XP PC: DVDs play with distorted sound although mp3s and video files (avi, mpeg etc.) are fine

[Caseem]

Hi,

I built a pc for myself about a year ago. All was fine until about a
week ago, and now whenever I play DVDs the sound is distorted and has
background crackling. I initially thought it was a problem with the
onboard soundcard, but after I played a CD I found that music audio was
fine. I also played mp3s and video files on the hard disk, which were
fine. Therefore Im unsure of what the problem could be. One thing
unusual on my computer is that there are 3 DVD drives (two writers and
one player set to a different region), and I was wondering if the
problems could be due to I/O requests being congested; although this is
pure speculation on my part. Any ideas guys?

Cas

 

[Alasdair]

Hi,

I built a pc for myself about a year ago. All was fine until about a
week ago, and now whenever I play DVDs the sound is distorted and has
background crackling. I initially thought it was a problem with the
onboard soundcard, but after I played a CD I found that music audio was
fine. I also played mp3s and video files on the hard disk, which were
fine. Therefore Im unsure of what the problem could be. One thing
unusual on my computer is that there are 3 DVD drives (two writers and
one player set to a different region), and I was wondering if the
problems could be due to I/O requests being congested; although this is
pure speculation on my part. Any ideas guys?

Cas

I'm intrigued as to why you need 3 DVD drives. There is software
available which will allow your DVD drive to play DVDs from any
region.

 

[Rod Speed]

Hi,

I built a pc for myself about a year ago. All was fine until about a
week ago, and now whenever I play DVDs the sound is distorted and has
background crackling. I initially thought it was a problem with the
onboard soundcard, but after I played a CD I found that music audio
was fine. I also played mp3s and video files on the hard disk, which
were fine. Therefore Im unsure of what the problem could be. One thing
unusual on my computer is that there are 3 DVD drives (two writers and
one player set to a different region), and I was wondering if the
problems could be due to I/O requests being congested;

Shouldnt be if you get that effect with only one of the drives in use.

although this is pure speculation on my part. Any ideas guys?

Check whether PIO is being used for the DVD drive.

Win will turn DMA off when CRC errors are seen with a drive.
That is usually due to a bad ribbon cable. If you replace the
ribbon cable with a good one, you need to manually turn DMA
on again and you cant do that in the device manager.

 

[Edwardo]

It could also be not having the right codecs.Did you install any audio and
video codecs.As I had a dvd that played fine in pc but when played on home
player it was picture with crackly interference and sound was only heard
from it.Make sure you have a codecs pack installed like k-lite codecs pack
or winxp codec pack.You can type these names in google and downnload
them.K-Lite plays most formats with sound and picture.

 

[Caseem]

Thanks to everyone who responded.

1) Codecs are fine. I can play video and audio files perfectly when I
am not using a DVD disk.

2) I know there are supposedly software to make your DVD drives region
free, but the only one I have tried is DVD Genie, which did not work -
although the version I tried was from a few years ago. As I have 3 DVD
drives, I am perfectly happy to let one run on region 1 for American
disks, while the others are region 2.

3) The ribbon is plausible I suppose. Interestingly, if I play a video
file such as an avi or mpeg on a DVD R on the DVD drive, then it is
fine. The issue is only with pre recorded DVD disks. The region 1 DVD
-which is connected to a different cable- is fine too. Incidentally,
how do you manually turn on DMA?

Thanks for all your help,

Cas

 

[1932]

Thanks to everyone who responded.

1) Codecs are fine. I can play video and audio files perfectly when I
am not using a DVD disk.

2) I know there are supposedly software to make your DVD drives region
free, but the only one I have tried is DVD Genie, which did not work -
although the version I tried was from a few years ago. As I have 3 DVD
drives, I am perfectly happy to let one run on region 1 for American
disks, while the others are region 2.

3) The ribbon is plausible I suppose. Interestingly, if I play a video
file such as an avi or mpeg on a DVD R on the DVD drive, then it is
fine. The issue is only with pre recorded DVD disks. The region 1 DVD
-which is connected to a different cable- is fine too. Incidentally,
how do you manually turn on DMA?

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/IDE-DMA.mspx

 

[JAD]

Thanks to everyone who responded.

1) Codecs are fine. I can play video and audio files perfectly when I
am not using a DVD disk.

your not understanding codecs, find a better DVD decoder that is compatable
with your player.

 

[Rod Speed]

Thanks to everyone who responded.

1) Codecs are fine. I can play video and audio files perfectly when I
am not using a DVD disk.

2) I know there are supposedly software to make your DVD drives region
free, but the only one I have tried is DVD Genie, which did not work -
although the version I tried was from a few years ago. As I have 3 DVD
drives, I am perfectly happy to let one run on region 1 for American
disks, while the others are region 2.

3) The ribbon is plausible I suppose. Interestingly, if I play a video
file such as an avi or mpeg on a DVD R on the DVD drive, then it is
fine. The issue is only with pre recorded DVD disks. The region 1 DVD
-which is connected to a different cable- is fine too.

What matters is whether DMA is actually being used.

Incidentally, how do you manually turn on DMA?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817472/
the workaround section.

 

[Rod Speed]

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/IDE-DMA.mspx

That wont work if Win has turned off the DMA because of CRC errors with the drive.