Jerky DVD video

[wrawlind]

I recently bought a DVD-Rom on EBay for my IBM Thinkpad T21 PIII 746 MHz, 512 MB RAM. The problem is, every time I try to play DVDs, playback is jerky. The larger the screen (like if I make it "Full Screen"), the jerkier the video. I've used PowerDVD as well as KMPlayer (with every render setting) and they both suffer from this jerky playback to varying degrees. I made sure that I have the latest video drivers as well as the latest DirectX updates. At this point, I can't tell it's a software issue or a hardware issue (I've held off on giving feedback for my purchase until I figure this thing out).

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
-R

[aedipuss]

if the dvd-rom is old enough it may not be reading at a high enough speed to allow smooth playback. new ones read at 16x or there abouts.

[FulciLives]

A work around would be to RIP the DVD to your laptop's HDD then watch if from the HDD using PowerDVD or WinDVD etc.

The only problem with that is the time it takes to do the ripping not to mention the HDD space that you take up with the DVD contents being there. Remember a DVD can be as much as 8GB or so if Dual Layer.

I suggest trying this at least once to see if you get good playback from the HDD because if you do then you know the problem is the DVD-ROM drive not being FAST enough as opposed to the laptop just not being FAST enough to handle DVD Video.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Krispy Kritter]

I expect the issue is laptop speed. Use task manager to monitor you cpu use and processes during dvd playback. That will give an indication of the load being placed on the laptop.

I don't expect it to be an actual dvdrom issue. To playback a movie, you only need a 1x drive. Only reading, copying, ripping, etc. take advantage of faster read speeds.

However, it could be that the laptop can't move the data fast enough from the drive. The fact that the issue gets worse as the screen gets larger, would seem to indicate a hardware power/speed issue.

Another thought would be a codec or video driver issue.

[FulciLives]

However, it could be that the laptop can't move the data fast enough from the drive. The fact that the issue gets worse as the screen gets larger, would seem to indicate a hardware power/speed issue.

This is why I suggested RIPPING the DVD and playing from the HDD because if it still doesn't play back correctly that would indicate the laptop doesn't have enough ummm muscle whereas if it does work it means there is a DVD-ROM issue of some sort.

In the very early days of DVD-ROM drives I had a DVD-ROM that was 2x speed and couldn't transfer to the computer "fast enough" even though the computer was fast enough to play back MPEG-2 DVD spec video. My work-around was to RIP the movie first and play it from the HDD which did give me smooth unstuttered playback whereas playback straight from the DVD-ROM was stuttered.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[wrawlind]

Thanks for all of your advice. I ripped the DVD to the hard drive and played it from there. Still getting the jerky motion. Guess my laptop's just not fast enough, huh? Anything else I can try?

-R

[Sartori]

Try playing it from a more streamlined player like say Media Player Classic , Ive used Microsofts media player in the past and that gave me jerky playback at times .

This is assuming you have optimised your laptop with the latest drivers (inbuilt sound and video) , optimised memory settings through the BIOS and anything else like turning off unrequired ports to free IRQs and hence cpu cycles , and shut down all non necessary programs running - virus checkers , firewall (turn off modem to protect laptop ), Adobe stuff etc etc

[cd090580]

On your laptop, you tried playing the dvd from battery power of from external power supply ????

On battery, the cpu often run at lower speed to increase running time on the battery.

[FulciLives]

If you can't get smooth playback from the HDD (after ripping) then your laptop just doesn't have the muscle needed for MPEG-2 DVD spec files i.e., no DVD Video for you.

BTW you never did fill in your computer specs or tell us in this thread any info really about the laptop i.e., the processor speed and amount of RAM or HDD space or video card etc.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman