Dvd Playback Problems...

[xPETEZx]

Hi guys,

 

I just tried to watch Die Hard 2 on my PC.

 

At first I started to watch the DVD using Nero Show time, which comes with Nero Unltimate edition.

 

I had the audio settings set so that it outputs audio directly over SDPIF to my Z5500s.

 

There was random skips in the video playback, where the film would skip forward mayb a split second, then paus for a split second and play on. There was NO skipping in the sound, ONLY the picture.

 

It got worse as I watched the film, to the point where the DVD stopped skipping forward, but would just pause for about 30 seconds, then play on.

 

So I deceided to stop play back, and close Nero Show time, and switch to Power DVD 7, where my sound is setup as 6 speaker as opposed to over SPDIF. (This causes the ALL DVDs Video to stutter from every minute, to every hour, very annoying)

The situation however did not improve, infact it got worse. The DVD stopped having 30 second temporay halts, but having a complete playback stop, and Power DVD 7 crash every 30-45 mins. I would have to Force close Power DVD to get anything to work, then restart the whole thing.

 

 

ANY ideas what is wrong???

 

I tried both of my DVD drives, and athlough one was much better than the other, neither was perfect.

 

My two drives are: PIONEER DVD RW DVR-106D and a SONY DVD-ROM DDU1612

 

Could these be too old? There by far the oldest componets in my system.

 

Would it be worth upgrading them?? Or is this NOT a hardware problem?

 

I am really getting tired of it.

 

I just want a DVD program that can output over SPDIF without laggy the Video, or stuttering!!

 

The main reason for this is that my Z5500 can simulate surround sound on DVDs that dont already have it. (It works really well imo!)

I can only do this if the sound is directly output to the speakers, cause if it is proccessed by the sound card, the card with ENcode it into Dollby Digital, in which case I cannot apply any effects to the playback, because as far as the speakers are concered, it is already in the best qaulity, so no need for effects.

 

Thanks Guys

[Silverfox]

it could be a soundcard issue - what is your soundcard my chum?

[xPETEZx]

My sound card is a HDA X-Mystique Digital.

 

I have never had ANY porblems with it....

 

...as I said, the audio playback is perfectly fine, it never stutters, which is why it took me a while to really pickup on it, cause the audio didnt stutter or lag, but the video did.

 

IS there anything I can do? New Sound Card? New Drivers? New DVD player?

 

Thanks!

[lilkev715]

Have you tried any other DVD movies to see if the problem is persistent? Is your Die hard DVD a pressed commercial version or a DVD +/- R copy?

[xPETEZx]

The DVD is a pressed comercial version.

 

I have tried other DVDs, DVDs that are encoded in 2.0 sound give no problems, none that I noticed anyways, DVDs encoded in Dolby Digital give the most porblems, and DVDs encoded in DTS only give very few stutters if any.

 

However, Die HArd today, was diffrent, because I wasnt playing the DVD in SDIF out mode, so I do not understand why Power DVD kept crashing/freezing.

 

Any help is really appreciated!