>
>>> Ed
>>
>> Not wishing to butt in too much on the flow of advice, but if this guy is
>> putting dirty dvds/cds in his pc drive. I would imagine it might benefit
>> from a clean up. Also, some drives don't like some discs. I had a whole
>> stack of 100 verbatims that, for some reason, skidded in our Sony DVDR,
>> and were turned into coasters, but recorded ok on other devices.
>>
>> I bought a Phillips DVDR drive for our pc a couple of years ago. It
>> didn't come with any software, and I've been using VLC quite
>> successfully. One odd thing - that I never have worked out - is that
>> Explorer never shows anything on a disc, until Windows Media Player has
>> 'had a look at it'. A puzzle, but no great deal to open WMP and then
>> switch to VLC once the files are visible.
>>
>> S
>>
> I'd always gotten some software when I bought a DVD / Cd burner, but if
> you need one, here's a email from 'computer newsgroup" CDburnerxp works
> fine for a friend of mine.
>
> try CD Burner XP
> --------------------
> CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including
> Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create
> ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies,
> can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious
> components.
>
> Main Website
> http://cdburnerxp.se/
>
> Download Link
> http://cdburnerxp.se/en/download
>
> Help File
> http://cdburnerxp.se/help/
>
>
>
>
> ImgBurn
> ------------
> ImgBurn supports a wide range of image file formats - including BIN,
> CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI.
> It can burn Audio CD's from any file type supported via DirectShow /
> ACM - including AAC, APE, FLAC, M4A, MP3, MP4, MPC, OGG, PCM, WAV, WMA
> and WV.
> You can use it to build DVD Video discs (from a VIDEO_TS folder), HD
> DVD Video discs (from a HVDVD_TS folder) and Blu-ray Video discs (from
> a BDAV / BDMV folder) with ease.
>
> Main Website
> http://www.imgburn.com/
>
> Download Link
> http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
>
> Help File
> http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=guides
>

Thanks for the links. I think I did download CDBurnerXP now you mention it,
along with various other things for stripping sound from 'radio' dvd
recordings to convert to mp3 on the pc. (Then a lot of the impetus behind
this was lost when the BBC started making more podcasts available.) Haven't
actually found the time to do much with it lately so I'm a bit rusty on
what's what, and my involvement tends to occur only when my partner is
trying to get something to play properly.

As I noted, the curious thing is why WMP can see tracks but Explorer can't
until WMP sees them first.
Still I've asked about that before and I shouldn't be stealing this thread
with it, so

Cheers,
S
 
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