Slow DVD Playback problem---interesting

Hey peoples. I've got a tough one.

First of all, here are my specs:

- ASUS A8V-Deluxe Mobo
- AMD Athalon 64 3000+ CPU
- 1GB RAM
- M-Audio Delta-44 sound card (with break out box)
- Radeon 9600 Pro video card
- Plextor SATA DVDRW drive (the culprit)
- Maxtor 250GB HD with 16MB Cache

BIOS current. Plextor firmware and software current. All drivers are current to my knowledge.


The problem is with the Plextor DVD burner. When I play a DVD (using WinDVD 5, legit copy), playback is much slower than it should be for both video and audio. It's almost as if it's in slow-motion, but not as slow. Now, when I play an audio CD, it crackles annoyingly, although it is at regular speed.

Here's the kicker, the Plextor rips DVDs and CDs just fine. I can rip the files and then play them back with WMP and WinDVD just fine, as long as they are on my hard drive. I can also burn files to CDs/DVDs fine. The problem seems to arise from accessing the audio/video from the discs themselves. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

Is it an old drive????

I had an old dvd player on the tv before and it got to the point where (according to the manufacturer) that the motor got so worn out that itr couldn't spin the cd fast enough!!!! either that...or the drive isn't getting enough power to spin at maximum speed!!??

If that is the case...it would make sense that it would burn ok because most burners burn at a speed slower than playback speed, and most burning software will adjust accordingly with the available burning speed!!!

Roger

 

It's actually brand new. SATA interface..(which I don't think requires as much power as IDE???)

My PSU is 350W Antec.

 

Have you checked it in another system?? It is possible that it was bad out of the box!! It's happened to me a couple of times!!

Where did you buy it?? Would it be a pain to just take it back and exchange it?? If you do...get a different brand!! It might be a bad run from the manufacturer, so therefore the next one could bring the same problems!! I fought that very issue with a mobo I bought a while ago!! I exchanged it three times, then finally got my money back and went elsewhere and bought the same thing and it was fine!!

Roger

 

I am trying to avoid the returning thing since I bought it from Newegg. I don't have another SATA equipped computer to try it on. I might try using a different sound card.

The Plextor site doesn't list my mobo in the compatibility chart, but since it's working fine for everything except playback, I don't see how that could be an issue.

 

Here is some more information. My storage specs for my Mobo:

South Bridge
- 2 x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33
- 2 x Serial ATA, support RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD
Promise 20378 RAID controller
- 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33
- 2 x Serial ATA
- Support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, and Multiple RAID

Ok, I am pretty sure I have the DVDRW drive hooked up to my south bridge SATA port. What is the difference between the Southbridge and the Promise controllers?

 

I'm not the most knowledgeable of raid contollers, but...have you tried you other one just for the hell of it??

Roger

 

Not yet. Haven't thought of it till now and I am at work...hmmm. I wish I could access my mobo manual online...

 

Check this out, from this website: http://www.dvd-recordable.org/Reviews+index-req-showcontent-id-130.phtml

Here is the quote i refer to:

"None of my PC's had SATA on board and I had to find a controller that would work with this drive. The first one I tried had an Ali chipset and the drive was reluctant to burn at above 2x speed and CPU usage was excessive with unpredictable burns. A bit of homework soon pointed me in the direction of another controller, Promise SATA II that supported ATAPI devices. This controller is a little expensive and I am sure there are cheaper ones out there that will work with ATAPI devices but the name was good enough for me to decide on it. Connected up to the card with the cable and immediately I was able to burn & 8x speed to DVD-R media with low CPU usage, which previously had been a hit & miss affair.
"

It's possible that since I am not hooked up to my Promise controller on my mobo that I am not getting the proper performance. Maybe the Southbridge is reserved for SATA HDDs and the Promise is best for Optical Drives? I will see when I get home, but before I potentially break my PC, any advice?

 

I tried it out with my Santa Cruz sound card and it works fine. Must be my M-audio is incompatible or something. Christ, I hate that.