Why won't PowerDVD play this?

[bigmo]

I recently purchased the movie Troy and watched it on my PS2 on the TV - it played perfectly. After I watch something on the TV, (Since it's rather small and not that great), I usually watch future playbacks on the computer.

I keep trying to get Cyberlink PowerDVD 6.0 to play this DVD, but it's not working. What happens is this: I select the DVD drive to playback from, and it acts as normal, as if it is going to load correctly. The play slider starts to move, but the screen remains blank. When the play slider reaches 'max' or 'finished' (which seems to be about 12secs), it keeps on playing with the slider at max, with the time clock continuing to increase, while there is still no video on screen.

I've left it like this for 10 minutes and no change. PowerDVD appears to freeze too when I do this. I've tried five separate DVDs that have always worked in the past and they still work fine. It seems as if there is something with this TROY DVD that it is not liking. It's not damaged, since it still plays on the standalone fine, and there are only light scratches.

I noticed while trying to make a backup of it using DVD-RB, that it says 'ANGLE or INTERLEAVING PRESENT' - a message i've never seen before in the program. Could this be causing PowerDVD to hiccup? And if so, why? Surely I would think the program could handle multiangles or interleaving.. they aren't that uncommon are they? Also, the backup I made won't play in PowerDVD either.

Anyone have some suggestions about what the problem could be? I'd really like to be able to watch this movie on the computer close up since it's such a great one.

[Sirber]

Try with another PC player to see if it works.

[bigmo]

Alright, I downloaded DVD-X player trial today and tried it out tonight. It played the DVD like normal as it should.

What's the problem with PowerDVD? It's supposed to be one of the best out there. (I know i've been happy with the picture quality and features up until now.)

Could it be some setting that needs to be adjusted? Checked config and can't see anything that might be the problem. I googled it and couldn't find any results about people having trouble with this particular DVD movie with the PowerDVD 6.0 software.

Still at a loss... i'll be able to use this alternate dvd software for the movie until the trial runs out I guess... but would like to find a permanent solution to the PowerDVD issue without switching players.

[Doobie]

Bigmo, after you ripped the DVD, could PowerDVD play it from your hard drive? How about directly from a VOB in the middle of the movie?

[bigmo]

Even after it is ripped to the harddrive, PowerDVD will not play it correctly by just choosing the folder it is in and playing it from the beginning.

I tried what you recommended though, playing each of the individual VOBs in PowerDVD. There are 6 VOBs in total, they are all in the same VTS: VTS_01. The results were interesting.

VTS_01_0.VOB and VTS_01_1.VOB, the first two, had the exact same problem - blank screen, no video or sound, and the timer was messing up. BUT, the four last VOBs played perfectly!

...Unfortunately, a large portion of the movie is in those first two VOBs wherein the problem seems to lie.

Seeing as the DVD played perfectly in DVD-X player, I think that rules out some surface error on the DVD that could be causing problems? I don't know what else could be causing this.

[Revgen]

You might want to e-mail Cyberlink what you've told us so they can check it out.

[bigmo]

I'll fill them in on the problem.

In the meantime, i'm considering running the movie back through DVD-RB and cutting out the multiangles entirely to see if that could be part of the problem here, but i'm worried that doing so may cause problems with playback on the computer or on my standalone. What exactly is 'multi-angle'? I assumed it was the ability to watch parts or all of a DVD from a different view point. Do software DVD players such as PowerDVD or DVD-X player have this functionality? I've never seen any option for that sort of thing. Do you think that if I cut out the multiangle portions, it would have a negative effect on the regular movie, or will I just be removing something that I never used in the first place?

[Doobie]

What exactly is 'multi-angle'? I assumed it was the ability to watch parts or all of a DVD from a different view point. Do software DVD players such as PowerDVD or DVD-X player have this functionality?

Yes, go tell the PowerDVD people. It sounds like an issue with PowerDVD vs. something different about that DVD. PowerDVD does support multi-angle. DVDs allow up to four different video streams for you to switch between. I think it's a shame the studios don't make more use of this feature.

[Mug Funky]

multi-angles are just a fancy term for 2 or more video tracks. it's much the same thing as multiple audio tracks, but with some extra limitations. quite often they're used for storyboard sequences (particularly in anime) or making-of features (like the "follow the white rabbit" stuff in the matrix).

if you don't watch the other angles, you can safely do away with them in DVD-RB or whatever. just don't select the second angle from a DVD menu if it is not there (DVD-RB doesn't change menus for you after all) because it might act strangely.