not so good DVD quality play back.. help

[Dan_D]

today i got that Delta 12X DVD for a grand total of $36. good deal i say

It plays all cds and dvds great, but the quality isnt that good. i think i just have it set up wrong tho. It came w/ WinDVD 2.4 and im using that. First of all there is static in the sound. Im using the cable to connect teh DVD drive with my sound card and then using my sound card's output to a receiver in stereo mode. The picture also has a slight verticle shimmer. like it moves up and down slightly real fast.
im running it on a athlon 1ghz w/ 128mb ram and a geforce2 GTS vid card.
let me know if you have any suggestions, thanks
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[Dan_D]

well i tried the trial version of WinDVD 3.0. looks a lot sharper, but same audio problems. i notice even when not playing DVDs i hear my hard drive throught the speaks and a sort of hiss. i disconnected the audio cable because i wont use this for audio cds. same thing. hrmm
any suggestions would be great
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[KeithA]

It seems like your system is more than adequate to be able to get very high quality DVD playback... what kind of soundcard do you have? WinDVD 2.4 should have looked good (so you shouldn't have to spend the extra $50 for 3.0)... here are some things you might try:
Download DVDGenie and see if any of the settings there help. You might try changing the deinterlace mode.
Go into your video card settings or download PowerStrip and try some alternate resolutions and refresh rates. Make sure to check what refresh rates your monitor supports... you may be revealing a weakness in your monitor. DeGauss your monitor for good measure.
Open up the sound mixer and mute all of the input sources, esp. the microphone. Adjust the volume on your sound card and try various levels of receiver amplification versus PC amplification.
If you have a receiver with digital inputs, you should invest in a sound card with SPDIF out (a Vortex2 will run you $12). This should silence the harddrive hum, and give you the added bonus of DD/DTS pass-through if your receiver can decode those formats.
Good luck.

 

[Dan_D]

hrm well it definately seems to be DVD playback only with the bad hiss. MP3s and other media plays fine. This leads me to believe that the sound card is ok. def not the best as a digital out would be great, but this should be atleast tolerable. The video seems to be a lot better with other DVDs so thats definately the least of my problems. In WinDVD i have the audio set to Stereo. oh yeh and my sound card is a CL AWE64 and all is muted except the Wave and Master volume.

thanks for the help so far
if you want you can IM me: dannydigitl
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[Dan_D]

well i just tried Power DVD 2.55 and 3.0. both work fine in both DirectSound and Wave out modes.. strange eh? guess ill stick w/ Power DVD

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[Dan_D]

well its back. i reinstalled teh full version of PowerDVD and the hiss is back during the DVD playback.. no good

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[Pablo Maloberti]

Dear Dan, the same happen to me with the sound!
And I also have a SB AWE 64. But I got better results selecting DirectSoud output, though I don't like the quality of the sound, at least doesn't hissssssssssssssss.
I just got a new SB Live 5.1, I'll tell you if it works better when I install it.
By the way, with WinDVD, the noise was worst!

 

[Carlo Medina]

Unfortunately you'll probably have to go to a computer forum to find answers. There are so many variables in PCs--sound cards not liking mobos, PCI conflicts, etc.--it's almost impossible to diagnose what's wrong without knowing your entire configuration and OS. HTF isn't the place for that, butwww.arstechnica.com has a forum and maybe you can find out why you're getting the hiss over there.
Good luck.
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I know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve - Bilbo Baggins

 

[Abdul Jalib]

Some of the Soundblaster Live! cards (e.g., X-Gamer) do not output S/PDIF with the proper specs for DVD playback, and so you could destroy your receiver or have crappy hissy sound. Just because you can play MP3's fine does not mean your sound card is not at fault when your DVD sound is bad, and in fact this points the finger at your sound card. I'm not sure about the AWE64, but it would be my prime suspect for your problem. It sounds like you're using analog output, not S/PDIF, but still, I'm suspicious of the sound card.
I suggest you get a cheap sound card known for good S/PDIF pass-through like the $30 Zoltrix Nightingale or a quality sound card known for good everything like the $239 Audiophile 2496 (except it's not good for gaming.)
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[Dan_D]

hrm i almost bought a Xgamer today. why is that not a good card? all the SB Live 5.1s are the same, just with different softare right? explain if you would
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[Pablo Maloberti]

Well, I finally installed my new SB Live! 5.1...
Chose 4 speakers output in Power DVD...
And the noises dissapeared!
Now it sounds very sharp and wuth excellent quality.
So you should think about getting one.

 

[Abdul Jalib]

The first problem is that most of the SB Live! cards output 5.0V DC on the S/PDIF plug, whereas the spec is 0.5V DC. There have been reports of Denon receivers losing their digital inputs as a result. A http://www.hoontech.com/english/index.htmlClick to subscribe to Philips_HDTV discussion group

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I'll tell you what, I hate Creative Labs.
I got a Philips Acoustic Edge for less than a hundred bucks (months ago, when they just came out!) with sp/dif in and out and everything is in spec and works perfectly. And no motherboard conflicts with my VIA chipset, as SBLIVE cards have had.
Out-of-spec nonsense, noisy analog circuitry, and questionable drivers have convinced me that I will never buy another Creative Labs soundcards again.

 

[KeithA]

I have the SB Live and the Hoontech doohickey... works fine, but I would have prefered a card that worked without the doohickey. I have a Vortex2 (~$12, as I mentioned before) that I use in my HTPC.
As for the SPDIF resampling, I think you'll find that pretty much every card will do that with the exception of the Audiophile 2496. If you're going to be listening to a lot of PCM encoded music from a source other than your CD player, then the Audiophile is the way to go. If you also want to play games and get the gamer features, then there are a number of cards at about the same price range as the SBLive! with an in-spec SPDIF. If you just want occasional PCM and DD/DTS pass-through, then an cheap SPDIF out will do.