Re: [Hampshire] [OT] DVD playback on computers no good

On 05/03/2008, John Hunt <johnrhunt@???> wrote:
> Call me crazy, but I've noticed that dvd playback on a variety of
> computers never seems as good as a dedicated device.
>
> The problem is that when a nice mountain scene is panning (lord of the
> rings/two towers) for example, it's not really 'choppy', but it isn't
> perfectly smooth. You can tell the computer isn't struggling to play it,
> and I've found this happens on all my machines, everything from a brand
> new core 2 duo dell under vlc/mplayer etc to an old celeron-m 1.4ghz and
> even on windows xp with a fairly high spec machine. This also occurs on
> various displays.
>
> I guess most people would just put up with it, but I do use a machine
> downstairs for DVD playback on the tv, and because I always notice it,
> it's very annoying!
>
> My playstation2 plays the same discs back perfectly smooth during these
> scenes (although the picture isn't as good!)
>
> Does anyone know the reason for this? I am truly baffled! Obviously it's
> pretty hard to find any useful info on google as everything is about
> 'real' choppiness, not this odd thing that could be framerate/refresh
> rate related or something.
>
> Cheers,
> John.
>

It depends what the movie is. If it is a US DVD playing, then the DVD
might actually be a 24fps movie but being made to display at 30fps.
The Linux DVD player (e.g. xine) will do some clever stuff and display
the movie at 24fps.
Unfortunately, I did a lot of work on xine to make playback
exceptionally smooth, but someone decided to remove that code because
they did not understand what it did!
I do not have time to put it back in.
If you are playing a UK DVD, then the problem is different and
extremely difficult to fix.
It is a frame rate problem and not an interlacing problem. I.e. Trying
to display a 25fps movie on a 70-80fps computer display.