I've been struggling with a playback problem in WMP 12 for the past few weeks. I just identified a workaround. Here it is in case other DVD-A users are seeing something similar:
Until 2-3 weeks ago, the playback quality in WMP 12 for my DVD-A Pro 5.2 DVDs was fine for both the menu and video portions. Then suddenly the playback quality on the menus became terrible, i.e., the text became very jagged and the menu background video was poor. However the quality on the actual video portion, and any text rendered into the video, remained fine.
My husband has the same laptop that I have, except his unit runs Vista. The menu quality on the DVD is fine when played on his laptop in WMP 11 (no jagged text). Also the menu quality on the DVD is fine when played with a conventional DVD or BD player. The quality was also fine in VLC Player. Thus I believe the problem is related to WMP 12. Somehow it is looking at the DVD menu and treating it differently than in the past? Strange, I know.
Because WMP 12 worked fine until a few weeks ago, I can only surmise that a recent Windows Update has affected WMP 12. However I am unable to find anything on-line to support this theory.
So here is the workaround: Instead of playing the DVD directly in WMP 12, I tried playing it through Windows Media Center. No jagged text on the menus. Overall playback quality is fine.
I have no idea why the playback behavior in Windows Media Center would be different than playing directly through WMP 12. I'm still looking for a solution, but for now I have a workaround.
Regards,
Kimberly
Until 2-3 weeks ago, the playback quality in WMP 12 for my DVD-A Pro 5.2 DVDs was fine for both the menu and video portions. Then suddenly the playback quality on the menus became terrible, i.e., the text became very jagged and the menu background video was poor. However the quality on the actual video portion, and any text rendered into the video, remained fine.
My husband has the same laptop that I have, except his unit runs Vista. The menu quality on the DVD is fine when played on his laptop in WMP 11 (no jagged text). Also the menu quality on the DVD is fine when played with a conventional DVD or BD player. The quality was also fine in VLC Player. Thus I believe the problem is related to WMP 12. Somehow it is looking at the DVD menu and treating it differently than in the past? Strange, I know.
Because WMP 12 worked fine until a few weeks ago, I can only surmise that a recent Windows Update has affected WMP 12. However I am unable to find anything on-line to support this theory.
So here is the workaround: Instead of playing the DVD directly in WMP 12, I tried playing it through Windows Media Center. No jagged text on the menus. Overall playback quality is fine.
I have no idea why the playback behavior in Windows Media Center would be different than playing directly through WMP 12. I'm still looking for a solution, but for now I have a workaround.
Regards,
Kimberly