DVDs with menu will hang

[John B.]

Hi,

Lately I bought the Samsung DVD-P181 to watch downloaded movies (which is legal in the Netherlands), burn them on a DVD and watch them on my TV. There are several types I downloaded, all different movies of course:
DVD with menu (disk/title menu)
DVD without menu (ones immediately starting)
DivX/AVIs
All work fine, but the first. Sometimes they start to hang after about 5 to 15 minutes after the movie started, then hang for a couple of seconds and go on. This is no problem to me, but it keeps happening every 10 seconds and eventually it will hang and not go any further, most of the times.

I am not sure if ALL downloaded DVDs with menus have this problem, but what I do know is that I do not have this problem with bought DVDs. The DVDs also work fine on my laptop and desktop (which have K-lite Codec Pack installed, not sure if it makes a difference). Does anybody know what could be at fault here and how to solve it?

Also, I have tried both region-free hacks for the DVD-P181, but the player just does not react on the commands I give it. Nothing will be displayed or anything. I am sure it does receive the signal, because the signal from the remote is pretty good I experience. Any advice?

Thanks in advance! Also, happy new year.

Regards,
John.

[jman98]

Your DVD problem is most likely that you are using crap media. Use only Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim for best results. We get this question all the time and it's almost always caused by poor quality media.

As far as your region free question goes, Samsung has recently made changes to ALL models sold EVERYWHERE in the world and apparently none of their current models can be made region free. There may not ever be a region free hack for any current Samsung DVD player.

[Bjs]

Welcome John B

to watch downloaded movies

Firstly, a pc will play almost anything provided the correct decoders are installed ... home dvd players are more specific as to what they will play

Use tools like mediainfo and / or gspot to determine the video and audio that has successfully played on the home unit ... and compare this info with those showing issues ... mostly just the avi's need checking

Also check the media that had been used against that which is currently being used ... dvdinfo will give you information about who made the discs, ect

It is quite possible these clips may have errors during their encoding or unsupported encoder functions like qpel included .... or partial corruption during the downloading which should be checked prior to burning to media.

If you do this often it is wise to run scandisk and defrag the systems hd's on a regualr basis.

[John B.]

Thanks for the replies. Are Philips DVDs not really good?

[jman98]

Thanks for the replies. Are Philips DVDs not really good?

Go to http://www.nomorecoasters.com for information on DVD media quality. Philips, like many other companies, typically uses low quality manufacturers for their media. The only consistently reliable high quality DVD media manufacturers these days are Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden, although SOME Sony branded discs may be high quality depending on who made them for Sony. In the past in Europe, Sony sometimes used Taiyo Yuden to make their media but I don't know if they still do.

[usually_quiet]

I use Verbatim DVD-R media (made by Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.) now, and virtually 100% burn successfully. I tried Philips DVD-R media about two years ago. 20% of the burns I made were coasters. My personal opinion is that they are not a good brand.

DVD Identifier can be used to check the media code, which will reveal who really made the Philips discs. It was most likely CMC or Ritek, which many here feel make inferior products.

[John B.]

Sorry for the late reply. Thanks a lot for the responses! I will take them all into account