LG DVD Rom: can't read DVD discs

[Jova]

Hi all,
I have another problem which I would your help with. The way I keep coming back here asking for your help does make my PC sound a like a Frankenstein machine! )

Anyway, straight to the point: I have bought a LG DVD rom and I installed it in my PC. The LG DVD rom can read CD, CD-R and CD-RW. The problem is the DVD rom can't read DVD discs, which is real bizarre. I tried three different kinds of DVD discs; 2 DVD roms and one DVD movie. I rebooted the PC and tried again, no effect.

The LG DVD Rom number is DRD-8160B.

My PC specs are:
PII 350Mhz
128Mb SDRAM
Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
CD-RW (slave cd-rom)

I'm considering taking this DVD rom back to the shop and get a refund. Alternatively, I could get another DVD rom but the shop has a limited range of DVD roms. There's only 2 others - Samsung and Toishiba. Please excuse my spelling of brand names.

Do I require a MPEG decoder card? I have another video card, the PNY Vorto Geforce 4 MX440 which I will use for my first build of an AMD PC. I'm sure I don't need a MPEG card to read DVD Rom data except when I want to see a movie. Is this correct?

Should I consider the Samsung DVD rom or look elsewhere? The shop I bought it from is PC World (UK).

I am from Scotland, UK, in case you may think of suppliers.

Cheers,
John

[RJ]

Hi,

no you don't really need an MPEG decoder card. Even for watching movies todays PCs are more than powerful enough to software-decode the movie. Your PII 350 is the minimum for software decoding, so you can use a MPEG decoder card to take away CPU load for DVD watching. This may help to make the playback smoother on your PC. Personally I've never used a decoder hard, and modern graphic cards also have partial hardware decoding capabilities. Not sure about the Voodoo 3, though.

The DVD-ROM is like a CD-ROM, just for DVDs, no matter what's on them. Insert the DVD and you should be able to have access to the contents of it via Windows Explorer. If not, I think that drive is bad.
If you want to get another drive, get the Toshiba, as I believe Samsung CD/DVD-ROM drives aren't very good.

RJ

[Jova]

I went back to PCWorld and exchanged it for a Toshiba. It was £10 more but it was worth it as the Toshiba DVD ROM works like a dream.

Thanks for your help, RJ.

Cheers,
John

[glc]

The Voodoo 3 has "hardware assist" and should be adequate with a quality DVD player software.

[Jova]

I can play DVD movies on my DVD Rom, no problems.

Once in a while, a frame or two, slows down and then picks up speed. I think that's because my CPU is PII 350MHz, the minimum requirement to play DVD movies.

Anyway, I will be building my AMD PC soon. So the PC performance will be a lot better.

I have WinDVD 4, DVD playback software. It is really good and has a cool player interface. It has an Image capture feature, the problem the captured image looks a bit grainy.

It doesn't matter as long, my DVD Rom is working and can play DVD discs.

Ah, well 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

Cheers,
John

[mike breck]

A DVD-Rom drive has two lasers. One for CDs and one for DVDs.

As you were able to play CDs but not DVDs, it could have been that the DVD laser was faulty.

I've got an LG DVD and it works very well; but you can always get a bum drive.

[Guardian]

I've bought an LG DVD-ROM drive also. I've found out that I can play most all my movie DVDs except one. I can't seem to get "Air Force One" with Harrison Ford to play in this DVD.

Previously, I had a no-name DVD drive and it would play everything. Including the above movie. Kind of strange.