Windows DVD Player Picture Skipping

[3rdGenRigger]

All right, I'm going to preface this with a little info so that the most obvious questions can be ruled out (Like whether the DVD itself is bad). I was running Windows 7 and used to watch DVDs using Windows Media Player. Never had any issues. I've been getting notifications for months that I can upgrade to Windows 10 for free and I've been ignoring them because everything works (I should say "worked" I suppose), and I didn't plan to upgrade my OS until I bought a new computer in a year or two. A few days ago I got home from work and had a notification that my computer was going to upgrade to Windows 10 and the only option I had was several postponement duration options...no rejection option. It was late and I was going to bed in a couple of hours and didn't know if any of my programs would work properly in Windows 10 so I hit the 8 hour postponement option so that I could do more research when I had the time, such as on a weekend. Next day (Day before yesterday), I also got home from work late and again chose to hit the 8 hour postponement button so that I could wait until today to properly look into it. About 10 minutes later my computer restarted itself and began installing Windows 10 (I was not pleased at that) and the process took about an hour and a half and by the end of the process I was already in bed. My internet seems fine and most of my programs seem unaffected thus far, but today I tried playing a DVD and I'm having picture problems. It isn't the DVD because I've tried 5 DVDs, all of which I've recently watched. I used to use Windows Media Player, but it seems that in Windows 10, WMP doesn't play DVDs. It wants me to use Windows DVD Player. The DVDs play absolutely perfectly windowed as long as I keep the window to ~70% of my screen or less (Tried on both monitors with same result), but as soon as I maximize the window, go to full screen mode, or make the window too large the picture skips very frequently and makes the DVDs basically unwatchable (The skipping is erratic in frequency but I'd guess on average 2-3 skips every 10 seconds or so). There also doesn't seem to be a button to press within the program to adjust or even look at the program settings (I'm still looking into this), but I'm quite frustrated at this point. I should also point out that the audio is completely and totally unaffected. Anyone else experience anything like this or have any suggestions? I realize this is a little long winded but I wanted to include everything relevant, so thanks for taking the time to read through all of it.

[Geek-9pm]

Blame Microsoft. The Redmond crowd have decided to 'push' you into getting Windows 10 even if you don't want it. But there are ways to prevent this and its possible to revert back to Windows 7. Bit the do not make it easy. On purpose.


Some recent links about this.

http://www.itpro.co.uk/operating-systems/26090/dont-like-windows-10-heres-how-to-uninstall-it-1

http://betanews.com/2016/05/24/be-angry-at-microsoft-for-windows-10/

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3066844/windows/20-fixes-for-a-windows-10-update-meltdown.html

Somebody even wrote a program to do it for you! (Not tested!)
Questionable link removed...

People are angry      

[3rdGenRigger]

I didn't like not having the option to decline. I firmly believe that "No" should be an option. I also think that 8 hours and 10 minutes shouldn't be synonymous...but thank you Microcoft. If I can't figure out a way to make this work within a reasonable timeframe (As it has flawlessly for 4+ years) I'll have to think twice about buying another Microsoft product. This is just stupid.

Edit: Still no luck on finding any sort of settings options to change on Windows DVD Player.

[Geek-9pm]

Yes, stupid. A modern definition for 'stupid' is 'lacking moral sense' and this fills the bill. We may see Microsoft losing some ground. And they will not understand. 


To close any window in focus, use the keys alt+F4 and it should close. So fare they have not changed that.

[BC_Programmer]

Your frustration is understandable and I feel like I'm frustrated now myself, vicariously.

Windows 10 doesn't have any capability to play DVDs. It has Windows Media Player (or it's on my WIn10 systems so I think it comes with it), but they have actually removed the ability to play DVDs as far as I can tell. When you insert a DVD you have the option to go to the "Windows Store" where it appears there is a "Windows DVD Player" App that they actually want $14.99 for (unbelievable!)

My suggestion would be to dump the "App". I was actually going to go looking through it for options/settings but as mentioned they want $14.99 for a very basic DVD Player "app".

Anyway, My personal preference for playing DVDs and most videos is either VLC Media Player or Media Player Classic Home Cinema. Both of which are Free and they have more features and capabilities.

Just to choose one here, For Media Player Classic, You can play a DVD by selecting File->Open DVD/BD... And then navigating to and choosing your DVD Drive .

You can also configure it to pop up automatically when you put a disc in. in MPC-HC View->Options takes you to the options dialog, and selecting the "Formats" option in the left-side, you come to the options for file associations and DVD/CD's etc. Changing associations requires Admin so you'll have to click the "Run as Administrator" option. From there you can tick the "DVD" option in the lower right, within a group labelled "Autoplay".

Now if you insert a DVD disc, Windows 10 will say you have new options for playing DVDs and if you click the notification, MPC-HC will be an option in the list. Selecting it will allow MPC-HC to fire up and start playing the DVD, and going forward if you put a DVD Movie in the drive it will automatically launch MPC-HC and play the movie going forward.

I've had no issues playing DVD movies in MPC-HC for quite a number of years, and that success has extended to Windows 10. If you decide to give it a try hopefully it won't have the same issues you've seen with the DVD Player App.

[3rdGenRigger]

I've thought of and have used VLC in the past, but I've had an issue with it for a few years. The picture freezes completely between 22-24 minutes of run time...the audio continues but as soon as you mouse over it the program completely shuts down and disappears. Nothing I've tried has remedied the situation. I'll definitely look into MPC-HC.

[patio]

Starting to sound more and more like the drive...is this a laptop ?

[3rdGenRigger]

No, it's a desktop. And the VLC issue is exactly the same whether I'm using it to play a DVD or a file off of my hard drive, but that's a separate issue I can live with since I don't use VLC very often. The DVDs played fine for 4 years and only started to have issues after the switch from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Not one problem before that, and it does play DVD's perfectly if they're windowed and the window is small enough.

[3rdGenRigger]

Windows 10 (I'd have happily stayed with 7 if I wasn't forced to upgrade).
3.2 GHz AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Processor
8 GB RAM
Standard hard drive (Backup hard drive running Linux Mint that I leave unplugged most of the time).