Bought a LG Internal Blu Ray, installed it, but won't play correctly

[Sinatrafan]

My Samsung internal Blu Ray player started to choke on SOME blu rays, I tried to clean the lens with a Blu Ray disc cleaner, but that didn't work..then I blew AIR into it using a Dust Cleaner air can; that was disasterous, because after I did that, I found that it would not play ANY blu ray disc.. SOOOO...I figured that it was DEAD.

I went to Microcenter, bought the LG UH12NS29 Internal 12x Blu-ray Combo; installed it, and YES.. it WILL recognise the blu ray moves.. it will even PLAY them, after a fashion.. very slowly, as if the frame rate was wrong..with a LOW buzzing sound; can't even hear the soundtrack.. I'm at my wits end.. WHAT could be CAUSEING this to happen?

Thanks for any advice...I really appreciate it..

[Sinatrafan]

Oh,. by the way.. the LG Internal Blu Ray player WILL play the EXTRAS on any blu ray disc just fine.. also will play regular dvds just fine as well. BUT it really has a problem playing the actual MOVIE on any blu ray disc, even with ANYDVD HD installed..

[jman98]

Sounds like your new drive may be in PIO mode rather than UDMA. If you have XP or Vista this is very likely. Here are some instructions related to this:
http://techlogon.com/2011/03/28/how-to-fix-hard-drive-stuck-in-pio-mode/
Note that in my experience step 1 never works and I always had to use the registry method described later to fix this problem. It's a long story but basically this happens because Microsoft made a decision that in hindsight was pretty stupid but at the time seemed to be a reasonable way to hopefully cut down on calls to their support line and that decision causes this.

You should tell us what software you are using to play the BluRays because if you are trying to do this on the cheap with some freeware player like VLC then all bets are off and you may fix this problem with the link above only to have other issues related to the player.

[Sinatrafan]

Thank you for your reply, Jman.. well.. I'm useing the Media Player Classic Home Cinema software...which has never failed when I had the Samsung installed.. I have Windows 7 Home Premium OS installed as well. I just found that one of my OTHER blu ray discs.. one of the first blu rays released.. Bram Stoker's DRACULA.. plays perfectly well on this unit.. sigh.. BUT the GONE WITH THE WIND blu ray plays with that awful BUZZING sound.. Harry Potter does the SAME thing; with a slow frame rate..BUT it plays the EXTRAs just fine.

I contacted the LG tech people via LIVE CHAT on their website.. they told me that these units are PLUG AND PLAY.. they do NOT require DRIVERS or FIRMWARE to work..

I'm not so sure.

At any rate..my Samsung internal blu ray player was working well before the lens got dirty. I simply unplugged it, then installed the new LG unit, then plugged the LG unit in the Samsung's place... nothing else..

IF I can't get this unit to work properly.. I'm gonna take it back. I'm looking at the link you've provided above.. I will see what I can do, if this will help.

Thanks again for your advice, Jman.. much appreciated~!

[Sinatrafan]

yeah, Jman.. I'm not about to mess with the Registry.. that could lead to other problems that I'm not prepared to deal with.. WHAT I may try to do is tear apart the old Samsung internal Blu Ray player.. then clean the lens PROPERLY.. I'm still probably gonna take the LG blu ray player back to exchange it for a different player.

Thanks again, Jman for your advice ~!

[Sinatrafan]

Ooh yeah.. I forgot to mention that when I LOOKED at my device driver.. under the "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" section...it didn't say ANYTHING about PIO OR DMA..just nothing at all.. the box said device was working correctly.

[jman98]

I have ZERO confidence in your use of MPC-HC + AnyDVD HD to play BluRays. AnyDVD HD is fine. I use it too but ONLY for decrypting. There are NO GUARANTEES of any kind when you use a free player that it will ever be able to play BluRays correctly. LG told you correctly that their burners really do not require other drivers or firmware to work.

Extras are often at lower resolution, which probably has something somehow to do with your issue of them playing correctly and some movies not playing correctly. If you had bought Total Media Theater (in my opinion the ONLY commercial BluRay playing software worth buying and using) and you still had this problem then I would say it's definitely either the old PIO issue or the drive is maybe not connected correctly but as you are trying to use free software, there are so many problems with that approach that it's going to make it hard to pin down the real cause.

[Sinatrafan]

Thanks again for your advice.. BUT honestly; I'm not relying on ANYDVD HD to play the discs.. and when I was using the SAMSUNG internal player..MEDIA CLASSIC PLAYER HOME CINEMA worked very well. YES, the blu rays play back terribly slow, with a low buzzing sound.. I could NOT find if the problem was PIO related or not.. wish I was able to see if it was.. but I could see nothing that tells me this is the problem.. I DO have a TRIAL version of POWER DVD that I've never used.. it's fully functioning for 10 days or so.. I installed THAT software, and the problem still exists.

I may well have to take the computer back into the shop to have an expert look at it.. I DO remember having a problem of similar nature a few years ago, when I was trying to get a older computer with an AMD processor to play back dvds correctly. Yes, it was doing the SAME thing then as well. I never could find the solution to the problem, as when I adjusted it to the proper mode, it kept going BACK to the PIO mode. It was pretty sad.

It may simply be easier for me to take the LG back,to exchange it for another internal BD drive.. which MAY possibly do the SAME thing.. sigh..

[Kerry56]

Its a SATA drive. PIO mode doesn't apply.

The drivers for the optical drive are contained in the operating system. But you do need drivers for the SATA controllers. The SATA controller drivers are usually contained in the chipset drivers for the motherboard. If your earlier drive that you took out and replaced with this LG was also SATA, and working properly, then you had the system set up correctly.

Do you have a restore point that was made prior to your problems appearing with the earlier drive? If so, go back to it.

Your new drive shouldn't be buzzing though. A defective drive perhaps? The drive will use a different laser for reading blu ray compared to reading dvds, so that part of the drive could be impaired.

[Sinatrafan]

Thanks Kerry.. yup..after thinking about it; I've come to the conclusion that IF it was a PIO problem..it would act the SAME way regardless whether a Blu Ray movie was playing, or a standard dvd.. BUT it DOESN'T.. Regular standard dvds play just FINE in it..and Blu Ray High Def EXTRAS play well too.. but it simply will NOT play the BLU RAY movies..slow frames and excessively loud buzzing in the soundtracks.. I just betcha a dime that this specific unit is a DEFECTIVE unit.

It's going back to Microcenter tomorrow.. gonna try to exchange it for a LiteOn Blu Ray Combo.. We'll see if this model works.

Thanks again Kerry for your advice ~ :>)

[gll99]

Buy a retail box version of the BR drive that comes with a proper blu-ray software player. The oem version might save you $10 but for me it's not worth the hassle

[DB83]

But if one BD (Dracula) plays correctly then it can hardly be a defective unit.

It is probably more a case of authoring features on the actual newer disks that software (which often needs updating from time to time) can not handle.

You really do need bespoke BD playing software.

[Sinatrafan]

Thank you everyone for all of your comments and advice; I DO appreciate it.

I took the LG Blu Ray Combo back to Microcenter this morning, exchanged it for the LiteOn Blu Ray Combo (which actually contains a Blu Ray BURNER as well) I installed it, when I tried to upgrade the firmware; I found that the firmware that came with the drive was already the latest available. I placed a newly released BD (HITCHCOCK) into the tray. This Blu Ray Movie played SUCCESSFULLY, without haveing to use expensive video software, using only Media Player Classic Home Cinema. There was NO problems with the playback at all.

Again, thanks to everyone for their advice..proving again that Videohelp.com is a great website. The LiteOn Blu Ray Combo works perfectly.. I'm very pleased with it.

[Sinatrafan]

WELL.. it appears that I spoke too early; while the new Blu Ray release HITCHCOCK played wonderously well on the new LiteOn Internal Blu Ray player, using the Media Player Classic Home Cinema software..last night, I also played my bluray of GONE WITH THE WIND,, and a HARRY POTTER blu ray, both movies LAGGED terribly, resulting in S L O W Frames and the low buzzing sound I previously heard when using the LG Internal Blu Ray player.

Sooo.. I downloaded the 30 day TRIAL version of Corel's WINDVD 11..then played Harry Potter with it.. this software plays back the movie somewhat correctly, in that the SOUND is correctly played, however.. the VIDEO "JITTERS" uncontrollably. (It almost looks like playing an old Video tape copy of a commercial VHS tape, when the MACROVISION kicked in.) The SAME thing happened with the GONE WITH THE WIND blu ray.. same jitters.

This morning, I played a commercial blu ray of BEN HUR with the WINDVD 11 software; while it didn't jitter as before.. the movie sure LAGGED quite a bit.. I've looked at everything; could it be another hidden program that is running in the system, draining resouces, thereby causing the lag?

At this point, I've extremely frustrated..why would the older Samsung internal Blu ray player (model SH-B083) work PERFECTLY with the Media Player Classic Home Cinema software.. then, it seemed to die,..soo I had to change it out for a new internal Blu Ray player..and now the video playback lags quite a bit, resulting in slow frames and because of the lag...a low buzzing in the soundtrack as well.. I don't think I've changed or installed ANYTHING that would do this; I'm using the SAME SATA cable that I used before; I installed the LiteOn AND the LG exactly as the Samsung was installed.. I honestly don't think the problem is the LiteOn blu ray player, (or the LG ) at this point.. rather.. I think something has changed in the system itself that is causing the lagging video play back.

BUT what it could BE really beats me..

Sooo.. I've truly appreciated the advice that you've provided in the past..but any other suggestions would be greatly welcome. Thank you!

[Sinatrafan]

Whoa.. I've tried to copy the BEN HUR blu ray with DVDFAB HD DECRYPTER just now (just to see if it would WORK)..I was able to play back the main movie PERFECTLY in the Media Player Classic Home Cinema software..no lag, no awful buzz due to the lag..

I am very surprised.. this is really strange.. because I tried to copy Harry Potter last night with ANYDVD HD.. and it also LAGGED when the copy was played back from the hard drive.

Something strange is happening here, and I've no clue as to what is causing it... sigh..

[DB83]

Didn't the replacement drive come with software ? That was the suggestion to you.

Mind you it now sounds more like a systems issue. Bring up Task Manager when you are playing a disk and see what resources are being used and what other programs are running.

Also, have you updated any drivers - graphics etc. lately ?

[Sinatrafan]

DB83,nope.. no software came with any of the two replacement blu ray players...and YES.. I did download the 30 day TRIAL version of WINDVD 11..remember,, with Media Player Classic Home Cinema, it played back frames very slowly, and due to the lag, the SOUND track became a loud, low buzz..when I installed the WINDVD 11, the sound was good, but the VIDEO was full of JITTERS, or played slowly..

And, I agree; it now sounds like a system issue. I've pulled up Task Manager..but I can't figure out what program is causing the lag..but something certainly is causing the lag..!

I tried to upgrade the firmware when I installed the LiteOn..but it told me that the firmware was already the most recent one.

Thanks for the suggestions, DB83..but I'm still stumped . I MAY just have to take the computer in to see the tech doctor.. but.. fer cryin' outloud.. it's probably something really simple.. I just have to FIND
it ~

[DB83]

Well you should be able to see CPU usage both as a total and for individual apps.

Now my system is certainly less powerful than yours and I just played a very recent BD (Skyfall) using PowerDVD. CPU usage just peaks at 13%