Inspiron 1520 Video Issues

I've been watching dvds on my new lappy and I've noticed some odd video quirks. I first noticed the odd lines when watching Night at the Roxbury; the lines seem to especially appear around bright objects. 'Interlacing' comes to mind, but I'm not sure if thats the issue.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Yuna5/NIGHT_AT_THE_ROXBURY_DOM-2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Yuna5/NIGHT_AT_THE_ROXBURY_DOM-0.jpg

But then I notice that the video well, to be blunt, just doesn't look like dvd quality. Very blocky, not too sharp, color bleed. At first I figured Roxbury is a fairly old film, and one with a lot of neon to boot, so that was likely the issue.

But then the quality issues show up again in Josie & the Pu$$ycats, which is more recent. (Note: Ignore the dollar signs. The forum censored the original word ) Those odd lines, and color bleed to boot.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Yuna5/PDVD_000.jpg

I'm not sure whats causing the distortions. The screen, maybe? Or the player itself? I'm totally clueless. I doubt its the player, as I've switched from Intervideo WinDVD to Cyberlink PowerDVD. Same issues persist.

 

Try VLC player. If that doesn't work, then it's a sign from God about your movie preferences.

 

-LOL- What about my movie preferences? Thats not all I watch; goodness that'd be insane.

I used to have VLC before. One thing I hate about it is that you can't skin it. At least, I never got them to work. I could switch to a skin, sure, but the video would be in a seperate window.

 

I'm not sure if this is what you're referring to (I cant tell because the pics are really bad quality) but when I got my 1520 I tried watching Advent Children to see what something really flashy looked like on my new laptop.

I noticed right away that any time there was something bright that it was really obvious where the color broke off from white. It didnt look subtle or blended at all. On my 3 and a half year old desktop with some 3 and a half year old gaming video card I dont have that problem, so I wasnt sure what the issue was. I tried media player, then VLC, everything had the same issue and it wasnt an issue on my desktop. I went with the integrated video card option, so I guess that could have been it, but I havent been able to get a response on the matter from anyone who knows what they're talking about. The other option I thought of was color quality not being on the highest option, but since I returned my Dell I cant check.

So yeah, I've been wondering what the problem was, in case this was what you're talking about.

 

The jpg format didn't damage the photo too much from its original. Which just shows you how bad the quality is.

Edit to Add: I've uploaded the png for Josie. For some reason, Photobucket won't let me upload the .bmp of Roxbury; it converts to .jpg:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Yuna5/PDVD_002-1.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Yuna5/PDVD_000-1.png

I've also noticed the color issue sometimes; really bright white will look like a blank spot. I thought it was color bleed; something the fault of either Contrast or Color Vibrance. I fiddled around with all settings, with the movie paused on the Eugene Levy pic above. Color bleed wouldn't go away.

I've also noticed that when put on full screen, the quality of the image goes waaay down. Fault of the image stretching to 1280x800?

Oh, and for the record, I'm not watching Josie for its music, chicks, or entertainment value.

 

yeah.... I definitely noticed the blank spot. I just tried watching Advent Children on my roommate's laptop and it didnt have the same issue, but he has a decent video card. Nvidia 156MB something or rather.

So I still dont know whether that means it has to do with the inspiron or the video card, and no one has really been able to tell me

 

After first uninstalling all codec packs, then trying out every video player under the sun today - VLC, Gom, Miro - I think I have FINALLY fixed whatever issue my laptop was having. K-Lite Codec Pack 3.70 fixed everything. Then when I installed Gom and configured its settings, I chose not to use the programs built-in codecs, thus it would use K-Lite.

No more weird lines on dvds, no more insane lag and frame skips on mkv.

Ravich, video card should, by all accounts, NOT affect the video playback. I know that statement makes little sense. But prior to this laptop, I had a Latitude 110L - Integrated Graphics, 512mb ram, 14.1" matte screen - and playback of all videos were absolutely flawless.

Here's what I recommend for ya:
-K-Lite Codec Pack 3.70
-Gom Player (freeware)

Gom Player can play dvds, but personally I prefer a stand-alone one, ie WinDVD or PowerDVD. No matter which player you use, the codec pack should work correctly.

Let me know if that helps ya.