Resources

DVDs are not working on my computer - any ideas?

There are so many things that can affect a DVD performance in a computer - without more information, I’m going to give you a list of the most obvious possibilities.

DVD-ROM Configuration

It’s possible that your DVD ROM drive is configured for a different region. DVDs come coded for specific regions and if it doesn’t match the region that is on your computer, the movie won’t run. To check this, go to Start and then right click on My Computer. Go to Properties and find the Hardware tab and go to Device Manager. You should see the DVD/CD ROM drive in the list. Right click on it and choose Properties. Find the DVD region tab and make any changes you need. Know that you may only be able to make 5 changes to the region before it is set and you can’t undo it. Look for a comment about how many changes you have left and don’t change the region unless you have to.

DVD Decoders

It’s possible you need a DVD Decoder. You can run the Video Decoder Checkup Utility from Microsoft which will tell you what you have installed on your machine. If you need a decoder in order to watch movies on your machine, two to try are NVIDIA DVD Decoder or the Roxio CinePlayer. Do you have a program installed that will let you watch movies on your computer? One like Windows Media Player or RealPlayer is needed in order to watch DVDs.

Drivers

Drivers are files that control internal and external devices on a computer. If you need a new driver or something happens to your old driver, you may not be able to play DVDs properly. If you have your original CD, you can go to Device Manager as you did above, uninstall the old driver and reinstall the new one from the CD. If you don’t have the CD, find the manufacturer in Device Manager and go to that website to download the newest drivers. Most manufacturers make it very easy to find the driver download button on their site. You can also get a program such as Driver Detective to do it for you automatically.

Damaged Disc

It’s possible that the disc is damaged, particularly if you can play some DVDs and not others. Computers and stand-alone DVD players read the information differently so even damaged discs that can be played in other DVD players may not work in your computer. The only cure for this is to get a new disc.

Hopefully, one of these will solve your problem. If you need more help, let us know what is happening when you try to play the disc - are you getting any error messages? Does the disc just spin and isn’t recognized? Listing some of the symptoms will help us narrow down the problem.

Why can’t I get picture in full screen mode when I’m watching videos on the Internet when I can get sound still?

A few different scenarios could lead to this problem. Read through these suggestions and use them one at a time until you solve your problem. Try the first solution first as it is the most likely one.

Full Screen Mode and WMP

When the full screen mode is used with WPM or Windows Media Player, the player is sometimes actually bumped out of the screen. Hence, you can hear the movie but you can’t see it. The thought of that just makes me cringe with annoyance so I can imagine how you are feeling.

Let’s see if the following adjustment works to fix the problem:

Open Windows Media Player>Select Access Application Menus>Select Tools>Select Options>Select Performance>Select Advanced> Select Video Acceleration>Turn off the “Enable full screen mode switch” by removing the check that appears in the little box in front of it. Alternatively, if the “Enable full screen mode switch” isn’t turned on, you can place a check in the box and see if that makes the problem go away.

Troubleshooting Full Screen Mode Errors

It might be necessary to change the video acceleration in order to get full screen viewing. To do so, use this path:

Open Windows Media Player>Select Access Application Menus>Select Tools>Select Options>Select Performance>Select Advanced>Select Video Acceleration>Move the slider to decrease or turn off the acceleration.

Requirements for Viewing Videos

In order to view videos, it is necessary for you to first install the proper program onto your machine. For example, this problem of no video while audio still works can occur if you are trying to view the video through Windows Media Player but the video has been formatted for use with a different player. Before you install a new program, try these strategies first:

• Update the Video card drivers.
• Install a video converter such as Windows Media Encoder, Windows Movie Maker, or Microsoft Expression (all of which are offered by Microsoft.)

Video Playback and Viewing

If you know which extension is attached to the video that you are trying to view, you can determine whether or not you have the correct player for viewing. Here’s a list to help you in the future.

• The .avi file extension can be opened with “Windows Media Player.”
• The .ram. file extension can be opened with “RealPlayer.”
• The .mov file extension can be opened with “QuickTime.”
• The .qt file extension can be opened with “QuickTime.”

In my laptop (Dell Inspiron 9300 Windows XP), any media (including YOU TUBE videos, etc) does not run smoothly. It has breaks in both audio and video. Each time I reinstall Windows, it gets fixed and at the very next restart the problem comes back. Can you help me fix this? 

Multimedia Error with Choppy Video: Causes

Malfunctioning multimedia playback seems to be a problem that crops up for quite a few computer users. The problem can be related to your Internet connection, the time of day or night, your video card, and more. It becomes a matter of troubleshooting the problem in order to resolve it and get it to go away.

Multimedia Error with Choppy Video: Internet Service

Unfortunately, if you have dial up Internet service, then you are going to have to put up with choppy videos. There’s no way around it. Dial up service is exceedingly slow. If you upgrade your service to high speed cable, then you should have better playback quality. Additionally, another strategy that you can try is to watch the videos during off-peak hours since video streaming will be better at that time. Another option you have is to download the video and then watch it at a later time.

Multimedia Error with Choppy Video: Temporary Cache and Memory

Clear out the temporary Internet cache for your browser. In addition to taking up resources, these saved bits of data might be interfering with your connections. Go through the “Tools” option of your browser to locate the proper section to do this.

One of the reasons that a fresh install of your Windows OS might make the problem disappear temporarily is that you are starting with fresh resources. Are you sure that you have sufficient free memory on the computer? Try adding some new memory to see if that helps the problem.

Multimedia Error with Choppy Video: Adobe Flash

Are you sure that you have the proper version of Adobe Flash Player? Visit their website and compare their current version with the one that you have. This is really important for viewing videos, so try and keep up-to-date with this particular software application from now on. If you have an outdated version, it will create problems such as the one that you are describing.

Multimedia Error with Choppy Video: Video Card

Use the “Device Manager” to check out your video card and make sure that it is functioning properly. If your video card is damaged, it could lead to problems viewing videos. Another thought is that the drivers for the card might need updating. To access the “Device Manager,” follow this path:

1)      Click on “Start.”

2)      Click the “Control Panel.”

3)      Click on “Performance and Maintenance.”

4)      Click on the option for “System.”

5)      Click on “Hardware.”

6)      Click “Device Manager” to open it.

Multimedia Error with Choppy Video: Update the Browser

Choppy videos can also occur if your browser is out of date. In fact, video playback suffers terribly when both your browser and Adobe Flash Player are out of date.