HD DVD stuttering with LG combo drive and nVidia 8800GT

[Golgatha]

I have a Q6600@3.0Ghz, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, an 8800GT, and a LG HD DVD/Blu-Ray combo drive with the latest v1.02 firmware installed. Playback used to be smooth as butter directly from a HD DVD disc, but now I get stuttering when I try and playback HD content. The 169.XX nVidia drivers seem to cause the stuttering issue for a lot of people from what I've read Online, but my stuttering happens whether or not the PureVideo HD option is enabled in PowerDVD Ultra. I have tried clocking my system at pure stock speeds (both CPU and GPU), just to make sure overclocking wasn't the issue (the overclock is Orthos 24hour stable, but I just wanted to eliminate the remote possibility that this was an issue).

It gets even weirder. I used AnyDVD HD to remove the copy protection dynamically during disc playback (thinking the stuttering might be an issue with the DRM), but it still stutters (both audio and video). Also, the stuttering during playback directly from the disc happens whether or not AnyDVD HD is running in the background. The optical drive also plays back CDs and regular DVDs without issues.

(Weirder still...) However, if I rip a HD DVD disc to a .ISO format, mount the image, and play it back from a virtual drive; the stuttering problem goes away (confirmed with five different movies I own). Anyone have any idea why this is?

 

[BassBomb]

Maybe its the drive itself?

 

[BoboKatt]

From doing a quick search... if found this in regard to the LG combo drive and stuttering in general:

"Stuttering especially if only video is stuttering is normally caused by low powered grapics card. If the audio also stutters then it is usaully caused by a poor decoder/codec setup coupled with out of date drivers for the systems audio card/chip.
I have never seen any reports of stuttering being caused by the drive's firmware."

So in other words, it seems you have the latest firmware and that should not be an issue.

The 8800 should not be an issue either.

Have you tried removing the newer Nvidia drivers and reverting back to your older ones? Can you confirm that?

What software are you using to rip to your hardrive as an .ISO?

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: BoboKatt

Have you tried removing the newer Nvidia drivers and reverting back to your older ones? Can you confirm that?

What software are you using to rip to your hardrive as an .ISO?

I'm going to try downgrading the nVidia drivers this evening to see if that is the issue.

Combination of AnyDVD HD and ImgBurn on the software side for ripping direct to ISO. Image is mounted with Alcohol 120% and playback is with OEM PowerDVD Ultra v3514. I used to just use AnyDVD HD and DVD Decrypter and played back the .EVO files, but the updated version of PowerDVD nerfed that capability. FWIW I downgraded the OEM PowerDVD as well and playback from the disc is still stuttering. The downgraded PowerDVD plays back .EVO and Alcohol 120% mounted ISO files smoothly.

 

[imported_wired247]

I've had this problem WAYY back in the day with DVD-ROM players for my desktop... one of them (it was an LG in fact -_- ) was rediculously terrible at playback from disc. It would work fine with data DVDs, but real DVDs they would stutter like crazy.

In the end, I am fairly certain it was a hardware problem. Despite hours of "dell troubleshooting" I eventually got hung up on by tech support, and they forever refused to acknowledge there was a problem.

There is some advice I can offer, but I'm not sure it can help.

Certain drive utilities (I used to use nero for this) let you specify things like:

-Drive optimized for speed/sound. If you tell the drive to spin faster, it may work without stuttering. some drives like to spin slower so that the sound does not "disturb" you... *roll eyes*
-Drive spindown / spinup. Change it to NEVER stop spinning...
-Cache options -- if available... this could definitely be a cache problem.
-Drivers for your bluray drive for windows...

Finally... try DIFFERENT SOFTWARES for playback. Some softwares just suck in their current revision.

Ultimately this sounds like a data transfer rate issue. Which could be associated with the drive's cache. I ultimately resolved my DVD-ROM playback issue by buying a lite-on drive that had a bigger cache.

 

[Golgatha]

Ok, super weirdness. All HD content plays fine directly from the discs with 169.25 Forceware drivers with PowerDVD v3516 under Vista 64bit (I dual boot my machine). Using Alcohol 52% FE to mount ISO images and those playback without stuttering too.

Downgrading nVidia drivers under WinXP 32bit did nothing to help stuttering.

 

[imported_wired247]

send some angry emails...

 

[lopri]

It's gotta be the LG drive or PowerDVD. I doubt the video drivers are causing it if you can have a stutter-free playback using virtual drives. (Unless NV drivers contain some kind of copy-protection scheme?) Did they finally resolve enable/disable PureVideo issue? Can you see the difference in CPU usage or picture quality when enabled/disabled?

 

[BoboKatt]

Also DMA enabled? I mean is that an option any more with Vista or is that by default etc? Stupid questions on my end... but I would always check in the cotroller area to see what my HD?s and DVD-RW are recognized as? i.e. DMA if available.

I run XP64 bit and XP32. I can play the exact same video file or .VOB etc., in both OS and in the 32 bit it never stutters but I can get a vast list of issues at times playing in XP64. I am not sure if it's a driver issue, a codec issue etc but there is something there. I actually went to XP64 thinking it would be a better OS to do the vast amount of encoding I do. I have yet to see any benefits over XP32 and in fact, XP32 is actually better for me giving fewer headaches.

I know you use Vista64? I just wanted to confirm... were you getting stuttering in BOTH OS's? So in XP32 and Vista64 from the same movie and the same LG drive and same driver revision?

I am actually ready to pull the trigger with that same LG drive as you? going to be fun tonight when I pick it up.

EDIT: Have you tried doing a FRESH install of the Klite Codec pack (think they up to v3.8 now)? I use that pack only and nothing else. WIth that I was able to get all my stuff in order and workign well.

 

[chizow]

Did the problems start after you installed AnyDVD or another program to rip/play HD content? If that's the case I'd say its a driver/Windows issue. Might seem rather basic but have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling PowerDVD? I had a bunch of different problems with HD playback with PowerDVD when I first installed my LG drive and simply reinstalling/repatching fixed it. Also, have you tried different HD discs? Personally I've found HD-DVD to be much less resilient and forgiving than Blu-Ray and standard DVD in terms disc damage, which is a very real concern if you're trying to play rented media.

 

[JACKDRUID]

if iso play back successfully, then that means your dvd/br drive is having problem reading from the disk... usually this happens when

1. dma (direct memory access) isn't enabled in bios/software
2. IDE/scsi controller doesn't have the correct software installed / usb 2.0 not enabled if external model
3. dvd/br drive hardware problem

 

[Golgatha]

Here's what I can confirm so far from my testing. Seems to me that it's an issue with PowerDVD Ultra since different versions of the program give different errors. I think PowerDVD's implementation under WinXP just plain sucks.


Windows Vista 64bit Configuration

PowerDVD Ultra v3516b (OEM) - Discs and ISO images play back without any issues.
PowerDVD Ultra v3730 Retail - Discs and ISO images play back without any issues.
AnyDVD HD cannot be enabled with PowerDVD Ultra v3730


Windows XP 32bit Configuration

PowerDVD Ultra v3516b (OEM) - Disc stutters, ISO plays fine.
PowerDVD Ultra v3730 Retail - Disc and ISO play fine in windowed mode, but smears bottom half of the screen when switching to full screen mode.
AnyDVD HD cannot be enabled with PowerDVD Ultra v3730


Common Configurations

Latest firmware on the LG drive (v1.02)
nVidia v169.25 WHQL
DMA is enabled on drive
Alcohol 120% or 52% (same software except 120% can burn back images, but both can mount) used for mounting ISO images.

 

[Golgatha]

Anyone using CCCP (http://www.cccp-project.net/) with WMP11 and having no issues with PowerDVD out there? That's the only difference I could think of between the configurations. I still hold to the theory that PowerDVD is just coded for Vista with XP as an afterthought though.

 

[soccerballtux]

Mom's Dell had powerDVD on it; XP; worked fine.