Issue with WinDVd BD 8 for Vaio

[Fender67]

Hello to all,

I have a second laptop, VGN-AW41ZF/B and I updated my Nvidia 9600 M GT GPU to the latest 306.97 WHQL driver.

The installation went smoothly, this driver is by far better than the Sony 186.56 originally shipped driver and never updated.

I have better temperatures and the system is working much better now and all Key functions are working flawlessly.

The old driver, had an annoying issue, with nvidia color profile settings, not applied after reboot and cold start, even with the setting from Vaio Control Center "do not apply color mode".

It was a known issue with Nvidia drivers, before version 260 and something, where if the Nvidia color profile loaded too early, it was overriden by W7 default profile (which I have disabled, but for some reason it loads anyway).

However, I have a minor issue now.

My WinDVD BD 8 for VAIO, fully updated, loads properly, but cannot play almost half of my DVD's. (all purchased in commerce).

The other half plays without a problem.

When I try to play the others, I have sound but the screen becomes entirely "green".

I find very odd that some of the DVD's can be played, because if it were a problem with the driver, I believe that I couldn't play any of them.

Could this be related to the fact that WinDVD BD for Vaio is customized by Sony so it works only with Sony drivers?

I'd like to try a full version of Corel but as 2 versions cannot coexist, I think that I will need a factory reset for all programs in order to to recover WinDVD BD, which is out of question.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

B/R,

[Fender67]

Hello,

Can anyone please confirm if WinDVD BD for VAIO works only with Sony specific GPU drivers?

Also, in VAIO Control Center, it is listed in the reinstall programs utility, but as far as I know, it can only be recovered with a full system recovery.

Is that true?

As I mentionned above, after upgrade to a newer NVidia driver, some of my DVD cannot be played, it only happens with "encrypted" DVD's, I have sound, I have subtitles but NO image.(black screen).

All the other dvd's marked "encrypted and interlaced" by WinDVD BD for VAIO can be played without any problem.

Thank you.

B/R,

Message was edited by: Fender67

[Blencogo]

Hi Fender67.

As far as I know, there is no driver restriction.  What OS are you using - Win7?

You keep saying DVDs - do you mean DVDs or BDs?  If DVDs, do they play with another program (WMP or VLC Player).

If Blu-Rays, which particular discs will not play?  Are they the newest discs?

[Fender67]

Hi Blencogo,

I'm using W7 HP 64-bit SP1.

When I'm saying DVD's I mean DVD's not Blu-Ray discs.

Those DVD's in question, (for example, "Troy", Forrest Gump"), I can play them with WMP 12 without any problem.

The only difference I can see is that the DVD's I can play with WinDVD BD for Vaio,are marked as "encrypted AND interlaced" when I click on the info button at WinDVD BD 8 and those I cannot play are marked as only "encrypted". Maybe an interlacing issue?

Same problem on the other laptop with WinDVD BD 10 for Vaio.

As stated before, I have sound, subtitles but no image, only black screen.

I'd like to test WinDVD BD 11 Pro full version,to see if it is a compatibility issue with the latest NVidia drivers, but as probably it will ask me to uninstall any previous version, do you know if it's possible to recover my WinDVD BD Vaio version without revert to factory settings?

Thank you for your assistance.

Best,

[Fender67]

@ Blencogo,

Hi,

The solution was to go to WinDVD BD, right click and when the menu "setup" opens, all I had to do is uncheck the button, under "audio/video setup section", "use hardware decode acceleration" (pureNvidia HD).

Now all the dvd's play with no problem.

I have a new question, is it better to check again that option when playing a BLU-Ray discs or not???? (for better performance).

P.S. The quality of expertise here, on this forum is very very low, I'm disappointed, not no mention the Sony Support via phone where one of their employees asked me if WinDVD BD for VAIO was part of the Office 2010 suite!!!!!!

Message was edited by: Fender67

[Blencogo]

Hi Fender67.

I'm glad you have at least identified the cause of the problem. 

It certainly seems that the version of WinDVD BD on your Vaio is not fully compatible with the latest nVidia drivers without disabling the GPU's dedicated video decoding.  I wonder if more recent versions of the software do support this feature?

WinDVD BD has always been a bit clunky - Sony do not use it anymore - personally, I would never use it to play DVDs, just BDs when necessary.  There are far better players for DVDs.

As this driver version is not supported by Sony, I would have been surprised if any help would be forthcoming from Sony Support, particularly as the model is out of warranty.

This is a user forum and sadly, there are lots more users who just want to come here for help without being prepared to contribute. The depth of the community's knowledge is down to the personal experience of those generous enough to help out in their own time.

As to your question, you will have to try with and without this feature to find the best result for BD discs.  However, it is possibly time to look at upgrading to a newer Blu-Ray player.

Have you looked at the free DAPlayer?

http://www.digiarty.com/

:smileyshh:

[Fender67]

Hi Blencogo,

Thank you for your reply, much appreciated!

I have, as mentionned previously, a second VAIO with WinDVD BD for Vaio, version 10.5 and the problem exists with that version too.

I have also tried a trial version from Cyberlink PowerDVD but it gives me a serious COMAX error (stopped working), so not an option too.

I will try Arcsoft's version too and report back. (and maybe Roxio BD).

I will repeat one more time the poor service I've experienced from Sony support via phone call,they are advised to repeat constantly that Nvidia is a third party software so cannot support.

I was wondering what is inside a Vaio which is made by Sony at the exception of the LCD. (CPU?-NO,RAM?-NO,

GPU?-NO, OS?-NO, MOBO?-NO, and many others).

Of course, I already prepared an email which I will make sure that it will go as "high"as possible to inform Sony about the quality of knowledge of their Support service, and hopefully some guys and ladies will search for another job).

Thank you for your assistance.

All the best,

Message was edited by: Fender67

Message was edited by: Fender67