Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[DWAnderson]

DVD Playback is extremely pixelated an unwatchable for certain DVDs, e.g. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

PowerDVD is installed on the system and it plays all DVDs just fine. Media Center indicates in DVD Playback Options that it is set to use the Power DVD filters. Between 20-30% of CPU is being used during playback, so that doesn't seem to be the problem.

I did some more testing and discovered the following: This also occurs on PCs that have other DVD filters installed (e.g. WinDVD). In each case the DVD app plays teh DVD fine, but MC has the problem even though it is using filters from the DVD app. This problem  occurs not just with the most recent builds of MC11, but also with builds going back at least to 11.168. It doesn't occur with all DVDs, but for those it does occur with, it happens all the time (i.e. reproduceable with every play). As mentioned above, one common DVD that this behavior occurs all the time with is Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Hopefully this DVD is commonly enough owned that someone else will be able to reproduce the error or determine that they aren't experiencing it.

[Wile E. One]

DVD Playback is extremely pixelated an unwatchable for certain DVDs, e.g. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

PowerDVD is installed on the system and it plays all DVDs just fine. Media Center indicates in DVD Playback Options that it is set to use the Power DVD filters. Between 20-30% of CPU is being used during playback, so that doesn't seem to be the problem.

I did some more testing and discovered the following: This also occurs on PCs that have other DVD filters installed (e.g. WinDVD). In each case the DVD app plays teh DVD fine, but MC has the problem even though it is using filters from the DVD app. This problem  occurs not just with the most recent builds of MC11, but also with builds going back at least to 11.168. It doesn't occur with all DVDs, but for those it does occur with, it happens all the time (i.e. reproduceable with every play). As mentioned above, one common DVD that this behavior occurs all the time with is Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Hopefully this DVD is commonly enough owned that someone else will be able to reproduce the error or determine that they aren't experiencing it.

I just watched Star Wars: Attack of the Clones yesterday, and I can confirm the quality of the video was terrible in MC (and in my case... also video playback was jerky... audio was fine). I have PowerDVD installed, and I watched the movie in that because it played fine.

The copy was borrowed from a friend (so I could watch it prior to seeing episode 3 today), so I won't be able to test more.

[SurFan]

Hi,

In each case the DVD app plays teh DVD fine, but MC has the problem even though it is using filters from the DVD app.

PowerDVD and WinDVD doesn't use their own DirectShow Filters, but have the decoding Code linked into their EXE-File. Therefore it might be possible, that the respective application behaves different than their DirectShow Filters. Therefore you should try to play the DVD with another DirectShow based DVD-Player (like M$ Media-Player or ZoomPlayer) to check out, whether MediaCenter or the DirectShow-Filters are the cause of the problem

Ralph

[DWAnderson]

Hi,

PowerDVD and WinDVD doesn't use their own DirectShow Filters, but have the decoding Code linked into their EXE-File. Therefore it might be possible, that the respective application behaves different than their DirectShow Filters. Therefore you should try to play the DVD with another DirectShow based DVD-Player (like M$ Media-Player or ZoomPlayer) to check out, whether MediaCenter or the DirectShow-Filters are the cause of the problem

Ralph

Interesting! MS Media Player exhibits the same problem. Do you have any suggestions?

[JimH]

Is the disc original and bought from a reputable source?

[DWAnderson]

Is the disc original and bought from a reputable source?

It was purchased new from Amazon. No issues on that score.

[UnknownID]

When I recently upgraded my system I didn't install the DVD playing software.

Just now I inserted a DVD and tried to play it with MC. This caused Windows to an error message and MC to quit. I will hold off on installing DVD playing software incase I need to test this again later

UnknownID

[SurFan]

Hi,

Interesting! MS Media Player exhibits the same problem. Do you have any suggestions?

It is difficult to check with Media-Player, as you don't have a chance to investigate the DirectShow Graph that is used for decoding/display.

I personally use Zoomplayer for DVD-Playback as it allows detailed configuration of the graph.

[DWAnderson]

So, lets return to my fundamental question: How can I get MC to play this DVD? Has anyone succeeded in doing so? If so, what filters were you using?

[JimH]

I think you've proven that it is a DirectShow filter problem.  You might try the DVD manufacturer to see if you can update.

[JimH]

You need to install the software that came with your DVD drive since MC uses its DirectShow filters.

[DWAnderson]

I think you've proven that it is a DirectShow filter problem.  You might try the DVD manufacturer to see if you can update.

I think that's right, but I suspect the answer of the makers of the filter would be "we've provided you with a working player" (especially since these were OEM products). Therefore I'm hoping someone else knows of more reliable filters to use. That seems to be the easiest way to go, even if it means buying another piece of software.

[UnknownID]

You need to install the software that came with your DVD drive since MC uses its DirectShow filters.

Obviously. I was reporting this in hopes that a detection method could be added to MC, and a notice to install DVD software, in lieu of causing the error and quitting.

UnknownID

[glynor]

Obviously. I was reporting this in hopes that a detection method could be added to MC, and a notice to install DVD software, in lieu of causing the error and quitting.

I agree on this one, as it recently happened to me.  I just assumed that I had remembered to re-install WinDVD after my nuke/pave.  Since I don't actually USE WinDVD though, and typically just use MC for DVD playback, I didn't remember, and the error was cryptic.

It took me a while to realize that I hadn't installed the DVD software, and I know that I need to.  Other users won't be so aware.  A simple message during either the first attempt to playback a DVD, or during the Install process would be sufficient.

[glynor]

Therefore I'm hoping someone else knows of more reliable filters to use. That seems to be the easiest way to go, even if it means buying another piece of software.

I've had great luck with WinDVD 6, which is also a very nice player on it's own if you don't feel like using MC for some reason.   

I used to use PowerDVD but had no end of playback problems (both inside MC and sometimes inside PowerDVD itself).  I read somewhere that WinDVD was much more "friendly" about the use of it's DirectShow filters, so I switched, and it's been fine ever since.

Of course, YMMV.

[escaflo]

If you are looking just for a good dvd filter, you could probably try the Nvidia decoder. I am using it and it definitely is a big improvement in quality compare to PowerDVD or Intervideo. The only problem is that the shop is currently down and you can't purchase it but you can trial it for 30 days. Hopefully they will be able to get it up before the 30 days trial period expires.

I am using it with Zoomplayer and it plays every dvd I got perfectly fine. A very good quality playback you can get with FFDShow post processing too. I don't have Attack of the Clone dvd to test and see if it jerks currently, but all other dvds I got play extremely well. As it is just a pure decoder, I would assume that it works with every other players that uses DirectShow.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html

Oh, and don't worry about it being able to work on Nvidia card. I am using an ATI 9700 AIW and it works perfectly fine.