DVD doesn't work with PowerDVD DVD player software

tachyon wrote on 4/12/2004, 1:57 PM
I recently made my first DVD with DVD Architect, and while it looks great on most people's systems (both computer and stand-alone DVD players) we've tried it on, with computers using the PowerDVD program, while the first menu screen comes up fine, when you click one of the choices (which are just Play Movie and Select Scene) it hangs. A Windows 98 system has PowerDVD version 3 which came bundled with an HP DVD-burner, and a Windows XP system has PowerDVD version 4 which came bundled with the computer. Both have exactly the same problem trying to play the DVD. The Windows 98 system in particular has never had trouble playing any commercial DVD, even ones that would skip and lock up on other systems in the house.

So has anyone come across this before and know if there is anything that can be done about it? Or is there anyone who has PowerDVD and *doesn't* have this problem running a DVDA-created DVD with a menu?

Comments

Rogueone wrote on 4/13/2004, 6:35 AM
I'm running XP Pro with PowerDVD 4, and all the DVDs that I make with DVDA run on it fine. Have you checked the DirectX version, or video card drivers? I try to keep my video card as up-to date as possible.
craftech wrote on 4/13/2004, 6:48 PM
Buy a hardware decoder card such as The Sigma Designs Hollywood Plus for $40. It will play DVD's like a standalone player on your computer with little or not CPU load. Power DVD is garbage.

John
nolonemo wrote on 4/16/2004, 12:48 PM
Gee, PowerDVD seems to work fine on my computer. I guess I must like garbage.
bStro wrote on 4/18/2004, 4:56 PM
In what way is PowerDVD "garbage"? Works fine for me.

Rob
craftech wrote on 4/19/2004, 7:19 AM
Before I get flamed any further, let me clarify it by saying that compared to a hardware decoder, any software decoder is prone to CPU taxation which in turn can cause pauses, freezes, etc.
A hardware encoder takes the load off the CPU so it plays like a set top DVD player and they are cheap besides. Thus you can use a Pentium III 400 for example to play DVD's with no problem. "Garbage" was probably the wrong choice of words.
John
Express wrote on 4/26/2004, 9:25 AM
tachyon,

I did not use DVDA 1 , but I will be using 2.

I have never had any trouble using PowerDVD with any disc I have ever created with other authoring apps.
For me, PowerDVD has consistenly played discs exactly like set-top hardware, and I use it as part of my work-flow - I check the disc content for functionality using PowerDVD before actually committing it to a burn.

I am quite interested to know if you are still having trouble with it - and which version (s) you have experienced this problem with.
Express wrote on 4/28/2004, 7:38 AM
I had no problems with PowerDVD playing my first DVDA 2 disc contents (from the hard drive, not burned to disc).

This was simply a learning 'test; of menu creation, theme's, end-actions, sub-titles getting familiar with DVDA 2 - using AVI content from the Sony VISION CD, or other AVI content I already had on my system.

Editing worked great, and was very easy to grasp.

My initial impression with the playing the disc contents with PowerDVD is:
When viewed in PoweDVD, the output quality does not appear to be nearly as good as the output from my previous authoring program.

I used the defaults, and kept everything at 8K
It may just be that PowerDVD does not like it, I burned a disc, but have not viewed the disc on a TV yet.
[after viewing, the jury is still out - to my eyes, it does not look like the DVDA 2 ouput is as good as the output from my previous setup]
ll600 wrote on 4/29/2004, 8:38 PM
I can play a DVDA2 DVD in PowerDVD, but if I try and move forward in the DVD using the slider, it crashes instantly. No such problem using Nero Showtime.
Cunhambebe wrote on 5/3/2004, 11:04 PM
Until recently everything was working fine with my DVD Architect 1.0. Then, I've decided to install a DVD Architect 2.0 trial version in one of the HDs. After uninstalling it, I've noticed a strange problem. When I burn a DVD with main menu and let's say, some buttons (i.e. 4, for each movie), as soon as I try to play this dvd with POWER DVD, one of the buttons does not correspond to the right movie. It plays a wrong movie that is located on a submenu. Playing the same DVD with a real dvd player, is OK. I was just wondering what the problem might be.
Thanks in advance