Jerky DVD PLayback

[jrv331]

I have a T20 running @ 700 mhz with 512k ram. When playing some of my dvs the playback is extremely jerky. I use Powerdvd, Media Player Classic and Windvd and get the same results.

I guess I need to turn off as many running processes as I can, I tried to copy whats currently running from Task Manager but cant do it. What is the bare minimum I need for to keep XP going on this machine?

On a side note I found a small dvd cache program, DVDIDLE that helped al ot but Im at the end of the trial period and it appears that the program can no longer be purchased. Does IBM have any simular applications?
Thanks
John

[tfflivemb2]

Try changing your resolution down to 16-bit, instead of 24-bit.

[jrv331]

Its already at 16bit. Thats one of the first things I did.
Thanks
John

[Zaph]

Have you tried VideoLAN player? Works wonders on my T23.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

Allso, if the playback is still jerky, you can try and give the player process a higher priority. I like Process Explorer from system Internals (Microsoft now-a-days). It can be found at:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysint ... lorer.mspx

[think.t23]

there is a setting in BIOS
Config>Power>CDROM Speed
where you can set the speed of DVD-ROM
the options are "Silent", "Normal" and "High", make sure that Normal or High is selected.

[Stargate199]

If you are running XP, this should be working with out many problems. I would try to clean the lens of the DVD drive itself and see if that helps. A dirty lens will make DVD playback more difficult. If that still doesn't work, them try lowering the resolution down and see if that helps. If so, then you may want to invest in a PCMCIA DVD decoder card. This will take the decoding stress off the cpu and transfer it to the decoder allowing much smoother playback. If lowering to resolution does not help, then try another DVD drive.

[ronbo613]

I second the suggestion to try VideoLan. I think it will do a little better on your system, it uses less resources than most software players.
How's life in Mentor these days? My brother lives across the interstate in Kirtland, we spent plenty of time at Mentor Headlands when we were kids. Last time I was there I visited the Mentor Public Library a number of times to use their WiFi.

[jrv331]

Ronbo,
I tried VideoLan and had the same problems - whats happening is my dvd rom is starts spinning for a while then when it stops the play stops for a second or two(or jerks) then plays normally. It only occurs on a few of my high action dvds, on others things play fine. I took the suggestions so far, cleaned the dvd drive, set its priority to high and expirmented with different players. Nothing seems to help, except the dvdidle program( which it seems is no longer for sale) with this the dvd drive doesnt spin high for a awhile then stop, its a constant slow speed and all spins well.

Mentor is doing great, getting ready for the fireworks they always put on a good show. At least I know where my tax money goes.
Thanks
John

[ronbo613]

I've had a few DVD burners go bad. A couple of them would read, but not write so I tried cleaning the lens and they worked again. Usually, when they stopped reading, they were dead. It might be a DVD player going south, but I wonder if your system might be a little low on processing power, that might be causing the hiccups during the high action stuff.
It would be nice if somebody who has a T20 like yours can chime in here and say whether theirs can or cannot play DVDs so you don't go out and buy a new DVD-ROM and find out you still have the problems.

[tfflivemb2]

This isn't my forte, but hopefully someone will chime in here about the DLA option for the DVD drive, which supposedly will make playing DVDs easier.

[joen]

Maybe; maybe not. Try downloading the latest video drivers for your model machine from Lenovo (formerly IBM). I had similar problems with a T30 and the latest drivers did the trick.

[agarza]

Have you cleaned the DVD lens with isopropyl alcohol? I've done this procedure with Q-tips on various DVD readers (including a PS2 lens) with succesful results.

Are you playbacking DVD in Full Screen. You could resize the window and see if the lag is not there.

When seeing the DVD, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to check if your DVD app is consuming your CPU at 100%. In the past I used an A22e with a measly 800MHz Celeron. If I recall correctly the videos played fine, sometimes it will lag dependin on the video encoding.