Really CRAPPY sound with DVD

[Zerileous]

Ok when i play a DVD, no matter the volume, the sound is extemly distorted, i dont know whats wrong here, i can play MP3/MPEG with no problem at fairly high volume, im using Onboard Miles Fast 2d Personal audio, iv tried two different speakers, one is the common Altec Lansing tower set that comes with OEMs and the other is a 2 piece from SUN, i dont know the specs but i would guess they are at the top of the bottom of the speaker quality range so to speak. My DVD drive is a 16x Lite On, i dont know the model. This happens with all DvDs, video quality is great. The sound is heavily distorted though, i can turn on my mic and record some of it if you would like, the deep voices sound almost mechanized. I can play Audio CDs in the DVD player with no real problems. All i have come up with is, crappy player (doubt it, its a lite on) crappy sound card, crappy speakers. Although i doubt all that because music plays fine. I have tried it with two sets of speakers though and am stumped, i doubt anything was broken because it has been like this all along. Its still under that 3 year warranty and im thinking aobut taking best buy up on its warranty that has caused them to keep me from upgrading the computer. (the warranty was my moms idea) I didnt know where to put this because it could be any number of things causing the problems. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[MEMex]

Whats your OS that you use when playing dvds, whats the brand of your computer and whats your sound card and when did you update drivers...

Just some questions that i might be able to solve your problem...

[Zerileous]

its the system in my sig on win XP

[MEMex]

is the sound card fully compatible with WinXP, and if it is, are there driver updates for it?

I had same problem, also look to see if the DVD software is updated too...
DVD software might be the main problem, did you come from using windows 98 and switching to winXP ?

[Zerileous]

i came from ME to XP, its onboard sound not a card, the miles fast is just the chipset (or at least whats listed under sound), i know this by the location of the of the sound connecters on the back of the PC. I cannot get inside the PC becuase of my moms warranty.

[Zerileous]

also, i have used intervideo win DvD (came with computer, free upgrade forXP compatability) Power DvD (DLed the XP version) and some otehr player that came with one of my rentals from blockbuster. They all exhibit the same problems. Im pretty sure my drivers are up to date although my BIOS is at least two years old (and am way to lazy to update it)

[The Overclocker]

i think the problem may be to do with the cable that carries sound between the DVD drive and Sound card/chipset - i do not think it is sheiled, leving the cable open to lots of interferance, try changing it (if you can).

[Zerileous]

i thot the sound cable on the DvD might be the problem but it doesnt make since that sound is crystle clear with other audio unless i streess the audio chipset/speakers with too much volume.

[Guero]

I would try updating drivers. Update WinXP, bios, sound drivers, and video drivers. Hopefully one of these is the problem. Also using different player software may help.

[Mpegger]

Originally posted by The Overclocker
i think the problem may be to do with the cable that carries sound between the DVD drive and Sound card/chipset - i do not think it is sheiled, leving the cable open to lots of interferance, try changing it (if you can). DVD audio is compressed and does not travel along the anolog or digital connections between the drive and sound card. It is read off the DVD media like a regular file would be read off a CD and transferred over the IDE or SCSI cable.

That being said, have you tried the lowering hardware sound accelaration? I dont know where it would be located under XP, but you sould be able to use the Run command and type in dxdiag. It sould bring up the DirectX control Panel. Click on the Sound tab and see if there are any reported problems as in missing files and such. If all appears well, check different Hardware Sound Accelaration Levels. Its usually set all the way to the right (all features that the chip supports are on). Sometimes completely disabling hardware accelaration clears up problems in some programs, but may cause problems in others (PowerDVD refuses to playback files from the hard drive with sound with VXD drivers and HWAccel on. It will only playback files from the harddrive with it fully off, but then RTCW and other games have really crackly sound).

If that doesn't help, check the manuals that came with the computer and see if it list what the onboard sound chip is. XP might be identifing the chip incorrectly and using the incorrect drivers.