Playback Issues With Region 2 DVD, On External BD That's Set To Region 2! (1 Viewer)

[Tony Bensley]

A couple of years back, I ordered a PAL Region 2 Laurel & Hardy Universal DVD. Titles included are SONS OF THE DESERT, WE FAW DOWN, THEIR PURPLE MOMENT and ON THE WRONG TREK.

Whenever I've played this Region 2 DVD, I'd use my External Pioneer BD Burner, which is attached to one of the USB ports on my Acer PC Laptop. I set this External Device to Region 2 specifically for the aforementioned DVD. Windows 10 is the current OS that is set up on my Laptop if that makes any meaningful difference.

For some unknown reason, while playback was never an issue on MPC-HC, this disc never played nice with any of my other Media Players, such as VLC, Cyberlink PowerDVD, and Leawo Blu-ray Player.

However, last night, even on my MPC-HC media software, playing this Region 2 DVD suddenly became a major pain, with everything running smoothly until reaching the main menu, only for the selected title to either take forever to load (As in 2-3 minutes!), or not load at all!

My question is, has anyone else experienced anything similar with this type of setup? Why is this NOW happening with my setup, when playback (On MPC-HC, at least!) wasn't previously an issue? What could be causing this?

Any thoughts or comments?

CHEERS!

 

[DaveF]

Haven’t had the problem; I use MPC for some files, but not discs. Check the usual suspects: Reboot. Reinstall software. Check if Windows updated any drivers that might cause problems. Check if there’s new version of the software that could fix it. Check with other discs. Check with another playback app to make sure it’s not your PC.

 

[DaveF]

https://www.cyberlink.com/downloads...ad_en_US.html?affid=2581_1274_729_37301_0_ENU
FYI, PowerDVD 17 is $36, end of year sale.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Haven’t had the problem; I use MPC for some files, but not discs. Check the usual suspects: Reboot. Reinstall software. Check if Windows updated any drivers that might cause problems. Check if there’s new version of the software that could fix it. Check with other discs. Check with another playback app to make sure it’s not your PC.

Perhaps I should clarify that besides VLC Player, I also attempted playback on Cyberlink PowerDVD and Leawo, neither of which were successful. My Region 2 disc is the only one that I know of that will only play on one of my Media Player platforms (And selectively, at that!). I also attempted a reboot which did help somewhat, but successful playback of my Region 2 DVD is still a selective proposition. Sometimes, the selected title will come up after the menu, and sometimes it won't. With the exact same setup, I played a Region 1 Little Rascals DVD immediately afterward with no issues. Device Drivers shouldn't be a factor regarding the successful playback of discs from different regions, should it? In any case, I haven't a clue regarding how to resolve any driver issues with the inherently dodgy Windows 10 setup. The latest update has created some framing issues with their Photo app, for instance. I never experienced such issues with Windows XP, or even with Windows 8. What a huge PITA!

https://www.cyberlink.com/downloads...ad_en_US.html?affid=2581_1274_729_37301_0_ENU
FYI, PowerDVD 17 is $36, end of year sale.

Thanks Dave, but even if I were willing to purchase new Media software, MPC-HC is the only software that will even play my SONS OF THE DESERT Region 2 DVD, selectively as that has been, of late. It simply wouldn't be worth my while to purchase the above setup, especially knowing that successful playback of that disc on anything other than MPC-HC is likely a crapshoot, at best.

CHEERS!

 

[DaveF]

Is the disc scratched? Sounds like a disc failure, not a software problem.

 

[DaveF]

If the disc isn’t damaged, I would try to rip it with something like MakeMKV or Handbrake. If that works, you can then play back from a soft copy and stop fighting with Region 2 player fussiness.

 

[Tony Bensley]

If the disc isn’t damaged, I would try to rip it with something like MakeMKV or Handbrake. If that works, you can then play back from a soft copy and stop fighting with Region 2 player fussiness.

Thanks for the tip, Dave! I may try something along that line.

The disc itself appears to be free of scratches. I'm beginning to suspect my problem might be connected with a recent Windows 10 update. Perhaps something in it caused some slight incompatibility issue that affects the playback of my Region 2 disc, who knows?

CHEERS!