Playback issues on Disney DVDs

[MacEachaidh]

I'm running VLC 1.1.5 on WinXP (+SP3) with 2 GB of RAM. I'm finding on some DVDs (for instance, Disney ones) the player skips a few seconds at the end of every chapter, which makes the film difficult to watch. It happens on some other titles -- far from all, but enough to be puzzling -- but the Disney ones (for instance, the new Toy Story 3 DVD) are good examples where it reliably happens every single time.

The installation of VLC is fairly standard. The only setting I've modified from the installed default is to deselect the "Resize interface to video size" option.

Is this a known issue? Better still, is there a known resolution to it?

Thanks for any help.

[MacEachaidh]

Hmmm. Has no-one got any thoughts on this matter? Please?

[Brant1]

I am afraid that I only have the same questions. Toy Story 3 s the first movie I have had difficulty with in a long time. I have tried three different copies of the film from the local video store. I have tried them with latest version of VLC running with Ubuntu 10.04, with an older version running on XP and with another program also on XP.
With Linux it plays, but every minute or so will freeze on a scene for a few seconds and then will suddenly restart. With the other versions, once past the previews, everything grinds to a halt.
I have only begun to look into the question.
Good luck.

[MacEachaidh]

OK, am I doing something wrong in my posts? Why can I not get a response?

[Technologicat]

OK, am I doing something wrong in my posts? Why can I not get a response?

Nah, it's probably just that no one knows.

Could you try with "vlc -vv" from the command line on your Ubuntu machine? That should produce debug output into the terminal window, which might help in finding the problem.

[Lotesdelere]

I know that some recent Disney DVD's are using a new protection scheme and maybe that's the cause of the trouble.

For instance if you open the VIDEO_TS folder of the Wall-E DVD with Windows Explorer it will report a total size of about 60 GB which is obviously impossible. Maybe you could try to remove the protection and to rip the DVD to your HDD, if it's allowed to do so in your country, then check if the problem still remains.

[MacEachaidh]

Technologicat, Lotesdelere, thanks for your replies.

Unfortunately, I don't run Ubuntu. I'm running Win XP. And I don't have any DVD-ripping software. I could try to search some out, at least as a trial.

In the meantime, I'm assuming it's something in the way Disney DVDs are authored. I don't have many of them, so I don't know if it's all Disney CDs, but every Pixar one I have behaves this way, at least, so I thought other people than myself and Brant1 may have noticed this as well.

It's a pain in the bum, because it means I'll have to find some other software to watch them with.

But thanks for your input. It's appreciated.

[Technologicat]

Technologicat, Lotesdelere, thanks for your replies.

Unfortunately, I don't run Ubuntu. I'm running Win XP. And I don't have any DVD-ripping software. I could try to search some out, at least as a trial.

Ah, I thought that...

The -vv option probably works on Windows, too, if you open VLC from the command line, but I don't use Windows myself so someone else will need to help with that :)

(It's probably as simple as Windows+R, cmd, cd "\program files\vlc", vlc -vv, but please someone correct me if I'm wrong :) )

In the meantime, I'm assuming it's something in the way Disney DVDs are authored. I don't have many of them, so I don't know if it's all Disney CDs, but every Pixar one I have behaves this way, at least, so I thought other people than myself and Brant1 may have noticed this as well.

There was another question about this in the Linux section, so it seems it's popping up...

It's a pain in the bum, because it means I'll have to find some other software to watch them with.

Mm, I understand.

[robert d.]

I have the same problem with a lot of recent Disney DVDs (Toy Story 1, 2 & 3, Cars,...). I think there is a problem with some scenes where some objects are translated in the language selected at the beginning of the playback. for example, in the beginning of Cars, when the first race is in the last lap, the ranking tower is flashing "last lap" when "English" is selected, and is flashing "dernier tour" when "Français" is selected. I notice that this issue appears on Windows and on Linux (I have tested both).

I haven't run VLC wih option "-vv" (sorry... ). I will do it. maybe this issue is solved with the last version of VLC? I hope so...

[Technologicat]

I know that some recent Disney DVD's are using a new protection scheme and maybe that's the cause of the trouble.

Now that this forum thread was resurrected... I can confirm the same phenomenon on many Funimation anime titles.

At the end of each episode of a series on such a disc, VLC may skip a few seconds - and if one tries seeking to near that point in time, VLC sometimes freezes altogether (especially if one tries seeking backwards from the start of the next episode). Jumping to chapter points seems safe (no freeze).

Examining the discs more closely, they report sizes like 80GB. The most likely explanation is a deliberately broken TOC with multiple references to the same physical files. In addition to the incorrect size, the broken TOC also causes any DVD player to report a huge array of titles on the disc... only a few of which actually work. This has the effect that the only way to be able to pick the correct titles on these DVDs is to navigate through the DVD menu.

Looking at dmesg (Linux system log) confirms that faulty sectors have been deliberately added to the disc at certain points. When playing, the OS tries re-reading them again and again, and eventually reports read errors. But while it is trying to re-read, no data flows from the disc to the player, which is why the freezes happen.

Obviously, the protection scheme is either blatantly breaking the DVD standard, or utilizing some loopholes in it. Apparently the idea is that if the player reads only those sectors the DVD "playlist" requires, it will skip the faulty sectors and work just fine. The problem is that computer-based players tend to have a linear read-ahead cache - possibly already at the OS level - which doesn't account for any jump commands in the "playlist". If the cache size is such that part of it would be filled from the faulty sectors when playing the end of the chapter... I'm sure all of us see the problem.

(The explanation may have technical inaccuracies, but I think the basic idea is correct.)

The only workaround is to image the whole disc to the hard drive, ignoring read errors, and then play the image file (which will not generate any further read errors). Unfortunately, because this involves breaking (ineffective) encryption, doing it is illegal in most countries these days.

The usual ultimate irony is, of course, that only legitimate customers like us have these problems. Not sure if that is funny anymore or just sad.

[Technologicat]

I have the same problem with a lot of recent Disney DVDs (Toy Story 1, 2 & 3, Cars,...). I think there is a problem with some scenes where some objects are translated in the language selected at the beginning of the playback. for example, in the beginning of Cars, when the first race is in the last lap, the ranking tower is flashing "last lap" when "English" is selected, and is flashing "dernier tour" when "Français" is selected.

This sounds like a different video track for each language, probably for the whole chapter that the sign appears in. This would fit in with my general explanation above (assuming that the bad sectors are located at chapter edges).

I notice that this issue appears on Windows and on Linux (I have tested both).

Good to know it's OS independent. Thanks for testing :)

I haven't run VLC wih option "-vv" (sorry... :oops: ). I will do it.

Try it, it may give some useful information :)

Also, if you want to check whether the problem you're having is the same I've had, you could check the system log and see if it reports read errors near the time when the freezes happen. In Linux, you can view the log by typing the command "dmesg" in the terminal. In Windows XP, it should be located somewhere under (right-click on My Computer) > Manage.

maybe this issue is solved with the last version of VLC? I hope so... :wink:

If you'd like to check, you can try the nightly builds ( http://nightlies.videolan.org/ ), which are based on the latest code for VLC 1.2-git. Note that as the page says, these builds are potentially unstable, and not supported, but it may be worth a try to see whether using the very latest code resolves your problem or not. Ready-made binary packages are provided for Windows, Mac OS X and Ubuntu.

[robert d.]

thanks for your replies, Technologicat!

I knew for the deliberated TOC corruption and bad sectors. but, I haven't thought about the read-ahead buffer. I will check your ideas...

[Synetech]

I have seen this as well. In fact, after the third or fourth time, I went to the library and signed out a bunch of animated movie DVDs and tested them. What I found was that when VLC plays non-Disney movies, it does fine, but with Disney movies, it tends to get stuck and/or skip now and then (sometimes with long intervals between incidents, sometimes several in quick succession, and sometimes with only a few per movie, sometimes with numerous ones). The problem points are consistent for the same disc (and possibly even for the same movie), and can be reliably reproduced. (The library has multiple copies of most of them, but I only tested one of each.)

I tried the problematic titles in Media Player Classic and Gom Player in addition to VLC. MPC played them flawlessly, and Gom usually did as well, though the first time it encounters the bump it may have slight, ¼ second pause—unlike VLC which can pause for several seconds and/or jump forward several seconds. (Unfortunately, neither MPC nor Gom can play DVDs at >1x with sound like VLC can.)

I tried ripping a couple of titles to the hard-drive on the assumption that it may just be a disc thing, but it still exhibited the bug when playing from hard-drive. Then my next test really baffled me! I tried re-encoding/compressing/transcoding a few titles and found that they still stuttered at the same spots! It seems that the error/protection is somehow encoded in a way so as to bypass re-encoding (I have heard of such protections for things like pre-release screeners, but this is actually causing problems with normal playback!)

I’m not quite familiar enough with DVD structures to properly analyse them with tools like IFOEdit, PgcEdit, et. al., but I would be happy to do any further tests. (I tested VLC 2.0.1 today and the playback bug is still present.)

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Please share a small samples and logs.

[nfotis]

Hello there,

I have stumbled upon a similar situation with a Disney DVD.
It is irritating to pay for a DVD and not being able to play it.
Tested again today with VLC 2.0.3, no joy.

Most of these (Cars, Finding Nemo, etc.) play OK, but 'Toy Story' (the first one, region 2, Greek cover) does not play on my laptop computer (Windows XP, IBM Thinkpad T60).

Tried also with Windows Media Player, it cannot play this disk.
Maybe a newer DVD-R (USB) will play correctly this kind of copy-protected DVDs.

I tested on a home DVD player and it plays OK, so I suspect their copy protection scheme causes that problem.
The disk folder VIDEO_TS shows a size of 59.8 GBytes, which is obviously impossible.

N.F.

[nfotis]

I have a suspicion that older DVD devices like mine do not work with AACS (MKB) copy protection.

The interesting thing is, that other DVDs in the Pixar/Disney series show a 'copy protection' icon in their packaging, but these play OK. So, I cannot be 100% sure that the actual DVD device is the problem.

N.F.

[Synetech]

Please share a small samples and logs.

The two I tested did not exhibit it (Murphy’s Law), but next time I notice it I will. However, where do I get the log and how can I clip a sample (that still exhibits the behavior)?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Message dialog.

[nfotis]

Hello there,

I bought 'Cars 2' from a Greek retail shop, and it seems to exhibit the same behavior
(a long delay in appearance of initial screen, then freezing etc.)

I will buy a new USB DVD-RW device, to see if the problem persists (this is the perfect excuse for me, since my other Thinkpad is an ultraportable which doesn't have a DVD anyway )

I will update the situation as soon as I test this 'solution'.

Cheers,
N.F.

[nfotis]

Hello there,

I can verify that a newer DVD player (USB-powered) plays OK 'Cars 2' with VLC. The only problem is a long delay (maybe one minute) before starting the disc.

The only problem is, it takes two USB connectors in order to power it... and the laptop doesn't have too many of these.

Cheers,
N.F.

[nfotis]

Note that the original DVD hardware on my Thinkpad is this model/version:
LG HL-DT-ST GSA-4083N (firmware 1.08, no touched).
A search for firmware for this drive turned up nothing, so I decided to go for a newer drive (after all, it could be useful for my x200s, or so I think - it seems to work on one USB port).

Strange thing, 'Toy Story' still does not play, even on the new DVD unit!
(just tested under Windows 7 and WMP).

N.F.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Yes, this is a VLC bug.
Those Discs have a special protection against VLC.

[nfotis]

Note that I tested under Windows Media Player (WMP) in Windows 7, and it had the same problem, so this is definitely not a VLC-only problem.

It irritates me that I cannot play my original bought DVDs thanks to all these locks
I got a proposal to buy the AnyDVD from Slysoft in order to be able to playback these DVDs without all these annoying restrictions.

Add the fact that the home DVD player can play these disks without problems and delays, and I get even more irritated... I am seriously thinking of sending back the 'Toy Story' DVD and asking for a refund.

N.F.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

YOu should.

[bigfoot77210]

Hi past...,
Issue still present in 2019, playing CARS 3.

So as far as I understand, Disney wants us to download their movies instead of buying their crappy DVD?
Not clear for me but maybe out of topic.