I just reformatted my computer about a week ago, and now I can't play full-screen format DVD's anymore. Widescreen format works just fine. In WinDVD 4 I get sound, but no picture, and in Powerdvd (ver. 4.0) I get an error message stating: TheTV Out port of your display card is not working properly. I'm not using my TV-Out port. Nobody seems to have ever even heard of this problem. I'm running windows XP 1.4 Athlon processor GeForce3 video card 512 mb ram Sony DVD Rom (I'm not sure the specific kind) I've tried reinstalling the video card drivers. I have the newest directx. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I know in my dvd player setup I have options for widescreen, letterbox, and panscan. If I remember correctly panscan was the option to automatically play it in the right format whereas the other two would only work if the movie was in that particular aspect.
I wish that were it, but at least in windvd, it automatically detects whether it's in full screen or wide screen and, when in full screen, it won't let you pick anything else. I just found out that I can capture stills of the movie, and they actually show up, even though the movie itself isn't. I'm not sure if that helps any.
You say that you aren't using the tv-out port but is there anything plugged into it? Have you checked display settings to make sure the tv-out port isn't displayed as the default output? Have you tried running the movies in a window as opposed to full screen? Have you tried putting a tv on the video card to see if it's outputting to there?
There's nothing plugged into the the tv-out, and I've checked the default output, it's on analog display. The digital and TV selections are grayed out. When I say full-screen, I'm talking about the format that the DVD is encoded in, it doesn't work in a window or full screen. I don't think I even have the TV-out cable to try connecting it to a TV.
I do understand what you mean by fullscreen but I still suggest trying to play the movie in window mode for a couple reasons. 1) if the software is trying to pipe the movie out your tv out port, for some strange reason, putting the software in window mode sometimes seems to force it to play on the monitor. 2) I've seen playing in fullscreen mode produce some strange effects that disappear in window mode, this applies to games and movies. Things such as video not working but sound does or even sound being out of synch with the movie. With games I've seen key or joystick response delays disappear when switching between fullscreen and window mode. It may not correct the problem but it may isolate it some. Also one other thing I just thought of, is it possible you are running at a different screen resolution / color depth than you were before? Some players I've seen recommend certain resolutions and 24 bit color. I'm running long shots here I admit but since no one else has any ideas yet I just wanted to try and help.
I understand, and really appreciate the time you put into this. I found out today that the latest nvidia drivers have trouble with full screen dvd's for some reason, so all I had to do was get some older ones. I should have tried that sooner, and I apologise for that. Thanks again for all your help.
i use a a movie player called zoom player its great it plays dvds divx xvid ogg mp3 wav wmv wma and you can watch movies in full screen even if the movie is a widescreen film or converted to letterbox just do a search on it or i will update this post when i get home with the link to download it
here is the thread for that movie player i was telling you about the direct download for the software is on it http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/25081
Hey all, thanks for the info. I just tried to play a DVD and it kept having the same problem, and i couldnt figure out why because ive got programs to disable macrovision, and it has the problem even when i disabled/physicaly disconnected the TV out. So i did a quick search on google and found this thread, and i have indeed installed the latest Detonator drivers just recently. I had my suspecions that it would be them but decided to do a search before i rolled em back to an older version. I will do so now, bloody nvidia releasing buggy drivers.
You need Zoomplayer to be able to get rid of the bars and turn cinema widescreen (and TV 16:9 widescreen) into 4:3 format. Also ensure your DEFAULT monitor (on video cards with tv out) is set to the monitor that you intend to watch the movie on. IE if you are trying to watch a DVD or Xvid on your TV make the TV your default monitor or the pc monitor if watching on the pc. Read my other replies to posts for more info. MONZAMAN
