Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Windows® XP Media Center®

Troubleshooting DVD Playback

Although inserting and playing a DVD should be dead simple, a surprising number

of things can go wrong. General error categories include problems involving the

DVD disc and hardware (optical read errors), the software, the video playback, and

the audio playback.

Hardware Problems

If you receive an error message such as “Unable to read drive X:” (substitute the logi-

cal letter for your DVD drive), chances are there is a physical problem with your disc

or your DVD drive. Here are a few things to try before demanding a replacement

from your video store or computer retailer:

■ Clean the disc—Either use a commercial disc cleaning kit or wipe the sil-

very side of the disc gently with a soft, lint-free cotton cloth. Don’t wipe it in

a circular motion, but brush outward from the center of the disc toward the

edge. Avoid the urge to use a paper towel or tissue, because these can leave

tiny scratches on the delicate plastic surface of the disc.

■ Try the disc in another machine—Make sure that the new drive has a

DVD logo on the front panel. Insert the disc and see whether it plays. If it

works there, but not in your Media Center machine, you know that the disc

itself is not causing the problem.

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO WINDOWS XP MEDIA CENTER

FIGURE 11.6

The nV DVD

driver control

panel allows you

to choose from a

range of options

to create the per-

fect audio play-

back experience.

■ Clean your DVD drive—If you’ve ruled out a problem with the disc, it

could be that your drive needs cleaning. Clean the drive using a commer-

cially available CD-ROM or DVD drive cleaning disc. Cleaning discs are

available at most computer and home electronics stores.

Software Problems

There are many things that can go wrong when it comes to software, not the least of

which is a simple memory shortage caused by trying to run too many applications

at once. To see whether that’s causing your problem, start by quitting all unneces-

sary applications. Sometimes that’s all it takes to stabilize your system and get it to

stop misbehaving. Here’s how to do it:

1. Quit the programs you know are running which you don’t need.

2. Right-click the items in your system tray and close or disable each one.

3. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to access the Windows Task Manager (see Figure 11.7).

This will reveal all the software programs currently running on your system.

4. Selectively close programs to recapture your processing resources (don’t close

Explorer.exe—that’s part of Windows) .

CHAPTER 11 WATCHING DVDS ON AN XP MEDIA CENTER PC

161

FIGURE 11.7

The Processes tab

of the Windows

Task Manager

shows everything

going on inside

your Media

Center PC.

Video Problems

If you can hear the audio but can’t see the video

image, chances are it’s a problem with your

video hardware drivers. First, check all of your

video cable connections, just to be sure. Then

check the hardware documentation that came

with your machine or call the manufacturer to

find out how to update your display drivers.

If you are the hands-on type, you can also view

the driver properties for your display adapter by

opening the device manager from the Windows

Control Panel (you’ll find it in your Windows XP

Start menu). After you launch Control Panel,

choose the System icon to access System Properties

(lower left), and then select the Hardware tab to

open the Device Manager window (upper right).

Finally, double-click on your display adapter to

open its control panel, and choose the Driver tab

(lower right). Many display adapters, such as the

nVidia GeForce4 MX series, provide an Update

Driver option (see Figure 11.8).

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO WINDOWS XP MEDIA CENTER

tip

Another common com-

plaint among Media Center

movie-watchers is that the

TV image is too dark. The

monitor brightness setting

that’s often perfect for your

PC applications may not be

bright enough for video images. If

your DVD playback image is too

dark, you may want to adjust your

monitor settings to lighten the

screen image.

Some high-end monitors even let

you store “profiles,” groups of set-

tings that are optimized for different

viewing modes. If your hardware

supports this capability, you may

want to set up separate profiles,

one for using software applications

and one for watching video.

FIGURE 11.8

This image

shows the pop-

up windows that

will lead you to

your display

adapter’s driver

options.