Problems playing DVDs in Windows Media Player

Whenever I play any (as far as I know of) kind of DVD in Windows Media Player, I am experiencing problems with the sound. As the video plays, the sound is constantly stuttering whenever there is sound present. This stuttering is incessant and occurs at 1 second intervals, rendering the viewing experience unpleasurable. I don't think its the DVD drive, but I could be wrong.

Any suggestions would be great.

Edit: Tried playing DVDs in Media Player Classic. Same kind of problem. Tried playing DVD's in InterVideo WinDVD and no such problems, however I'd prefer to use WMP as the picture quality appears to be sharper and more fluid.

 

What kind of computer, particularly CPU and video? Sounds like your CPU isn't good enough to play the file on its own with the decoder Windows is using (some decoders are more efficient than others), while WinDVD is either doing it more efficiently or is able to take advantage of hardware acceleration from your GPU. (Even GMA950 has some DVD acceleration features)

 

Could be some issue with sound drivers too, what sound card, and what driver is either WMP or Media Player Classic (or whatever it's called) using to decode the sound. I know that Intervideo uses it's own decoder, which is probably why it's okay (that's my guess anyway).

 

I've got, only a few months old, HP nc8430 with T2500 and MR x1600 so I'm pretty certain thats not the problem . I think you guys are probably getting onto something warmer when you say its to do with the decoder and/or drivers. The notebook's using SoundMax HD Audio for its driver (or is that soundcard? I'm a noob when it comes to soundcards). So do you guys think I should perhaps update my drivers and decoders?

 

OK, actually none of the players I have work to what I consider would be suitable level of quality on playback. All the programs I use either have stuttering sound or video playback (subtle stuttering) and this is unacceptable for a £1000 notebook. In retrospect, I remember my old crappy desktop (Athlon xp1800+, 256 RAM, integrated graphics etc) playing back DVDs fine.

I've realised that DVD playback quality on my nc8430 is more comparable to video tapes-its as though I've stuck a video cassette into my optical drive and am viewing the inferior picture quality of cassette rather than sharp, crisp DVD quality. I've tested my DVDs on a normal DVD recorder/player and the picture quality is as it should be.

Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on? Am I missing something fundamental which I've simply overlooked?

 

Is the DVD drive set for DMA mode? Can check this by going into Control Panel | System, select the Hardware tab, click on Device Manager, expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, right click on the Secondary IDE Channel (I'm assuming the DVD drive is installed on the secondary IDE controller), select Properties and then click on Advanced Settings.

 

Yes the drive is already set for DMA mode. Can anybody else help? This is really cheesing me off now. Shouldn't DVD playback on a computer be equivalent to seperate dedicated DVD player/recorder?