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    Trouble Shooting Guide


    Home Theater Style Video DVD Players

     Original home video DVD players were made according to the DVD-ROM standard (glass mask). These players were manufactured before the DVD-R and DVD+R standards were developed.

    Typically, DVD players manufactered before 1998 will only play DVD-ROM. Some of the units made in 1998 and most of the units made in 1999 and 2000 play DVD-R.

    From 2001 onwards all DVD players should handle both DVD-R and DVD+R playback.

    Check your unit's compatibility here:

    Compatibility Guide - click here
    NTSC format; The DVD's are in NTSC format and can only be played on players that can read and convert NTSC source data. If your player is able to handle NTSC data, you may not be able to see the video.

    PC related problems These DVD's should play on all PC and MAC based systems that are outfitted with a DVD player and driver software.

    However, older systems may have problems with the high-stream MPEG-2 format for a variety of reasons. These are all solvable, please check the checklist below for answers. My PC cannot read the DVD

    1. Make sure DVD is properly insterted

      Label should be facing up


    2. Try a fresh reboot

      Do you still receive the same error?


    3. Upgrade your DVD player software or try different software

      Typical free players can be found at: 
             Windows Media Player
       Real One Player
             (Make sure you select the "Download the Free RealOne Player" 
             or click here: Download the free Real One Player.
       DivX Player
             (Navigate the menus to download the free player)

    My player doesn't show an image

    4. Update your MPEG-2 codecs

      Get them from DivX Download the free DivX Codec


    5. Use the primary screen

      On some dual screen displays, the video drivers are often not compatible with the second screen Try to display the video on the primary screen


    6. The image is unsharp

      On older PC's (typically Windows '98 based laptops) the graphics memory is often shared with the CPU memory. More recent systems have dedicated memory, but insufficient to render full MPEG-2 These DVD's have 720x540 at 32bit and require a minimum of 16Mb of graphics memory to render properly. If you don't have this much graphics memory, try the following


    7. Change the color depth

      Go to your windows bacground, right-click and select Properties->Settings and change your color depth to 24bit, 16bit or 256 colors until you see a sharper image


    8. Change the screen resolutions

      Go to your windows bacground, right-click and select Properties->Settings and change your screen resolution to 1024x768 or 800x600 until you see a sharp image


    The image is choppy

     This typically occurs when your DVD player is capable of reading and buffering data faster than your CPU and rendering software is able to keep up with.

    9. Adjust the quality/speed trade-off

      In most players you can adjust the quality versus speed. E.g. for Real One Player, you can go to Tools->Preferences->Hardware and you will see a sliding bar (Lowest CPU Usage <----------> Highest Quality) Adjust the slider and see if this makes the video more watchable


    10. Alternative adjustments

      Some players have additional interfaces that relate to encoding, decoding algorithms, etc. In the same interface as above, you'll see a second slider. This one goes from (Most Reliable <----------> Best Performance) Adjust this slides as well and observe the video.


    11. Play the video at 100% (1:1) ratio

      If your CPU is doing double duty for both the rendering and the video driver, then this can alleviate the computational overhead. At 100% settings the video should look it's best. If you reduce or increase (e.g. full-screen mode) the video, and the video appears fuzzy, your system is limited in playing back high-resolution DVDs


    I can play DVD movies but not see an image with these DVDs

     You may have additional issues that need investigation.

    Typically, four components need to work together: 
             a) Hardware: the DVD player and its driver
         b) Software: the software you use for playback
         c) Operating System: the operating system
         d) Video: the video card and driver that render
                        the image on the screen
    If you can play DVD movies you have some of the components working. Each different video display size, requires different codecs (decoders, drivers) and must be installed properly.

    Similarly, the movie image may be of a different image size and rendering speed than these DVD's. You must adjust the settings for the player and assure that you have sufficient graphics memory available.

    These DVD's are MPEG-2, streaming at 4500 Kb/s. They can cause buffer overflow between the DVD player and the CPU. Look for controls that limit the data-rate transfer.

    Windows XP is most compatible with video DVD playback. Windows 98 thru XP should work after you complete the checklist above Older operating systems (windows 95), and related Mac operating systems may require additional support.

    Go through the list above one more time, and see if you can locate the problem.

    If, after going through the list above, you cannot render the video, please contact me and give me specifics on your systems: DVD player - type, max burn, read speed, data-transfer rate, etc. 
            CPU - type, speed
        Graphics Card - driver
        Software - type, revision, settings
        RAM - CPU, Graphics
        Operating System, revision
    So far, we have not seen PC's that are unable to play the DVD's. Read more (technical) background on DVD's here:


    DVD Technical Primer - click here
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