Playback Problems multiregional DVD

[Adam G]

Hi All!

I’m hoping that one of you can help me with a commercial DVD player problem that I’m having.

The machine in question is a MUSTEK DVDV56L-5C. It’s designed to be multiregional, capable of playing any format to any format. I bought it so that I could watch my PAL disks on an NTSC television. However I’ve been having some problems.

The problems started with minor playback issues. There would be scrambled pixellation, screen freeze (though dialogue would continue) and other interruptions, never very prolonged. I contacted the point of sale (a UK firm) and after some negotiation I received a second MUSTEK.

That machine worked well at first. However just as before problems started cropping up with playback, and these problems culminated in a total loss of PAL playback. NTSC playback is as good as ever and apart from refusing to play region 2 disks the machine is exactly what I want. When asked to play a region 2, there is a brief delay while the MUSTEK attempts to read the disk and then it displays a NO DISK error warning.

Coincidentally after the MUSTEK problem deteriorated this far I spent some time housesitting for my uncle, who also owns a DVD. His machine is not multiregional, and is only intended to play NTSC to an NTSC television. I noticed while I was watching disks on his machine that they had a similar problem to my MUSTEK. They would occasionally freeze and show scrambled pixellation, but never with as much severity or frequency as the MUSTEK.

This reminded me of a conversation I had with a sales clerk here when I was in the early stages of my MUSTEK dilemma. I asked if he could think of any possible cause and he suggested that the problem was not with the MUSTEK but with the television it was working with. The television was incapable of understanding the PAL signal that the MUSTEK was sending. The clerk then said that he had a solution and it would cost me $80. I’m naturally suspicious when sales clerks say that kind of thing so I backed off, but now I’m starting to wonder.

I don’t think the problem is hardware failure. If that is the case I would expect the MUSTEK to refuse to show any disk, and not discriminate between PAL and NTSC. I would also expect there to be some cause – an electrical spike maybe – and I can’t think of any. Besides it would be remarkable if the same hardware failure occurred on two separate machines. It is true that the television the MUSTEK is connected to is a cheap DAIWOO, and I suppose if signal failure is going to happen then it’s likely to happen when hooked to a cheap machine. It’s not as easy as checking the power source, since the MUSTEK although designed to operate under European power protocols is hooked to a perfectly capable step-down transformer.

I think the problem lies with the signal and not the DVD machine. The question is, how do I fix that problem? I’m more than willing to buy a new TV if that’s what it takes but I don’t want to rush out & throw money at a problem without knowing more about what’s caused it and what might cure it.

Any thoughts?

Technical specifications MUSTEK: capable of DVD/VCD/CD/MP3/CD-R/CD-RW/SVCD/DVCD playback. 10 Bit, 27 MHz vid & 96 KHz / 24 bit audio DAC performance.

[GeneralLeoFF]

I dont think it is the signal going to the TV. the signal going to the TV is after the fgact and if the image is destorting like that it happenned long before it even left the DVD player.

I get pixalation on my cheap APEX (none multi region) player but not as severe as your saying. Realy the way it goes with DVD players is the same as anything else. Buy cheap and you get cheap.

The fact that the movies are PAL also shouldent cause much of a problem to. Even my cheap $80 APEX will play pal DVD (with a small bit of image area croped off screen as pal is higher reselution then NTSC) if I mod it.

another common cause is RC-1 and RC-2 (they made that didnt they?) DVDs. those have special region checks that fool multi region dvds into seting the wrong region and will cause all kinds of playback problems. If there is an option to flat out turn regions off on this player try using that.

The likley cause though is cheap player with cheap genaric MPEG decoders. even though you bought it from a UK dealer they no doubt bought it from Hong Kong at a fraction of the cost they sold it to you for.

[Adam G]

The likley cause though is cheap player with cheap genaric MPEG decoders

It's possible. The machine IS cheap - about GBP50.

So it's not anything to do with the fact that region 2 television pictures et al are significantly different (more lines per square inch or something like that - I'm not too technical as you may have guessed) than region 1?

[GeneralLeoFF]

NTSC DVD is 480 lines and PAL DVD is 576 lines. 99.9% of DVD players (even the cheaper ones) will simply crop the extra lines off a PAL DVD. Normaly it's just letterboxing anyway so who cares.

DVD pkayers are less dependent on the old NTSC cant play on PAL (and the other way around) stuff like VCRs where.

many DVD players arnt even dependent at all on NTSC or PAL. My APEX dosnt give a rats ass if the disc is NTSC or PAL even though it is a region1 player. It simply will only play Region 1 discs until I mod it but thats the only thing stoping it from playing anything else. Once the region checks are disabled on it It will play anything. Much like a PC software DVD player can play any format PAL or NTSC as long as the regions match (or it is disabled).

it is possable that your player isnt able to crop pal DVDs like APEX players can but that is EXTREAMLY unlikley as it is a multi region player. The player should be fully compatable with PAL or NTSC DVDs.

The problems your describing with pixleation dosnt sound like any kind of Macrovision or other type of copy protection I know about. That would normaly put pink or white lines across the screen or cause it go go bright and dark rapidly. so I definitly think you can rule out the TV your playing it on being the problem.

Ir's realy most likley simply cheap decoders. possably even good decoders but with a poor multiregion mod. Or the RC-1 stuff causing problems. Do you own a copy of the Patriot with Mel Gibson? That was the first RC-1 DVD on the market and while RC-1 wasnt anything special it did basicly make many types of multiregion players all but worthless. It fools the player by sending a fake region check tothe player forcing the player to set that region and then when the dvd sends it;s real region the DVD player is on the worng region and the movie wont play right (if at all). I think thats what RC-1 did anyway

[Adam G]

Do you own a copy of the Patriot with Mel Gibson?

No. I can't think of any movies in my collection that are like that. Are there any other titles to be wary of?

Most of my region 1 DVDs are from Kino & Criterion, dunno if that makes any difference. Still if the problem was with a Trojan Horse disk I would have thought the symptoms would be instant. This was a gradual loss of playback.

I don't understand mod. Modify, you mean? Is that difficult to do to a commercial machine? I mean, if it's a question of a repair job it could be salvagable.

[GeneralLeoFF]

yea mod meaans modifiaction. To install a chip that disables the region lockout sship of a DVD player. Like moding a playstation to play copied games.

Your player isnt necesarky moded though. It could by all means have been developed intentinaly to be region free. Especily if it it comes from Hong Kong or someplace else in Asia outside Japan.

Anyway I dont know of many RC-1 DVDs. the protection sceme wasnt very populer from what I have herd and most companys are happy with simple Macrovision and the default region checks.

Also Criterion DVDs are awsome. The only one I own right now is Brazil and it's definitly the coolest DVD I have. I always am checking out what stuff they have going on. Dont know if that is related to this problem though. prolly not