Ok, I'm honestly stumped on a DVD issue i'm having. Right now i'm not even attempting any sort of hacking, cracking, or backing up, I just wanna be able to watch a friggin DVD on my PC. I'm using WinXP Pro SP1. I have Windows Mediaplayer 10 installed, along with DirectX 9.0c, Aspi Drivers, PowerDVD Deluxe, my current video, audio, motherboard drivers etc. XP is showing my DVD-Rom drive as being a DVD drive. I place just about any DVD I have in the drive and it fires right up, no problem. However, there is a new DVD animae set I got recently, The Record of Lodoss War. It's an awesome series, and one of my favorites. I have no problems playing it in my home DVD player whatsoever(Region 1 player and DVD to the best of my knowledge). Yet, whenever I try to put the disk into my DVD-ROM drive, it sits there, attempts to read the disk for a few seconds(at least I guess that is what it is doing, the DVD-Rom drive light comes on), then NOTHING. It just sits there, won't load or anything. It doesn't even show a disk being in the drive. I try to double click the DVD drive and it says Please insert disk into drive: and that's all it will do. It won't load or even detect in Windows Media Player ot Power DVD. I even tried Media Player classic, and it still won't. I even went so far as to download the Ace Mega Codec pack in case that was some issue, and still NOTHING. Is there perhaps some new type of encryption or protection being used that my slightly older DVD-ROM drive isn't able to detect or read? Is it some issue with my WinXP? I'm about to pull my hair out looking for a solution. Even with AnyDVD loaded from Slysoft, still nothing. It just sits there in the drive mocking me and refusing to even detect. Is there any solution or recommendation anyone can offer? Like I said, the DVD loads and plays fine on my home DVD player without problem and its a few years old. I welcome any feedback, tips, or hints anyone can offer. This is the first and only time i've ever run into an issue where Windows won't even claim to notice there is a DVD in the drive in the first place. So please, if anyone can. .....HELP!!
Blame it on bad media? Could the major DVD production outfits be using bad media? Wedding video clients (potential (demo DVDs) and ones who have had problems with videos I've delivered have had issues such as freezing, skipping or the chapters don't work or both). It could be bad media based on this page I came across after reading about DVD media problems on the first page of this site. I've used Fuji-Rs and Ritek disks (bought from Office Depot with its label on it) and have had skipping and freezing problems with them. http://www.cd-rw.org/articles/archive/dvd-r_media_report.cfm Can anyone recommend the best media that won't skip or freeze during playback? Thanks. Tom H.
Yeah, the DVD-Rom drive will play other movies. I've tested it and it reads other DVDs, as well as VCDs and SVCDs fine. It has no problem reading CDs either. For some reason, it will not read any of the DVDs in this set as even existing. As best as I can describe it; 1. Place any DVD from this collection in the DVD player in my home theatre system. - Plays fine with no errors. 2. Place any DVD from this set into my computer's DVD-Rom drive - light comes on attempting to read the disk. 3. Light goes off after a few seconds. 4. DVD-Rom will not detect that there is even a disk in the drive. 5. I click the DVD-Rom drive and it keeps giving message: Cannot read drive, please insert disk. 6. I test with other DVDs as well as CDs and the drive plays them fine without errors. My system, as it is setup, is WinXP SP1a, with Windows Mediaplayer 10, DirectX 9.0c, All updates other than SP2 from Windowsupdate.microsoft.com are installed. Also have .Net framework and current service pack for it installed. Have installed MediaPlayer classic + Quicktime alternative + Real Alternative. Have also Ace Mega Codec Pack Pro installed. This is the first set of DVDs where i've ever had this problem. My guess is the company that made them, since i've read similar issues mentioned by others on various forums is there is a new file protection/encryption method being used on DVD animaes where they will not detect in any DVD-Rom drive in a computer, because it flags the same error you get if you try to run your home theatre DVD player through a VCR, i.e. no direct connect to a TV, so it won't play or detect, to prevent copying. That is my only guess, otherwise I am out of ideas. However, I think this is a horrible move to be taking if this is fact what is happening. I know a great many people who don't even own home theatre DVD players and that just play their DVDs on their laptops or home PC and stream them to their TV/home theatre. That would be something that would prevent any of them from ever being able to do so. I personaly agree with companies choosing methods to protect their products. There is a HUGE level of piracy, especially on games and DVDs. However, if you honestly own a legit copy, it is a rediculous thing to deal with. They do not offer to replace damaged disks that will not play, but they also prevent you from making your own legit backup. It's complete foolishness, especially since some DVDs/Games are pretty rare and expensive to find copies of. Making a backup to keep the original safe is simply protecting your investment. As it stands i'm not even trying to make a backup of this DVD animae set. I am just trying to get my friggin computer to detect the disk and play them! I can't even manage to get that to happen. I am thinking I will return this DVD and either get new copies from a different distributor to see if that helps, or write some hate mail to the company making these disks and refuse to buy from them again. I know this part is a bit off topic, but I have a copy of Diablo 2 + the expansion that are all legit copies. I however, barely ever play them, because they are designed to prevent no-CD patches from working, and no matter what i've tried, I cannot figure out any way to make a backup of them that will play. So I don't play them often, due to not wanting the source to get damaged. It is one of my favorite games too, how lame is that? You can't even play what you buy because you don't want to risk the damage of losing and no backup or replacement. I personaly think that people should start banding together and boycotting the makers of home DVDs and PC/PS2/Xbox/Gamecube games until these companies create a legitimate method for us to either replace damaged copies of the originals or for us to be able to make backups!
The DVD player manufacturers, DVD authoring software developers AND DVD blank media makers need to develop one standard for DVD-R and DVD+R playback. They need to make the consumer aware that they are complying with that standard in their advertising, packaging, manual, and the players themselves. I've run into numerous clients having playback problems with their DVDs. I try to make sure there is no format compatibility problem up front, however, I'm never sure if other problems that occur. Those problems include skipping and freezing which may be caused by the authoring software, too high a bit rate (now reduced from 6 to 4) when converting from AVI to MPEG2 or bad media. All this may change when HD-DVDs come out or it may not. Regardless, standards need to be developed and applied. Tom H.
It is the media used for The Record of Lodoss War. Two possible options: See if there is an updated firmware for your DVD-Rom and give that a shot. If you have a burner, and the burner recognizes the DVD, you can rip on that burner and burn on a quality name brand media like Sony, TY, etc., and then you will be able to watch it. I have 3 PC’s and one laptop. In the old days before I knew any better I used to use PRINCO, (CompUSA crap) and ProdiscS03, (Memorex DVD-R 4x), media to burn with and they worked in all but my Laptop and one DVD-Rom. My better media, Sony DVD-R 8X, works in any of my Players.
Ever had any experience with Verbatime DVDs? I have found them at the local Sam's Club, but they aren't printable. I might have to order them or Taiyo Yuden DVDs from a website - assuming they're not fake. Tom H.
I don't think trying Clonedvd (or a firmware upgrade) will solve Syntax01's problem, but I don't know what will either. I have the same problem with a commercial movie. It plays fine on my stand alone DVD player (the player is region free, but I have also tried locking it to region 4..still plays), but is NOT recognised by any of the three DVD ROM drives I have tried it in, or any of the three DVD RW drives (all different brands on different machines and two diffrent OS's (WinXP Pro SP1 and Win2k)). The DVD just sits there doing bugger all. Like Syntax01, I am not trying to copy the movie, I just want to watch it on my PC (DVD RW), I have tried it on my wife's PC (DVD ROM), Acer Travelmate 430 Laptop (DVD ROM), Dell Laptop (DVD RW) and a friends PC (DVD RW & DVD ROM, all without success. No point in trying to use anything like DVD Decrypter, Clone DVD or any other copying software ( Out of frustration, I have tried!)if the OS does NOT know the disk is in the drive. Windows Explorer just asks for a disk to be inserted if you try to view the DVD's files. By the way, all the DVD drives range in age from 2.5 years old to only a few months. The only conclusion I can come to is that there is something on the DVD that is preventing it from being 'seen' by the OS. CloneDVD reports that it is unable to open the file Video_TS IFO. DVD Decrypter reports that the Logical unit (DVD RW Drive) is not ready.
A little bit of further research has revealed that the DVD I am having trouble with will play quite happily on a PC that has [bold]NO[/bold] copying software on it. Put something like CloneDVD, Alcohol, etc on, and bingo!..DVD not recognised as being in the drive! I haven't tried anything as plain as Roxio or Nero. Removing the 'offending' programs is not good enough either. Obviously there is still something left in the registry that [something on] the dvd can find. After finding this out, I took the drastic step of reformatting my PC and once again the DVD was quite happy to play with only XP Pro and Power DVD onboard...put on CloneDVD and..nothing..reformat again..because I didn't think to make a back up of the registry before I installed CloneDVD! and away it goes again. Got a couple of other tricks to try yet, so I will keep you posted.
What about anydvd by slysoft? can you give that a shot? It runs in the background and has a free 20 or so day trial.
I've had a similar experience with certain region 1 DVD's that refuse to play in my DVD burner(Pioneer 108) and Lite-On DVD ROM but play fine on home DVD players. Clifton51 has an interesting if awkward solution as I certainly don't want to reformat and I can't live without DVD Clone, but I have since found that two old DVD ROM drives I had lying around Pioneer 120 and Pioneer 105 both play my troublesome discs fine. Go figure! Maybe it's a matter of finding the right drive? Hope this helps.
Clifton51 is correct - I have had the same problem - I had 4 different DVD's (movies) all originals. They all played fine in my home DVD player but would not even show as a DVD when i put them in any 3 of my PC's with DVD writers. I then formatted one PC - only installed Windows XP and put WinDVD on it - and I could see and play the DVD fine. I then installed DVD-Shrink and it ripped the DVD 100% fine to my hard drive after which i could install Nero6 and write it back to another DVD-R. Thanx Clifton - I would never have thought about this. I tried EVERY possible DVD ripping software u could think of before i found this thread - NOTHING would see the DVD movie until i tried what u susggested. Thanks again. Ultrax
Glad that solved your problem Ultrax. I have been quite busy lately and have not had the time to go any further on this as of yet. I assume that the copy you made played quite happily on your PC after Nero was re installed? I admit that reformatting your PC is a drastic step just to watch a DVD and let's be honest....why would you want to watch it on your PC when you most likely have a 68cm (or larger) TV with a surround sound system sitting in your house? I can think of one occasion....when you go away and do not have access to these sorts of things, it is nice to be able to sit back and watch it on a laptop. And this of course leads us back to that argument with the movie companies about being able to make a back up copy of a movie that you legally own (a practice which is currently illegal in Australia). However, I am getting sidetracked!....Maybe it is time to reach out for the boot CD...wipe out the system and make a quick copy .........
