Home made DVD playing sound but not pictures

[MarcLodge]

Hi all,
A friend of mine has been sent a DVD which was made by her sister in Australia. When played on a standard DVD player, it shows various photographs with music playing in the background. The photos are in a powerpoint slideshow like presentation.

When she tries to play the same DVD in her computer, the software (PowerDVD) plays the music, but displays a black screen. I have loaded a different commercially produced DVD into her computer, and it works fine.

Any ideas?

Marc

 

[alidabiri]

have you played other dvd before?
most dvd's come with their own decoder. maybe you need a dvd decoder. you can get a free one by searching google.

 

[cdogg]

Check the file structure of the DVD. Make sure it's got the standard Video_TS and Audio_TS folders.

Also, double-check that it is in fact a DVD and not a CD-R. It's possible that this is a VCD, which might explain why PowerDVD is having problems.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[MarcLodge]

Thanks for that alidabiri.

I am not aware whether any DVD's have been played on the PowerDVD software, but I certainly managed to play more than one DVD on it earlier today.

When you say that DVD's come with their own decoder, do you mean the physical disk, or the PowerDVD software? It seems strange that this home produced disk plays happily on other PC's and a DVD player connected to my TV, yet not on this specific PC. I am assuming that it is something to do with the interaction of PowerDVD with a home produced DVD that is the problem.

If I were to go to Google looking for a decoder, would it be a decoder for PowerDVD?

Sorry for the questions but this is not an area that I'm up to speed on.

Many thanks in advance.

Marc

 

[MarcLodge]

cdogg,
Will check the file structure. Would a CD-R play in a standalone DVD player?
Marc

 

[alidabiri]

i had the same problem with a movie dvd. it would play on the laptop, on our home dvd player, but not on my desk top.
now, another dvd movie, would play on all 3 devices. i found out that the laptop had a decoder installed by ibm. the home dvd player doesn't need a decoder, and my desktop pc (home-made) didn't have a decoder. now, the dvd that played on my desktop, did come with it's own decoder on the disk.

 

[cdogg]

Sorry, but the decoder is NOT the problem here. First of all, if you can play other movie DVD's in PowerDVD, then you already know that you've got the required MPEG-2 codec (which comes with PowerDVD). Decoders DO NOT come with movie DVD's.

The problem is likely one of the following:

1) The disc is a CD-R encoded in the VCD format. Almost all DVD players (including 1st-generation) can read VCD's. I believe PowerDVD can to, but this format is not as strong as a conventional DVD. Therefore, it wouldn't surprise me if PowerDVD was choking on it.

Note: VCD stands for Video CD

2) The disc's type (DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW) is not quite 100% compatible with the DVD-ROM in the PC. Try ripping the DVD to the hard drive and play it from there instead.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[alidabiri]

Sorry, but the decoder is NOT the problem here. First of all, if you can play other movie DVD's in PowerDVD, then you already know that you've got the required MPEG-2 codec (which comes with PowerDVD). Decoders DO NOT come with movie DVD's.""""

i have to disagree with you, cdogg. i have seen dvd open an app first, then play the movie. some pc do have the decoder as a value-added feature in the pc already. when i get home, i'll find out the name of the app that opens when you play the dvd. that's the point i'm trying to get across.

 

[BadBigBen]

I agree with Cdogg here...

alidabiri - those that you mentioned are infact Commercial DVD's, and not Homemade... albeit I can encode one to do so myself...

the problem here could be:

1.) she tries to view it on a secondary display, ergo the gfx-card has two screens, and the screen she tries to view it on is not set as PRIMARY...

2.) PowerDVD is old and needs to be updated...

3.) she could try to view it with another app, such as WMP, VLC, MediaPlayer Classic, or install NERO and use it's MediaPlayer...

4.) may need certain CODECs for said DVD, for those go to

http://www.free-codecs.com

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[MarcLodge]

The disk is a DVD. I've browsed it, and it is split into the two audio and video directories. The audio directory is empty, but the video directory contains some .BUP .IFO and .VOB files.

The .VOB files are recognised by PowerDVD, but it won't play them properly.

Thoughts?

 

[PJONJACK]

I had a similar problem with WinDVD a while back. Mine was solved by updating WinDVD. So I side with BigBen that your player might need an update. You can also Google 'dvd playback black screen' for some useful info.

 

[linney]

You can see if the Microsoft tool tells you anything?

This utility:
• Lists all the MPEG-2 video decoders that appear in your Windows registry (a database that contains information about the hardware and software installed in your computer).


Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...AC-0AB6-4990-943D-627E6ADE9FCB&displaylang=en

Troubleshooting DVD playback

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q306318

Resources for Troubleshooting DVD Problems in Windows XP (Q308012)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/0/12.asp

DVD not recognized

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q309321

Cannot play DVD

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q310436

DVD FAQs

http://dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html

http://www.dvdrhelp.com

 

[cdogg]

alidabiri,

i have seen dvd open an app first, then play the movie. some pc do have the decoder as a value-added feature in the pc already.

Umm, ok. The "app" that you're talking about is not considered a decoder. For example, many Disney and Warner Home Video DVD's have something called Interactual Player. This is an application that makes it easy to play special features embedded within a DVD when inserted on a PC. It is not a standalone player, and it relies on a third-party MPEG-2 codec to be installed in Windows. It won't play the DVD without it. You can read more about it here:

http://player.interactual.com/default.asp?code=AP

Trust me, codecs/decoders are not included with commercially-made movie DVD's. The most popular applications that come with codecs are WinDVD and PowerDVD.


MarcLodge,
Sorry for the little distraction there. Here's the bottom line - PowerDVD doesn't rely on any codec other than the ones that come installed with the program.

BUP, IFO, and VOB files are of the standard DVD-Video format. All video DVD's that are made in the standard format use the same MPEG-2 encoding scheme (VOB). PowerDVD should have no problem "decoding" this, especially if it's able to read other DVD's.

The catch is compression. When you author a DVD, you have the choices High-Quality (1 hour), Standard Play (2 hour), Extended Play (4 hour), and so on. It's possible that when this DVD was created, it was made using a non-standard specification for compression. Usually, software such as PowerDVD will have a better chance of playing it than say a standalone DVD player. But in your case, BigBadBen might be right. Perhaps PowerDVD is outdated or an old version that's having trouble with the video compression.

I recommend updating it or trying another player, such as WinDVD. Go here for a list of players and trial versions (be sure to pick one that can play DVD's and had the codec).

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884