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Ti X · May 6, 2003, 04:33 PM

I am getting some serious artifacts (pixel anomolies) when trying to view any DVD on my 17". I read that there was a problem with the 12", but I haven't heard anyone complain about the 17. I thought it might just have been me, and I have searched k-base for more info and didn't find anything. It really is noticeable whenever there is black background, I get all of these miscolored pixels surrounding letters and images. I tried adjusting the scan rate in DVD player to 8x but that didn't improve anything. Any ideas? Anyone else have this problem? I have a 17" with 1 GB of RAM running 10.2.5

SwitchnSOON · May 6, 2003, 04:52 PM

I am watching DVDs almost daily on the 17 inch PB. I have not seen any of the problems that you are mentioning.

AssassyN · May 6, 2003, 06:28 PM

I am still running 10.2.4 and have never experienced any of those problems...are you using Apple's included DVD player?

You may want to give the VLC Media Player a try, and also, try downloading & installing the 10.2.6 update that was just released hours ago.

Good luck!

dettociao · May 6, 2003, 06:45 PM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
I am still running 10.2.4 and have never experienced any of those problems...are you using Apple's included DVD player?

You may want to give the VLC Media Player a try, and also, try downloading & installing the 10.2.6 update that was just released hours ago.

Good luck!

A vote for MPlayer! I always hear about VLC but in reality, they took alot of their inspiration (read: code) from the guys @ MPlayer.

Nate

Ti X · May 6, 2003, 06:53 PM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
I am still running 10.2.4 and have never experienced any of those problems...are you using Apple's included DVD player?

You may want to give the VLC Media Player a try, and also, try downloading & installing the 10.2.6 update that was just released hours ago.

Good luck!

I was hoping that 10.2.6 would fix it, but it did not.

I will try VLC, and if that doesn't work, I am off to the Genius bar!

javabeans · May 6, 2003, 06:58 PM

I've just received my 17" yesterday (Monday 05/05) and I've just played Shrek without any problem...its awesome!

Ti X · May 6, 2003, 07:04 PM

Ugh! I just tried VLC and it was worse!! Is there some sort of graphics chip test that I could try? Or what do you think it could possibly be?

AssassyN · May 6, 2003, 07:11 PM

Dang man, that sounds crazy!

Has a DVD *ever* played correctly on your machine? If not, you may have something internally wrong...if you have a nearby Apple Store, give that a shot and see what a Genius there says.

Any other 17" PB users have this? I've been hanging here awhile and I can't recall any others mentioning such a thing. The only rememberance I have is a 12" PB owner had these artifacts using QuickTime, but I'm unsure if he solved it.

stevesnj · May 6, 2003, 08:02 PM

I see this with my Pismo 500 and some stand alone DVD players...it is a normal occurance the DVD's themselves...some DVD's will have this problem some will not.

Ti X · May 6, 2003, 08:28 PM

The thing is, I don't see any problems when I play Warcraft III, which I play with all the settings maxed out. Nor do I have any other graphics problems what so ever. So, that points me towards a DVD player software problem I guess. Weird...

I am on hold with Apple right now....

urrl5201 · 09:10 PM

How many different DVD's have you played? Does every movie look this way? Is your system preference screen resolution maxed out at 1440x900 and color set to millions? If not, an alien resolution can cause problems.
I notice on a wide angle screen while watching the movie "XXX" the first scene that he steals the red corvette there is a title which seems pixelated but it is off screen on the lower black border. What title lettering is doing off screen is puzzling. Hmmm.

stevesnj · May 6, 2003, 09:18 PM

Looks like it is the DVD not the player...but want to gather more data....look at the "artifacts' section.

http://www.all4dvd.com/about_dvd/glossary/glossary.htm

Ti X · May 6, 2003, 09:55 PM

Originally posted by urrl5201:
How many different DVD's have you played? Does every movie look this way? Is your system preference screen resolution maxed out at 1440x900 and color set to millions? If not, an alien resolution can cause problems.
I notice on a wide angle screen while watching the movie "XXX" the first scene that he steals the red corvette there is a title which seems pixelated but it is off screen on the lower black border. What title lettering is doing off screen is puzzling. Hmmm.

Yep. (three) Gladiator, Caddyshack, and Boogie Nights

Yep.

Yep.

I just got off the phone with Apple, we trashed preferences and did an archive and install, still no luck. They are leaning towards a software problem because the problem is localized to the DVD player alone. All other graphics are fine. He said to call back and we would ship it back if the archive and install didn't work, but I am reluctant to send it in just for a DVD player problem. I hardly ever watch DVDs on my 17", and I have a feeling that if it is a player problem, it will be fixed eventually. I would rather just wait for the next version of DVD player.

djjava · May 6, 2003, 11:26 PM

this may seem stupid, but make sure your viewing angle is appropriate... i'm not sure exactly what the problem is, but i know that if i have a bad viewing angle to my screen, the aqua drop shadow appears to whiten the area, not darken, but once you go to a normal viewing angle, all is good. just basic LCD stuff.

get a good viewing angle... see what happens...

not that i know anything, some of you are probably laughing at me...

tritonus · Jul 16, 2003, 08:27 AM

I have the same problem!

Artifacts on my 17" PB when watching DVDs. Happens with Apple DVD player, but also with VLC 0.6.0. Region code 2 DVD drive with various DVD 2 discs.

I called Apple support, but they sent me to a service provider for tests. There, I checked the 17" PB demo model with my DVD: same artifacts, especially when the image goes black.

Interesting point: We connected the 17" PB to a 15" Trinitron VGA monitor, no artifacts there. So it's not a video adapter problem. Seems to be something with the TFT screen.

BTW: DVD works excellent on my girlfriend's iBook 600, no artifacts. Hello, 17" PB owners?

rcarlosnyc · Jul 16, 2003, 10:39 AM

I have no problems when playing DVDs on my 17" PBook. Maybe it's a hardware problem with your superdrive???

tritonus · Jul 16, 2003, 12:33 PM

Originally posted by rcarlosnyc:
I have no problems when playing DVDs on my 17" PBook. Maybe it's a hardware problem with your superdrive???

Then the demo unit at the store also has a hardware problem with the Superdrive? I don't think so.

Plus, no artifacts when connecting the external VGA monitor (no TFT) to the my 17" PB. Seems to be a TFT-related bug.

The DJ · Jul 18, 2003, 09:09 PM

Originally posted by dettociao:
A vote for MPlayer! I always hear about VLC but in reality, they took alot of their inspiration (read: code) from the guys @ MPlayer.

Nate

Pardon me????

VLC was created before mplayer if my memory serves me correctly.
VLC was a network stream client originally, mplayer a file viewer.
Both products make extensive use of each others sourcecode, but this is not just ripping each other off. Both players use completly different approaches and therefore differ very much in many ways. It are these low-level approaches which create the differences between the players, not the 'ripping' of some piece of code for making use of a codec or something.

I think there is very little true ripping on VLC's part. In fact the only piece of code I know that VLC truly ripped from mplayer was the QuickTime decoder. But with all due respect, there is no joy in inventing stuff twice. This decoder is highly specific to Apple's QT library and therefore very hard to implement, let alone implement in a different way. The world may rejoice that the mplayer people got as far as they did, but don't expect us to come with a novel approach to it.

Mplayer uses libdvdcss and libdvdread, which were originally a part of VLC. We created libaries out of these, so others like mplayer can use this. I don't see how that is different from us using their QT decoder.

Don't make accusations when you don't know what you are talking about. And you are forgiven. for that

. It pains me to see that there is so much hatred in the mplayer camp, towards us. Although we do prefer our own product of course, we have never tried to make mplayer look bad. Actually up until now, whenever people were looking for good subtitle support we have been referring our users to mplayer. With 0.6.1 around the corner, with our brand new, and completly original subtitle code, we of course will no longer do that

Greetings DJ

tritonus · Jul 21, 2003, 01:01 PM

Okay, I like VLC media player a lot, too.

But can we get back to the subjet? How about those pixel artifacts on 17" PowerBook (not there on iBooks!)

tritonus · Jul 29, 2003, 03:34 AM

Any new information on this topic? Thanks!