DVD videos freeze, then release, then skip?

Zen

Posts: 763   +49
I hope I'm posting in the correct area, for this kind of encompasses a little bit of everything, video mainly.

For the past several days when watching DVD movies on my Dell Dimension 3000 I've noticed intermittent video freeze ups, they last for only about 2 to 5 second, the freeze up stops, the movie starts back up again. Now I wouldn't be so concerned about this, but when the movie comes back on-line and starts up again, the movie skips forward about 5 seconds, therefore when the movie is finished playing, I think it would be safe to assume, that I've missed close to 1 minute to maybe even 1.5 minutes worth of time from the whole film, due to this freeze up, resume and skip problem.

I know that it's important in these matters for everyone to know what I'm using as far as hardware & software, here goes..

O.S. = Ubuntu 10.10 (Desktop Version) (64bit)

Media Player = VLC

Computer = Dell Dimension 3000

Hardware....

Intel Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading) 3.0 Gig CPU
Intel 856xx Mother Board, onboard 10/100 Network Interface adapter
4 Gig's of DDR2 system RAM
500 Gig internal Maxtor 7200 RPM I.D.E. hard drive
Nvidia GeForce 6200(A) 256 MB DDR RAM, Clock 300 MHz, Pipelines 4x1, Architecture NV41, card connection - PCI only, no PCI-e or AGP, only PCI slot.
Creative XF-i Titanium Fatality 7.1 capable sound card
Sony DVD-ROM drive at x16 speed
Gear Head - USB 2.0 HUB PCI slot card
250 Watt stock Dell power supply

Be aware, that everything in regards to mother board connectivity to both the hard drive and DVD-ROM drive are done so through I.D.E. connections.

Connected Peripherals...

Microsoft illuminated Reclusa gamers keyboard
Microsoft illuminated Habu gamers mouse
Panasonic 5.1 Home Theater system, connected via 3 sets of RCA to 3.5mm cables.
AG Neovo 24 inch LCD monitor set to 1280 x 1024 resolution

Again, this annoying problem is happening when only watching DVD's! I have no problems what so ever when watching things such as an already downloaded video file, watching You-Tube, Watching Hulu or Fancast, all those work great.

"Got any thoughts my friends"?
 
That power supply may no longer be sufficient or is failing slowly. Try another higher wattage power supply before anything else
 
I had a similiar problem with vlc alot, is the disk clean? and when was the last time you updated vlc? other than that i would say try reinstalling for good measure and that no problem is taking up to much excessive mem in task manager

hope i helped
 
Thank you to both Tmagic & axelfox for chiming in here in regards to what may or may not be my problem. Just be aware, since posting this problem I went ahead and searched my old card board box of computer junk and found an old power supply, it's made by Antec and is rated at 450 watts. I just thought due to looking at my own words, that both the video card, which was the max my system could handle back in it's day. And the sound card, both probably draw a lot of power, so I thought it best to start there, it's in there now, currently powering the PC I'm on right now.

I grabbed the movie "Matrix Reloaded" and will watch that to see if the problems are still there. I will pop back in here after the movie and let you all know how it went.

Also axelfox, I went into Ubuntu's software center and it advised that I had the latest version, my copy of VLC is up-to-date.

Beer, pop corn and the Matrix.............let the show begin!
 
Let us know how the videos run with the better power supply :)

First off one thing is for certain and that is "thank the maker that I'm a old computer parts pack rat"! I think that old 450 watt power supply has done the trick. I just got done watching the film and I'm pleased to report that I didn't have any issues what so ever. Not one freeze up, not any skipping, nothing went wrong. To be honest I think with all the upgrades I've put into the computer, I think it was being starved for power. The sound has slightly become more dynamic and slightly more powerful, the computer takes about 5-8 seconds less time to boot up, programs are opening up a little bit quicker and the video quality has greatly improved.

I think this "band aid" of a fix will last a good long time, time enough for me to look around and shop for a slightly more powerful power supply. Things are great as is, but I think a little more juice will do the trick. Maybe a 550 watt, maybe even a 600 watt but no further.

On yeah, if it means anything, the movie was great, even though it was like the 20th to 25th time seeing it. :)
 
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