Can't play DVDs

[jmangan]

Windows 10 21H2
VLC 3.0.17.4 64-bit
Asus DRW-24D5MT (Set to Region 2 in Device Manager)

Using (several) Region 2 DVDs I get this message:

Playback failure:
DVDRead could not open the disc "E:".
Your input can't be opened:
VLC is unable to open the MRL 'dvd:///E:/'. Check the log for details

I tried copying libdvdcss.dll from this link, https://download.videolan.org/pub/libdv ... .12/win64/, to C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC but it made no difference.
(I got that from this post: https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... ay#p524022)

Anything else worth trying?

Thanks.

[Hitchhiker]

Does the drive recognize that a DVD has been inserted?

If so, click it in Windows File Explorer to show the contents. Changing the layout to "Details" will be helpful at this stage.

If you can see an AUDIO TS and a VIDEO TS folder open the latter and find the VIDEO TS.IFO file and double click it which should start the ball rolling.

If you can't see the file extension click "View" top of the ribbon and go to Options ---> View (tab) and remove the checkmark from "Hide file extensions for known file types" and checkmark "Show hidden files, folders and drives". Click Apply / OK.

[jmangan]

Thanks for reading. Yes, the drive recognises the disk.

I tried what you suggested, double-clicked on VIDEO_TS.IFO, and was prompted for the app to open it.

I selected VLC and the drive span, clicked for a couple of seconds and then stopped. No messages on VLC, just a blank screen.

I know the drive works because I've been using MakeMKV to rip DVDs this week, including today.

Any other suggestions (he asked getting slowly more pessimistic)?

Thanks.

[Hitchhiker]

You shouldn't be prompted for an app to open the disc with. It should play immediately.

So these DVDs that won't play. Are they homemade DVDs or originals? If they're the homegrown variety which app did you use to create them with?

[jmangan]

They're originals. Brand new. As I said MakeMKV has no trouble ripping them, (and the ripped files play fine).

I don't understand why the disks themselves won't. I've never had any problems with VLC in the past.

As for the prompt I presume there is no file association for '.IFO', as opposed to '.mkv', '.mp4', etc.
[UPDATE] Actually, there is. Maybe when I selected it the 'Always use' was ticked and created the association?

[Hitchhiker]

Please create a log file as follows:

1. Before starting a DVD hit Ctrl + M to open Messages
2. At the bottom of the window change Verbosity to "2" (ignore the "Save As" field for the moment)
3. Leave it open on screen and start a DVD.
4. When vlc stops access the Messages window again, type a name for the file and click Save As. You can use the normal Windows copy / paste option to select and copy the log if you prefer.
   Use the Code button (5th from the left above the message box) to paste the log into your next post, or if it's too long go to Pastebin.com and paste it into the New Paste field, give it a name and save it which will change the URL at the top. Copy that and post it here.

I suspect though that your DVDs are encrypted with the latest technology to prevent copying. If that's the case your only option would be to either rip them to an mp4 using either vlc or Handbrake, or acquire proprietary software to enable playback.

[jmangan]

Thanks. Pastebin, as predicted:

https://pastebin.com/r8Akt4tW



Just to satisfy my curiosity; if VLC can't play the DVDs because of the protection mechanism, how would it be able to rip it to an mp4? Surely both require opening/reading/decrypting the files? (I've never used VLC to rip a DVD).

[Lotesdelere]

For some reason VLC can't play this disc at all.
Please give us the EAN-13 / UPC codes of the DVD.

[jmangan]

Lotsdelere, I'll be happy to if you can tell me where/how I can find them.

Sorry, new to me.

[jmangan]

Just in case it's a different issue, here's another DVD that does the same thing:

https://pastebin.com/u5UMxKGs

[Hitchhiker]

Lotsdelere, I'll be happy to if you can tell me where/how I can find them.

Sorry, new to me.

It's the number below the barcode. EAN-13 contains 13 digits while UPC contains only 12. It'll be either one or the other, but not both.

[jmangan]

I've got:

5 (but this is outside the barcode delimiting pair so I don't know if it counts)
051892234344

This is for the first disk I sent the log for.

[Hitchhiker]

I've got:

5 (but this is outside the barcode delimiting pair so I don't know if it counts)
051892234344

This is for the first disk I sent the log for.

Would you mind checking that again please, because..


(click to enlarge)

Preferably write it the way it appears below the barcode (spaces between digits are important).

[jmangan]

5 051892 234344

[Hitchhiker]

5 051892 234344

OK, now we're getting somewhere: https://www.barcodelookup.com/5051892234344

So it's a DVD released in 2021 called Dune. Since it's a recent release I would imagine the latest copyright protection is in force to prevent copying. That would likely be AACS and BD+ both of which would prevent vlc from being able to playback the disc without the approriate licensed libraries. Because vlc is open source and free those libraries aren't going to be included in vlc due to the cost.

But maybe Lotesdelere knows something I don't so stick around until he responds.

[Lotesdelere]

Nope, it's up to the devs now.

[jmangan]

Okay, that makes sense.

For some reason, possibly randomly firing neurons, I thouight BD+ was related to Blu-Ray only.

Is it on DVDs now?

Fingers crossed for the Devs.

Thank you both for your replies.

[jmangan]

It's working!

I moved on to do something with Handbrake but I had a problem there and I (apparently) needed to install .Net 5.0 & 6.0

Neither did what I hoped and I had to install an older version of Handbrake but when I inserted a DVD to start some processing VLC sprang into life and played the DVD!

I tried the other DVDs I had problems with and all good!

Here's the log of it now opening the disk in case that helps at all.

https://pastebin.com/yxda3y25

Thanks again.

[Hitchhiker]

Okay, that makes sense.

For some reason, possibly randomly firing neurons, I thouight BD+ was related to Blu-Ray only.

Is it on DVDs now?

Fingers crossed for the Devs.

Thank you both for your replies.

BD+ is used primarily on Blu-ray, but also on HD DVDs.

It's working!

I moved on to do something with Handbrake but I had a problem there and I (apparently) needed to install .Net 5.0 & 6.0

Neither did what I hoped and I had to install an older version of Handbrake but when I inserted a DVD to start some processing VLC sprang into life and played the DVD!

I tried the other DVDs I had problems with and all good!

Here's the log of it now opening the disk in case that helps at all.

https://pastebin.com/yxda3y25

Code: Select all

dvdnav info: DVD disk reports itself with Region mask 0x00e50000. Regions: 02 04 05

As regards region mask 0x00e50000 the 0x00 means it's an all region DVD, but the e50000 adds a restriction, in this case 02 04 05. So you wouldn't be able to play a disc from another region unless it's been set correctly in Device Manager. But there's a limited amount of times you can amend the current settings.

Other regions explained in the pix.


(click to enlarge)

I don't have Handbrake installed so I don't know what the significance of what you wrote would be, but on the Handbrake forum there's a post which mentions placing the libdvdcss in a protected folder would cause it to fail. Maybe that's why it didn't work with a later version.

Still, I'm glad to hear it's worked out well for you.