HELP!!! DVD Playback occasionally "HICCUPS"

[denster]

Can anyone help me please figure out why when I am watching a movie on my PC, whether with NERO Showtime, or Power DVD, occasionally I notice some hesitation in playback, usually lasts for a second and then it plays "catch up".... I have tried everything I know to do to try and remedy this... I have shut down every start up item I have, including Norton services and other services that I don't need, but yet I still experience this... What could it be???? Please Help!!! :?

 

[apache_lives]

one of the following issues:

Slow CPU (p3's have a hard time playin dvds)
Scratched Disk (dvd having a hard time reading it)
Spyware
Video card acceleration issue (or non existant)

 

[denster]

Thanks for your suggestions, I appreciate it! My system is fairly new:

And I have given my CPU rigorous testing believe me, I have had like 5 or 6 programs running at once, and it is very hard to bog down a dual core processor, it should play a dvd like a champ if that is all it is doing, wouldn't you agree?

A8N-SLI Premium
AMD64 X2 4400+
3 GB Corsair XMS
250GB Hitachi Deskstar SATA II
GeForce 6200 Turbo
NEC DL DVDRW
Memorex DVDRW
Windows XP SP2 (updated)

I use Norton AV 2006 and Webroot Spysweeper RELIGIOUSLY

I highly suspect MICROSOFT and all of it's mysterious BS that it has running in it's services and all...... HOWEVER

If I shut down all services by doing a diagnostic start up in MSCONFIG,
it disables my windows activation, I am able to recover it by reenabling Normal start up, but I shouldn't have to go through all that mess....

Any other suggestions would be most appreciated!

 

[apache_lives]

ok, that leaves the list down to background programs/tasks/services and scratched discs (or fussy drives) - do both your dvd drives do the same thing? and you checked that the disk your playin aint scratched? - that would eliminate them two...

im using norton antivirus 2006 aswell so that aint it, and im sure anti spyware apps couldnt slow down a dual core cpu with 3gb of ram to back it, and your video card has video acceleration and everything else.

What dvd player software are you using?
Have you enabled DMA for both drives?
Are the two drives sharing the one IDE channel?

 

[chuckshissle]

That's weird, your system is well enough to play DVD. How's your DVD drive, is it running good? Try troubleshooting it, the problems should be in the software like the setting. Run a diagnostic on your media drives, see if it's causing the problem.

 

[denster]

Thanks again.... I am going to totally analyze everything in greater detail. I am at my girlfriends in Ocala but when I get home I will check DMA. I believe it is enabled, and yes I am using one CABLE for my 2 drives, but they are on seperate IDE channels I do believe... They are listed seperately in my BIOS I do know that...

I have another new system I will test to see if it does the same:

Gigabyte K8N-PRO
AMD64 3200+
1.5 GB Patriot Signature Series Dual Channel
Ge Force 6200 Turbo
80GB Hitachi Deskstar EIDE
NEC DL DVDRW
LITE-ON DL DVDRW

I also have my laptop with me, I will try a movie on it today,

DELL D505

I think I remember my DELL having the same issue, which is pointing the finger at SOFTWARE.

I will let you know what happens....

Oh and YES my girlfriend and I watch different movies all the time, and it does it everytime so it isnt the disc I am most certain...

Thanks again apache....

.............and chuckshissle

 

[luminaris]

Man, that thing should be able to run all of those things and clean your house. That thing has some horsepower so its gotta be your drive or it could very well be the DVD your trying to play too unless it does it with all of them. If possible, try a different drive or put that drive in another machine and test it. Chances are and I bet its that drive. I've had to send a number of Memorex units back.

 

[denster]

Yeah Man... HAHA About the clean the house thing... I agree totally! I can play, music in iTunes and WMA, run 2 video files in like, NERO and or Power DVD, or a video capture file and a dvd, do a sweep with spysweeper, scan with Norton, and run GForce or something else like play asteroids or centipede, and it will just barely start to hesitate in any area of processing, that is why I can't understand why when all I am doing is watching a movie I start to have a problem.

When it happens, it's like my computer goes and tries to do something else for a second or 2... I still very much think it is something to do with a software program that is trying to update or something that I have overlooked.... I have been very thorough to shut every program updater off though, my email, printer, etc....

And I have gone over every option there is in POWER DVD, and NERO 7, to include raising any cache size or buffer options that are available...

I am sure eventually I will find the culprit, perhaps through the process of elimination, I really was hoping someone else was experiencing the same problem and had already found a solution....

I know my drives hardware and all is fine, I have used them many times to play music, burn cd's and back up data to dvd, as well as burning dvd capture from my camcorder, and I haven't had any problem there...

It is a mystery :roll: And I have to say it does aggravate me, especially when you spend over $1300 in hardware and the dang thing can't even play a dvd fluently, however I am not one that gives up easily...

One thing I did notice is when it does happen, it isn't the sound that pauses for a second but only the picture....

I wonder if it is the buffer resetting in the DVD software (nero, power dvd), or something to do with the cache size perhaps.... I may have overlooked something somewhere in options....

I really appreciate you guys trying to help and am open to any other suggestions

 

[tomaytohead]

ok, so i've got the same basic problem, but on both of my systems. possibly a little different though. But I'm also using PowerDVD. I get (same symptom on both systems now) stuttering sound (sound is only really noticable when loud or w/ constant noise) and occasionally picture, if the DVD is scratched, it can be more pronounced, but doesn't always have that effect. My drive even causes winamp to stutter while loading the disk to view, especially w/ graphic images.

At this time, i've gotten these results on an old 900mhz thunderbird using an asus a7v mobo, and a lite-on 16x dvd drive. The other system, even with a fresh install has gotten these symptoms. It is a athlon 64 3200 on a asus a8v(or whatever, forget the model exactly) w/ the same lite-on AND also switched out and used a ben-q 16x dvd rom drive. Both drives are set to cable select and in all situations the drives are on their own ribbon on the 2nd ide channel.

When i playback through the primary ide channel, this drive usually being my burner, things are fine, no stuttering ANYWHERE. I've also noticed that the stuttering drives are just plain slow when reading in general. I believe i first noticed all this stuttering back when WINxp sp1 was released and i only had my old comp, but that could be paranoia.

One last thing, I seem to remember seeing somewhere in windows that the problem drives were NOT running in DMA mode, how do I correct that? DMA is enabled in the bios.

 

[tomaytohead]

ok, did a quick search, and came up w/ this and it fixed my problem...

note: my problem drive was set to PIO mode by windows, and would not go to DMA w/ out doing the following, even when selecting 'DMA if available'

in the device manager, expand the "ide/ata atapi controllers" and select the "IDE Channel" in question, in my case, the secondary one. Then all i did was delete it, and restart windows. it reinstalled the driver w/ the drive in Ultra DMA mode 2, no fuss. Everything works perfectly now, go figure...

i feel so stupid after so many times seeing problems solved by simple re-seating of a stick of ram or video card, or doing the same thing for other drivers. oh well, it was the one thing i passed up this time. hope this helps some people out there...

 

[denster]

thanks for the info, I never thought to look in the device manager for options...

I actually didn't delete mine, but rather clicked on properties, and there was a drop down menu for options for ultra DMA 2/Ultra 33.

I had to uncheck the box that read "Let BIOS decide"

what is the difference between DMA 0, DMA 1, or DMA 2???

Thanks for your help, I will have to play a movie before I will know for sure if that was the culprit...

 

[denster]

Thanks for your help tomayto! Between you and the silver phoenix, (I posted this in the software forum as well), it turns out that it was the transfer settings in device manager...

I simply just unchecked the box "Let the BIOS determine" and selected DMA 2 - Ultra 33 from the drop down menu, tried a movie and not one skip!

:roll: Go Figure... Shows you how much I really know about computers...

Something so simple had me chasing my tail for a few long weeks....

Thanks again all of you for your help!