PowerDVD problem: Occasionally drops frames when using SB Live! 5.1 (1 Viewer)

[Ryan Patterson]

I'm experiencing a weird problem with PowerDVD that I've seen in all versions from 2.55 all the way up to XP 4.0. It seems that PowerDVD will drop frames in movies at exactly the same spot. The one major example I always use in testing is Star Wars: Episode I. Near the beginning, when Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are flying towards the Trade Federation ship, Qui-Gon calls to the Captain. The captain leans over and says, "Yes, sir?" As she leans over, the movement jumps a frame or two. When I play this same sequence in WinDVD, the motion is smooth with no jump. When I disable my SB Live 5.1 card and run the movie in PowerDVD with no sound, it runs smooth with no jumps. This suggests that the sound card may be the problem, but Cyberlink indicates that PowerDVD is compatible with SB Live 5.1, and I have the latest drivers (which doesn't say much as Creative has never released any new official updates to their CD drivers). The card is on IRQ 9 and is only sharing with "ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering". DMA is enabled for all CD/DVD/HD drives and I have closed all other programs while running PowerDVD. Does anybody else experience this problem? Full system specs are below.

Thanks a bunch!
Ryan

AMD 1 Ghz / 266 bus
Abit KT7A Motherboard w/ 4.42 VIA 4in1 drivers
480 MB PC-133 SD-RAM
Windows ME
Asus V7100 GeForce2 MX
Creative SB Live! 5.1 OEM
3Com 3C900-TPO NIC
Creative Dxr2 DVD Decoder
Maxtor 40 GB HDD, DMA enabled
Daytek 16/40 DVD-Rom, DMA enabled
Plextor 16/10/40 CDRW, DMA enabled

 

[Gerald LaFrance]

HI RYAN
A few things you can try close any programs with ALT+CTRL then Delete, close all programs there EXCEPT Systray and Explorer.
Anothere thing is to select DMA for your DVD rom goto start/settings/control panel/system/device manager.
Select your DVD rom double click or select properties for the DVD rom then select settings youll see DMA put a check in the box.
If your DVD rom supports this feature just restart and check to see if it stayed selecetd!
give that a try and let me know if that helped!!

 

[Ryan Patterson]

Hi Gerald,

Thanks for your input, but checking my DMA settings and closing all my programs was one of the first things I ever did when it came to troubleshooting this problem. (Sorry I didn't mention that before... I'll edit my first posting to include those.)

I'm still unsure why WinDVD plays these scenes fine, when PowerDVD has a problem with them. It could be how their own MPEG-2 decoders handle things. Actually, it could have more to do with how they handle DirectSound, as when I disable the sound card, PowerDVD plays the scene fine. Gerald, have you tested the Star Wars scene I mentioned above to see if the same thing happens to you? Could you tell me what kind of sound card do you have?

One other thing I should mention is that I'm still not 100% sold on using WinDVD over PowerDVD on all occasions, simply because the WinDVD4 interface is still a little buggy. That said, I prefer WinDVD's keyboard shortcuts over PowerDVD's. I just wish there was a way to reprogram them for PowerDVD.

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[Gerald LaFrance]

Hi Ryan
Ill have to go out and get episode 1 and try it. Im using the motherboard soundcard AC97. Ive tried to install other audio cards but they disable my Video card even bought a cheapo card same thing. I am in the market right now for a new Computer. this old 700 mhz just isnt cutting it antmore especially after I bought 3-D Plus wich converts DVDs into 3-D, I get alot of lag. Good Luck hope you can get that lil bug fixed!!