Buffering DVD/CD drives.

[Loose rivets]

4 gigs of RAM W7 pro.

On this pile of junk I've landed myself with, I replaced the DVD drive with another Samsung SH-S223Q LS

It seems to run okay sometimes but with some films is very hesitant, breaking the sound into lumps. (Downloading a NetFlix a moment later is fine.)

Is there a way of buffering its output so that the flow is contiguous? Strangely, I've noticed that the sound improves with time.

It's also noted that this DVD is rather scratched but plays reasonably well in me HP PC It's as though the HP is in some way compensating for the scratches more better than the home build.

[spannersatcx]

A lot would also depend on the CPU, GPU and HDD being used.

[Loose rivets]

CPU is a X2 way quicker than the HP PC. Does the HD play a part in buffering the output of the DVD?

The HD is already on my hit-list. Slow and noisy, WD SATA and 8m cash I think. I'm intending to get a Barracuda 750 with 32 cache, but was going to wait till I return from the UK.

I don't want to keep running the laptop, which plays things perfectly but costs if it goes TU...and I need it in the UK, so spending now might be justified.

[mad_jock]

You can also use DMA to miss out the processor if the hardware will allow it. That speeds things up.

You can also use buffering software to read ahead. Some buffering software will also do error correction as well.

I used to have a DVD/MPEG decoder card which used to really do the buisness. You put the DVD drive through it and it then did the graphics. It really did rock. Alot of high end graphics cards have decoders built into them

I think it was a Creative labs Dxr2 a brief search seems to say its not supported any more.

[Loose rivets]

Well, I'm obviously dealing with a ghost in the machine. Tonight, the sound, the downloading and the DVD are all perfect.

CPU is jumping between 15-22% with no indication of the problems before. I guess this shows that there's not an unreasonable demand on its processing.

I guess the way to test it is to invite 20 or so local dignitaries to watch a film. That would have to tempt providence. :hmm:

[Loose rivets]

Last night, film from DVD unwatchable due to the sound spitting out in lumps.

Two things: The video was okay. And the same film, when streamed straight from NetFlix, was fine.

While the sound was bad, and as Jock says, the CPU was working very hard. 60-70%. (20% when working normally)

What makes it okay one moment, and not the next?

(I don't really expect an answer :} )

[green granite]

It sounds to me as though you have too many programs/codecs etc running together and fighting for resources.