DVD Not Playing 99.05

[PhilTheDoc]

My new shiny PVR won't play DVDs. All I've installed is a fully patched XPprof SP2, IE7, WMP11, .NET 1.1 and 2, The trial versions of PowerCinema and PowerDVD. I have the Cyberlink Vidoe/SP Decoder (PDVD7). No combination of DVD navigator, playback decoder, system default, VMR settings works as far as I can see. PowerDVD and WMP11 both play DVDs with no problem. It's a completely fresh reinstallation. The screen for DVDs is black, mouse movements causes "Exit" to appear bottom right, but nothing plays. Logs attached. Any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks.

[sub]

How are you trying to play them - from the 'DVD' button in the menu, or from the video library, or from some other plugin?

Is it on the hard disk or a real DVD?

Something looks funny about the path to the DVD in the logs (notice the double "VIDEO_TS" directories).

09:21:58.531 VERBOSE pDvdControl->SetDVDDirectory(D:\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS\)

[sub]

It almost looks like you're trying to play the DVD from the Video Library, but have added a directory to "d:\" and have tried browing to this folder to try playing it. You should just click the DVD button on the main menu.

[PhilTheDoc]

I'm clicking the DVD button - I've not tried any other way, and I've not changed anything in GB-PVR beyond the basic stuff to get TV working. I've not browsed to the DVD drive except when getting software off it and never for GB-PVR as all my installation files are in a network folder. I've not tried playing anything from the hard disk, and I've installed no plugins yet.

Is there any difference between using a remote/keyboard to control DVDs and the mouse?

Thanks for your responses.

[sub]

I'm clicking the DVD button - I've not tried any other way, and I've not changed anything in GB-PVR beyond the basic stuff to get TV working. I've not browsed to the DVD drive except when getting software off it and never for GB-PVR as all my installation files are in a network folder. I've not tried playing anything from the hard disk, and I've installed no plugins yet

Odd - I'm not really sure.

Was it a regular commerical DVD, or one you're burnt yourself?

Is there any difference between using a remote/keyboard to control DVDs and the mouse?

You're best to use the remote/keyboard.

[PhilTheDoc]

Thanks Sub.

This is proving reall frustrating. I have cleared the logs, and rebooted the machine. After clearing the logs I loaded a home-made DVD which played OK,then I loaded a commercial DVD "The Island" and it worked, altough moving the mouse causes the menu screen to go black. Hitting keyboard keys wakes it up and I can select the language then get to the main movie menu. I stopped the video, did some fiddling (I noticed a channel had been missed from my EPG so I went to XMLTV and sorted it out.) I then went back to DVD and it froze/crashed on the first DVD menu (on "The Island" it's a language list starting with "Australian"!) - no movement with mouse or keyboard (I haven't got a correctly set up remote yet), and ctrl-alt-del needed to close GB-PVR to get back to Windows. The logs of this are attached.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated as I've spent most of the weekend trying to sort this out, and having reliable DVD replay is crucial to my family using my new PVR and GB-PVR in particular. (I can run DVDs with no problem on PowerDVD (free trial) and WMP11). I have a full version of Nero 7 available if necessary. I've installed Dscaler5 and AC3Filter oth of which work OK but the only DVD decoder listed is Cyberlink.

Thanks again.

[sub]

23:34:38.750 VERBOSE pDvdControl->SetDVDDirectory(D:\video_ts)
23:34:42.046 VERBOSE playDVD@1
23:34:42.062 VERBOSE getSetting(ListGraphFilters)
23:34:42.062 VERBOSE Graph contains the following filters:
23:34:42.062 VERBOSE - Default DirectSound Device
23:34:42.062 VERBOSE - Video Renderer
23:34:42.062 VERBOSE - AC3Filter
23:34:42.062 VERBOSE - DScaler Mpeg2 Video Decoder
23:34:42.062 VERBOSE - DVD Navigator

I'm fairly sure those audio and video decoder you're using dont support CSS encrypted DVD content, so you'd probably only be able to watch home made DVDs or the menus of some DVDs.

You'd need to use decoders like the Cyberlink ones from PowerDVD, or the nvidia decoders, or intervideo ones from WinDVD.

[PhilTheDoc]

OK - but I'm a bit puzzled as to why to works sometimes and not others. Is Dscaler being used for DVDs? It's not listed in config for DVD decoding - only the Cyberlink one. It wa also playing up like this before I installed Dscaler or AC3filter.

I'll get rid of AC3filter and Dscaler and try just Cyverlink PDVD7 from the trial versions of PowerCinema and PowerDVD.

Are people happy wih Intervideo?I seem to remember somewhere in the forums they were described as crap?

[sub]

Is Dscaler being used for DVDs?

Yes.

It's not listed in config for DVD decoding - only the Cyberlink one.

You had it set to system default, which can end up with any decoder - you'd be better off explicitly selecting a decoder. 'system default' is more prone to changing behaviour when you install new apps etc. Its always nice to know what decoders are being used.

Are people happy wih Intervideo?I seem to remember somewhere in the forums they were described as crap?

I think they're ok, but I havnt dont much testing with them. The intervideo mux is crap - but thats a different issue.

[PhilTheDoc]

OK,Sub thanks - I've sorted it out by stopping using "system default" anywhere, and I've installed the Intervideo decoders from the free WinDVD8 trial (I hope they don't self-destruct after 30 days). As long as I use "MPEG Audio Decoder" for DVD audio then I get SPDIF passthrough and so 5.1 surround sound.

Great product, great support