Playing DVDs

[Gareth_4]

I bought this DVD CD-RW combo drive over six months ago and can't get it to play DVD movies smoothly at all - I thought at first my video card was the problem (and it was bad) but even with the new 64 MB PNY "verto" card I just bought it still sucks (jerky picture mostly -- sound is sync. but the picture looks like it's skipping frames).

From what I've found on the web this device seems like mostly a CD-RW machine - is it safe to assume if I want to play DVDs I need another DVD drive? (my processor is only a celeron 566 but I've been told that should be enough...) anyone? bueller?

[CA375908]

To test, try changing the resolution of the display properties to 800x600 at 256 colors and enable DMA on the drive. I think if you open the device manager (not sure of your OS), then open up the CD-ROM drives, find your DVD drive listed and right click -> properties. Look under the tabs for a check box that says DMA... select it if it's there. See if this helps any. Might need to look for an updated driver for your video card too. If you're running Win2000, to enable DMA you have to look at the advanced settings under the properties for the primary/secondary channel of IDE controller.

Hope this can help with your troubleshooting.
-denver