VLC Player and USB DVD drive

[quaxo]

Alright, I'm trying to play DVDs from my external USB 2.0 DVD drive (BENQ DVD-RW internal drive in a 5 1/4" external USB housing). This issue could not be reproduced on my desktop system with an internal drive and the same DVD in VLC.

I've posted this here in the software forum  because I'm pretty certain now that it's not the drive, but VLC player that is having issues.

When playing DVDs in VLC player, there is heavy audio skipping and audio loss. The video is consistent and does not skip, only the audio. I've tried adjusting just about every option for audio in VLC to no avail (i.e. buffers, output type, audio type, etc.). Reducing DirectX audio acceleration only makes it worse as well. There are no issues with video or audio files, only DVD video.

As an experiment I downloaded Cyberlink PowerDVD trial to see if it also had issues with the drive and it did not. The DVD played perfectly.

I'm using an ASUS EeePC 8G. (Celeron M 900, 1GB RAM, 8GB SSD, 250 ext. HDD)

Any thoughts on what VLC might be having a problem with? I'm on the road right now, so I do not have access to my desktop system. I do have internet access though (obviously).

Really, all I need is a working DVD decoder. I'll use WMP if I have to, as long as DVDs work. Limited space on this system, so trying to keep unnecessary installations down to a minimum.

[patio]

I realise it's not a solution but have you tried GOM ? ?

What is your pagefile set to on that machine ?

[Broni]

I assume, this is your laptop?
What OS do you have there?

[quaxo]

It's Windows XP now. I took Xandros off it for a while so I could try XP on it.

I haven't tried GOM. I need something to play DVDs properly, whatever makes them play properly would be a solution  Whatever the problem is with VLC and my setup might not be fixable and it could be a hundred different things (or combination of).

The pagefile is set at 256MB. ASUS recommends 200-256MB in the manual for this model.

I think I'll lose VLC, and keep WMP and PowerDVD. That covers all my playing needs. I've messed with VLC settings for 2 days and just can't get it to play right, it just gets worse. Does anyone else have a USB2.0 drive and VLC? Now that I'm back home, I might hook it up later and try it out on my desktop system, see if I get the same results. I know my internal drive has no problems with VLC.

[Broni]

It may be worth a try to put some movie on USB flash drive, and play it on VLC.

[quaxo]

The DVD's actual VOB file playing from the internal drive plays fine.

Copying it to an external drive, will post back after that's finished. I've got two more places to try: external USB 2.0 hard drive USB flash drive.

[Broni]

That should make pretty good test set. I'm curious myself.

[quaxo]

Alright, here's what I've come up with...

Code: [Select]

USB 2.0 HDD, SD card, flash drive, internal solid state disk playing in VLC:
No problems at all.

USB 2.0 external DVD drive on laptop:
Video is smooth, but audio skips in VLC.
No problems at all in PowerDVD.

USB 2.0 external DVD drive on desktop:
No problems at all with VLC.
It's just something about that laptop's USB ports, that DVD drive, and VLC. Something in that combination just makes it screw up. I have no problems with that DVD drive and anything else on the laptop (games, music, etc.) and VLC has no problem playing the file from other locations. Oh well, I've got a legitimate registration code for PowerDVD that I haven't used. I expect it's time I used it. WMP will play everything else I need.

[Broni]

It must be something with VLC, because apparently, you're not alone:
http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=41783
This one is about Mac, but there are more hits about it.

[quaxo]

Didn't even know they had a forum over there. I actually found a thread that mentions a fix for my exact problem. I'll try it out later.

http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22114

[quaxo]

Well, that didn't work.

I guess I'll just stick with PowerDVD for now. I can't find much else on their forum that is working.

[quaxo]

DVD X Player has the same issue as VLC. (Decided to try some other players that use less drive space).

So does AVS DVD player (the worst yet).

Yet PowerDVD continues without a problem. Looks like I really am going to have to stick with it.

[Broni]

You have 404 choices HERE

[patio]

I realise it's not a solution but have you tried GOM ? ?

What is your pagefile set to on that machine ?

Set the min and max pagefile to 768 for another VLC test...it's possible it is far more dependent on swap usage than other players...temporarily changing this for a test won't harm anything....