Read below useful information about the different options that the Movie Player support and Extra Tips to enjoy a 100% free of issues or stuttering playback..
PLAYBACK OPTIONS
4 different Options to choose !
Here we present the different options you have BEFOREstart the Playbackof your movie. The choices you will make are important and affect the behavior, the speed and the overall quality of the Movie Player. We must mention that people with new Desktops PC's or Laptops, usually will not have any problem, whichever option they select.
But, due to the fact that there still a lot of users that do have Old Hardware in their PC's (old-series graphics cards, or graphic cards that don't use the original manufacturer's display drivers, but legacy one's), in a lot of cases, we have been aware of PROBLEMS with the Movie Player. Most often, users have reported a Black Screen Video, with Sound but no Picture!
So, let's examine how you can solve this problem that is originated from the different behavior of the PC's graphic card.
[2]: Playback Options for DVD Movies, BEFORE start the actual playback (blue button at [1] ).
The example screenshot above is taken from the main menu of a typical DVD movie (Deadpool 2 - Year: 2017), and shows all the possible options that you have in the red area marked with (2). Switch the values as you wish, and when you are ready, press the blue button "Play Movie" at the top (1) .Then the actual Movie Playback will start with the options you have selected.
If you found an error, just close the Movie Player (it will appear as a second Window), change the values appropriate and start a new playback.
Option 1: Play DVD Menu ?
This option is the most simple of all. If you check this ("On" selected), then the Player will try to play first the DVD Menu that the authors of the DVD Movie have prepared. This menu is usually the place where you choose your subtitles, audio languages, extra scenes, etc.. (before start the Movie). Keep in mind that the menu you will see is the official DVD Menu that it is written in the disc. If you leave unchecked this option ("Off" selected), then the Player will bypass the menu and will start play automatically the actual movie with default values for the subtitltes and the language. Don't worry about that. During the playback, there is a "CC" option menu and an "Audio" menu, where you are able to switch the subtitles and the Audio without stopping the Movie. Plus , you may add your own extrenal subtitles from a file in your PC. All these are explained later in this page.
Option 2: Hardware Acceleration,
H/A Decoding & Video Output module!!!
The most important options of all. These options control the way that your Graphics Card cooperates with the Player to display the Video and the Audio part of the movie in the screen. In a few words, here you have full control over the playback quality.
There are 4 possible options to choose:
1.) Hardware Acceleration: ON and Hardware Decoding: Auto 2.) Hardware Acceleration: ON and Hardware Decoding: Direct3D11 3.) Hardware Acceleration: ON and Hardware Decoding:DXVA 2.0 4.) Hardware Acceleration: OFF (no Hardware Decoding algorithm)
There is also the NEW option of choosing the Video Output Module for the output Video. The new option was added to version 4.5 of the "DVD Player+" application and on. With this option you force the output Video to render using either a OpenGL, a Direct3D9 surface, etc.
Practically speaking, if you ever find problem with the video, then change this option among the others. If you don't experience problems, then leave it as is ("Auto").
But, if you experience black screen video, then select: Hardware Acceleration:OFF (no Hardware Decoding algorithm) and Vdeo Output:Direct3D9 or OpenGL (one of the two must work)
What is Hardware Acceleration & which option to choose?
Hardware Acceleration means, that during the Decoding Video Process of the video stream that is written compressed in the disc with a specific codec (e.g. MPEG-2, H.264 or H.265), a big part of this heavy task is accomplished with the use of the graphics card (hardware), instead of the actual PC's CPU.
Without diving into the details of the process, it is way better and we advise to use Hardware Acceleration when possible, because the process is faster compared to just CPU decoding (usually called software decoding), plus the PC's processor will make use only of a small percentage of its entire power. You will enjoy the best Playback Quality possible.
The H/A Decoding you can choose (Auto, Direct3D11 or DXVA 2.0) is free to select. The Automatic will allow the player to try to find the best algorithm that your card support for the Movie's specific codec. The other two options force the player to use specific algorithms.
Depending on your graphic card and the drivers that you have install for it, there might be cases, where a possible mismatch of a drivers impementaion for a specific graphic card will lead to poor decoding and quality loss, although the decoding will take place. So we have allowed the user to try specific algorithms that they might work better.
A safe choise is to always try the choices in the order they appear above. Only if you find problems with the playback try the next one.
__________________________________________________________________________ Black Screen Video with Audio only __________________________________________________________________________
Some users face the situation that the movie start playing, but no picture is shown. On the other hand the sound is OK!
The black screen video part, appears when the Video Frames are not decoded correctly or not decoded on time. This may happen not only on our Movie Player but on a variety of other Media Players. The origin of this problem is a combination of an old graphic card, mismatched or not latest drivers for the card, etc.
The problem appeared mostly on users that have two graphic cards: e.g. NVidia Graphics among with Intel HD embedded card on their PC and there is a mismatch between the two when rendering on full screen. Generally, they must download and install only the NVidia's Drivers for their card and avoid use legacy or compatible open-source drivers. __________________________________________________________________________ The workaround that has solved the problem with the "DVD Player+" is to Disable the Hardware Acceleration. Also, you must set the video output option, by choosing either "Direct3D9" or the "OpenGL" option. __________________________________________________________________________ Hardware Acceleration:OFF (no Hardware Decoding algorithm) and Vdeo Output:Direct3D9 or OpenGL (one of the two must work) __________________________________________________________________________ Keep in mind, that by disabling Hardware Acceleration, you avoid involving the card in the decoding process. But, on the other hand there is a Trade-Off with the playback quality of the video. Especially if you are trying to play a Full-HD Movie (1920x1080 or higher resolution) without H/A, in an old PC (low RAM with old processor), you will find it rather difficult if not impossible.
