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    DVD playback is stuttering... Help?

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by meteorstorm42, Nov 5, 2008.

  1. meteorstorm42

    meteorstorm42 Notebook Consultant

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    Every few minutes, the DVD playback stutters, both video and audio. (on all my DVDs, so it isn't one scratched DVD)
    I tried some wmv and avi files, and no stuttering.

    On a Vaio notebook, running Vista Home Premium. I have a 2.53 GHz Core2 Duo, 3GB RAM, and a decent graphics card, so it's not the hardware.

    It happens in both Windows Media Player and VLC Media Player. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling VLC (didn't work). I have Media Center disabled, so I can't try it in that.
    I tried updating DirectX (didn't work), I tried going to my IDE ATA channels in the Device Manager to turn on DMA, but the IDE Channel(s) didn't show up.

    I scanned for viruses and malware, I defragged, I made sure my DVD drive, graphics card, audio device, and motherboard drivers were up to date.

    CPU usage during playback is usually under 40%.

    I could try to uninstall the DVD decoder and reinstall it, but I have no idea where to find it (on the computer in Vista, or where to download a new one from).

    Does anyone know how to do that ^ or how to access the IDE ATA channel properties?
    Does anyone have any other ideas / advice?


    ---
    "There are consequences to breaking the heart of a murdering *******." -Bill
     
  2. DetlevCM

    DetlevCM Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Faulty CD/DVD drive?

    It seems as if data isn't "comming in" fast enough.

    Or its reading too fast and shutting down, then starting up, but I doubt that.
     
  3. InfyMcGirk

    InfyMcGirk while(!(succeed=try()));

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    If you have any software to allow backups of your DVDs to be created on your hard disk, you could try opening an image of a DVD from your HDD. If that still stutters, the problem will be with your DVD decoder software, as the transfer rate should be significantly higher from HDD I would think.

    Do you have a Z series? If so, does playback stutter in both Stamina and Speed modes?