DVD not playing on computer.

[Shard92]

I have a customer that brought in a DVD that wouldn't play in his computers. With His XP machine it was just a matter of setting the DVD player to REgion 1 through the device manager. his other two computers are running win98se. Both have ATi all-in-wonder cards and therefore ati dvd player. Niether one seemed able to play dvd's though they were seperate errors. One we got around by loading powerdvd on and that seemed to work. ( he just called and said it seems to have problems getting all the way through a dvd however--- illegal operations--- ) But the other one just keeps saying wrong region or some such error. But only for the one DVD. Anyone have any ideas as to why that would be, and also how do you set the region code in win98se? Like I said with xp I was able to do that from device manager.... Any help would be appreciated

[monzie]

Lets get this correct....


..a customer is asking you for help?

...so your charging him/her for your time....or have already charged them previously?

....you want the good people here to help you make money by fixing problems/giving solutions YOU ARE CHARGING FOR??????????

YOUR THE EXPERT AS YOUR THE ONE IN BUSINESS

.....EF OFFF!

[Shard92]

first off I thought this was a help site. Second what concern is it of yours. I am trying to help him solve a problem.. That includes research. I am a professional and as a professional I know enough to know that no ONE person has ALL the answers. That's why there are sites like this. I could tell him about this site and in fact i have. All he would do is tell me to research it and find an answer for him. He is not technical savy and would rather have me find out stuff for him... if that is what he wants what business it is of yours.... I think you need to grow up.

[teegee420]

Lets get this correct....


..a customer is asking you for help?

...so your charging him/her for your time....or have already charged them previously?

....you want the good people here to help you make money by fixing problems/giving solutions YOU ARE CHARGING FOR??????????

YOUR THE EXPERT AS YOUR THE ONE IN BUSINESS

.....EF OFFF!

I don't know what your ******* problem is but you're out of line, dude. There's nothing wrong with what this guy is doing. At least he gives a shit and actually wants to fix his customer's problem.

I believe you can change the region in 98 like you would in XP. Just right click My Computer and go to Device Manager. If that doesn't work you could try installing something like Anydvd 3. There's always a chance that something is just plain wrong with the disc too.

[reboot]

Monzie:
Let's get this correct.
A customer is asking him for help. Is this a strange concept for you to grasp?
He's charging them for this help. How else would he stay in business. You think he should do it for free?
He want's the "good people here" to help him. Not an unreasonable request, as this is a help site. Another strange concept?
"YOUR THE EXPERT". First, YOUR (sic) probably not. He may be, you may be, but you're not helping at all by attempting to insult and berate anyone here.
"EF OFF". I guess shouting it (virtually) helps you vent. I bet you pounded on the keys when you typed that. Either say it properly, with at least some attempt at eloquence, or don't bother posting, as you have nothing of value to contribute.
Now it's my turn to say, "**** off!"

Shard92, if the dvd will not play all the way through without error, you could narrow it down by playing it in a standalone player and see if it has "issues". If not, try updating the video card drivers, as well as directx. This solves some playback problems.
Also check to see that he has a video card capable of playing dvd. Most onboard video must be at least 8 meg, and preferrably 64 meg or more. Older, and onboard video, are rarely good enough.
Check how much free physical ram there is. If the video must be buffered to ram, and the ram is used, windows will attempt to use the swap file. This results in horrible, jerky, and unplayable video. Remove half the programs from startup that aren't needed by using msconfig.
Region code should be automatically set to either "none", or 1, for north america. If it is not, PowerDVD has the option to set region code in it's settings menu. Failing that, you might try regionfree software.
Lastly, are you positive this is an NTSC DVD, and not a PAL one (assuming it's store bought, and not a burned copy)? That could be the cause of all of this.
Edit: NEVER make excuses for posting, especially to id10t's.

[teegee420]

Monzie, pay special attention to reboot's post. That's what "The Good People Here" do. We try and help. Try and help yourself next time and refrain from making stupid comments in the future.

[Shard92]

Thanks for the replys. First off let me say, I'm glad to see that there are still people here who want to help. Second, I got the one computer working in the shop. He took it home and it worked for awhile then started crashing with another dvd. I will get more details when I can... what I do know is that it is a All-in-wonder card that he has and I believe the machine is a slow pIII ( like maybe 500-700 MHZ ). The one he left here I just finally got it to play the problem cd. THe one that none of his computers would originally play. I found after Monzie's wonderfull help a site that had enough info for me to find some utilities after LOTS of searching to first check the region setting ( it actually had no region set ) and eventually found the one to change that setting to 1. It now plays that cd. From what I gather the dvd would check for region setting and not finding one ( or if it had found 0 for any/all region) it refused to work. Thanks again to teegee and reboot!! and to Monzie, I hope someday in your professional life ( if you ever have one) that a problem presents itself and you get the same response as you gave me when you turn for help.

[reboot]

Even a PIII 500 should play dvd's, with the ATi card. How much ram is in it? Quite possibly, it's simply overloaded, and/or drivers and directx have never been updated, and/or it's full of spyware and other crap too, especially if it's a multi-user system that's on the 'net.
My wife has a PIII 600 with a GF2 MX card, and it plays DVD's with no trouble on XP Pro. I do have absolutely nothing loading at startup, and pared the services running down to 16 (from the default 25 or so). I would think 98 should be lighter on resources than XP, if tweaked just a bit.
Glad you figured out the region code settings. Had me wondering too, and I don't have a 98 box here to test on

[Shard92]

Yeah dvd's have played on it before.... I'm not sure why he started having problems. As far as the one here, it was a lite-on drive and I found a utility ( not on their website) to reset the code. Not sure why it wasn't set. I thought they shipped preset but like I said i had to do it with his new dvd burner and xp as well. At least with xp it was easy. Just a couple of clicks in device manager but for the old ones I just wasn't sure. I'll check on updated drivers/directx for him. He'll probably bring the other one in when he picks this one up.

[reboot]

Lite-on retail drives are usually preset. OEM may not be (mine wasn't). Although I have had some retail that are not, and some OEM that are. I guess there's no standard for it.

[Shard92]

Yeah not sure if this drive was retail or not... probably not.... Thanks for the responses....

[Supreme2k]

With all due respect, though monzie was a little harsh, I agree with the spirit of his post.

I've seen guys get torn into dozens of times because of similar help questions. People tend to get a bit upset when a free site is used as tech support for people who are getting paid for that free help.

Just do what everyone else does: Have them sign a waiver, re-image the drive so that DVD playback works, then send them on their way.

There should be some sort of "one rip" rule. You guys seem like a bunch of hypocrites when you berate someone over and over, especially about berating someone else.

Shard92, does your place of business have a policy regarding added software? That's why I mentioned the imaging route above.I've worked for a couple of places *cough*rhymes with crys*cough* where they hire anybody to do the computer repair, since they use basic "troubleshooting" like re-imaging the drive. Half the time, I don't blame them, as the PCs usually have so much spyware, warez, and other crap that it's a wonder they even boot up.

If the guy's hip to this site, clue him in to Divx or other near-DVD alternatives. He can cram 5-6 movies on a DVD without worrying about the region. Or maybe even one of those region-free programs.

[ricky1756]

the guy is using his time to do research to solve a problem, there is nothing wrong with that. if a lawyer goes to a law library for imformation,you can bet the client is going to be charged for his time.

[Supreme2k]

No problem with him reading the guides, but if a lawyer was trying to win a big money civil case, he shouldn't expect pro-bono from F. Lee Bailey (or even Marsha Clark).

Again, I'm not attacking Shard92, but merely shedding light on the perceptions the situation may create.

[teegee420]

No problem with him reading the guides, but if a lawyer was trying to win a big money civil case, he shouldn't expect pro-bono from F. Lee Bailey (or even Marsha Clark).

If F. Lee Bailey and Marcia Clark choose to log onto a pro-bono help forum(such as this one) and offer their advice that's their business. I don't help people because I expect any special recognition or compensation. I do it because I like helping people. That's nobody's business but my own.

[Shard92]

No problem with him reading the guides, but if a lawyer was trying to win a big money civil case, he shouldn't expect pro-bono from F. Lee Bailey (or even Marsha Clark).

If F. Lee Bailey and Marcia Clark choose to log onto a pro-bono help forum(such as this one) and offer their advice that's their business. I don't help people because I expect any special recognition or compensation. I do it because I like helping people. That's nobody's business but my own.

I agree. I may not provide as much help on this site as I get, but that's because I'm not as familiar with this stuff as some here. I am a member of other sites though and I provide as much help there as I can. And no i don't get paid there for that. It's a give and take. I'm also sure lawyers consult other lawyers on stuff they aren't sure on. If you never ask how to do something or try to do it yourself you never learn. I for one like to learn new things... It just so happens that I'm so busy between work/house calls/ and posting on forums if I don't HAVE to know something I just don't have the time to mess with it. If it makes you feel any better I found most of the answers myself... But if you are all so concerned with my customer getting charged for the work I did look at it this way... IF someone here would have responded I wouldn't have had to spend as much time looking and it would have saved the customer money. There does that make it feel better for you.... If you don't want people to benefit from your knowledge, fine don't post it for all to read...

Sorry just my 2 cents worth.

[monzie]

OK so I may have been harsh.....

..... BUT

......why the hell didn't he point his customer at this site then?????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????

As I run a business myself I expect to give CUSTOMERS my best service which INCLUDES giving them advice on WHERE to seek advice on matters BEYOND my capabilities (im in engineering)....I DO NOT CHARGE CUSTOMERS FOR HELP THAT I CANNOT GIVE....THINK ABOUT THAT NEXT TIME YOU GET RIPPED OFF......then think some more (if capable).

NOW PISS OFF

[teegee420]

Let's say a customer of yours approaches you with a problem that is a little beyond your knowledge. You do a some research and you find the solution. You're telling me that you wouldn't proceed to fix the problem and charge the customer accordingly? BULLSHIT! Why don't you come down from that high horse of yours and smell the shit you're shoveling.

[Shard92]

OK so I may have been harsh.....

..... BUT

......why the hell didn't he point his customer at this site then?????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????

As I run a business myself I expect to give CUSTOMERS my best service which INCLUDES giving them advice on WHERE to seek advice on matters BEYOND my capabilities (im in engineering)....I DO NOT CHARGE CUSTOMERS FOR HELP THAT I CANNOT GIVE....THINK ABOUT THAT NEXT TIME YOU GET RIPPED OFF......then think some more (if capable).

NOW PISS OFF

But that is just it, it was NOT beyond my capabilities. Now only did I solve his problem, I learned a something. Since you were unable to tell me what to do I was able to go on the internet and find out what to do. Now if you'd have been able to answer my question I could have stopped there and wouldn't have had to spend all the extra time searching which would have saved my customer some money. Mr. engineer tell me, do you just give up whenever you don't have the solution to something staring you in the face? If you do, you're not much like any engineer I've ever met. Also I DID tell him about this site. He's not a very technical savy person and doesn't mind paying someone else to teach him something. or in this case just do it for him. I suppose you'd rather when you bring your car in that they tell yo... " Here's a manual and all the instructions why don't you fix it yourself. " If you are great! Can you fix all technolgy you use... ?? But I see you are the type who always see the negative side of things. Others can see i'm going the extra mile for my customers. And guess what? I have a very loyal base of customers here. Because i tell them the truth and if I don't have an answer I FIND them an answer. You don't like that fine, my customers do.

[reboot]

Trying not to sound too hypocritical...
Show me a tech that doesn't use the internet as a resource, and I'll show you a tech that doesn't have a job.

[jimmalenko]

But that is just it, it was NOT beyond my capabilities. Now only did I solve his problem, I learned a something. Since you were unable to tell me what to do I was able to go on the internet and find out what to do. Now if you'd have been able to answer my question I could have stopped there and wouldn't have had to spend all the extra time searching which would have saved my customer some money.

I don't agree with the attacks per se, but my question is this;

You came to this site without doing a general web search in <insert favorite search engine here> ???

Obviously hindsight is a wonderful thing - do you think you think a web search might have been a bit more appropriate before posting here ???

Anyway...

I am an IT Techie/Helpdesk with a financial institution and if I can't fix something, it's straight to google for me even before I contact the suppliers or visit speciality forums. It saves my company (down)time and money if I can fix it myself. Chances are, if you have the problem, so have many other people before you.

I can also understand computer owners/operators that prefer not to know anything and pay somebody to do it for them. From Shard92's customer's point of view, he/she paid good money for a computer which includes a warranty and probably some limited support. The customer has already paid for the support and shouldn't have to fix the computer themselves, especially when Shard92 has sold them a computer that should be able to play DVDs.

Illegal operations in Win98 means reinstall I'm afraid.

[DereX888]

Hehe, monzie is hot-wired I imagine 8)
but I agree with what he meant 100%.
This guy is taking good money from someone, and he expects me (you, us) to do the job for him, for free? That aint right.

At least he should donate half of the money he gets to Baldrick... not that I would check, or ask Baldrick, but wouldn't it be nicer if he started his post from "Guys, Im a professional, but have this problem..., and BTW - I donated $xx to keep this site grow..."

just my $0.02

[Shard92]

Oh so all the professionals here that help should do it for free but not get the same curtesy back. Sorry I'll word things better or maybe just stay off the site in general. I have other sites that I go to that is made up of professionals who have the curtesy to help each other out. I thought this forum was to help people. Most of my customers don't want to be bothered by trying to figure stuff out for themselves so they come to me. Apparently some of you have the egos to think that you know everything. I can tell you right now, a tech who thinks he has all the answers isn't really a tech. A GOOD tech will FIND answers for his customers

AS far as the google search, yes I did one and it took alot longer because of broken links etc. I simply thought since this is suppose to be the site of experts that a quick question and maybe a quick answer would speed things along and safe me time/customer money. Don't like it them I'm sorry. Everybody in the tech industry uses other people. Beta testing, release canidates, etc... I guess I'll just stick to the professional forums from now on. Reboot, teegee thank you for the support. Obviously you are far more realistic in your outlook and understanding of how things work.

[reboot]

Don't let these guys get you down.
There's always TeeGee and myself, as well as a whole bunch of others that just haven't posted in this thread, willing to help.
It's the vocal minority that always posts more than necessary, or simply post to bitch about something, with never anything usefull to add.
Fortunately, they are few and far between usually, and the rest of us have (more or less) learned to ignore them completely

[teegee420]

Don't let these guys get you down.
There's always TeeGee and myself, as well as a whole bunch of others that just haven't posted in this thread, willing to help.
It's the vocal minority that always posts more than necessary, or simply post to bitch about something, with never anything usefull to add.
Fortunately, they are few and far between usually, and the rest of us have (more or less) learned to ignore them completely

Agreed. Don't let a couple of bad apples spoil the barrel, Shard. You won't find a better video help forum anywhere.

[Supreme2k]

My own personal gripe (I was speaking in general terms before) is about too much information (TMI).

It's like the warez kiddies and their "I just downloaded The Prisoner of Azkaban, and I need to put it on DVD". Why not just say "I have a video. How do I find out its format, and how do I burn it?" or some such.
Or the topic titles like

"I NEED HELP NOW!"

, as if their question is more important than anyone else's.
Why do we need to know that it is your customer's problem, where we (may) assume that you're getting money, while us "professionals" get nothing? Since you are fixing it, you may as well say "I have this problem with a/my laptop..."
Seriously, we need more "My problem is X, my PC specs are thisandthat" versus "I grew up in a log cabin in Vermont. My dog is 1/4 terrier. Winters are harsh here. My cousin, who has a bad leg, is trying to watch this video. How can he do it?"



And I did offer a couple of helpful tips in my first post regarding his customer's problem.[/code]

[teegee420]

I'll never understand why people feel they must include the name of their pirated movie in a post, or why they feel it's ok to discuss pirate movies in the first place. I'm not passing judgement, just keep your ******* mouth shut about your illegal activities.

[DereX888]

teegee420, Supreme2k - I agree!

but BTW:
Aren't we all hypocrites?
All (most) of us would try to help guy who says "i have a video in avi format, need it on dvd", but not if the same guy says "i just got 'the day after tommorrow' screener in avi, help me put it on dvd because there are 100s of ppl waiting to buy it from me".
Same thing, isn't it? just put in different words.

[Supreme2k]

Not exactly. Someone saying "Someone should take care of that guy could mean "Kill that guy", "Beat that guy" or "That guy is an invalid. He needs assistance."

When someone wants to convert a video by saying "I have an AVI file. How do I convert to SVCD?" the grey area is there, and it could be a home movie, movie trailer, or a number of other legal things. When someone posts "I downloaded Spider-Man 2 off bittorrent", they are pinpointing the illegality.

On kind of the same note, if a panhandler/homeless guy walks up to me for "change for a bite to eat", I'll often say "I don't have change, but I'm grabbing some food right over here. Want something?" Half the time, they walk away muttering obsceneties because the "change" was for booze or drugs.

Point is, some of these people should take the hobo's stance and say video (food), instead of "downloaded SM2 from kazaa"(drugs/booze).

[mujahid7ia]

teegee420, Supreme2k - I agree!

but BTW:
Aren't we all hypocrites?
All (most) of us would try to help guy who says "i have a video in avi format, need it on dvd", but not if the same guy says "i just got 'the day after tommorrow' screener in avi, help me put it on dvd because there are 100s of ppl waiting to buy it from me".
Same thing, isn't it? just put in different words.

Well, one might get the site in trouble, right?

I agree with those saying there is nothing wrong with a pro coming to this site (or any) for help, because no one can know everything about any subject, and what are forums for? If you don't want to help and exchange useful information, then don't just criticize the poster. Just don't post at all.