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Transformers HD-DVD not working

Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 6:34 pm
by apkellogg
So I’m not sure where to put this, but thought I would try here. I have a HP laptop that has an HD-DVD drive. The included HD-DVD (The Bourne Supremacy) plays fine. For Christmas, I just received the Transformers HD-DVD. When I initially tried to play it, it forced an update of the HP Quickplay software (which comes from cyberlink). After the update, I could load the movie, however, once I get to the menu screen, there are serious display issues, ie the video is intermittently replaced with a green screen. I talked to HP, who after trying another update to the software said it was a bad disk. Stopped at BB this evening, exchanged disks, and I still have the same problem. The Bourne Supremacy still works fine. HP still insists the disk is bad. Any suggestions on the next step? Thanks in advance.

The laptop is a dv9260nr, with 2 GB RAM, an Intel T7200 Proc, and Nvidia Geforce Go 7600. I've tried updating all drivers and no use.

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:01 am
by Vrock
See if you can exchange the disc.

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:38 am
by vdreadz
BB & bad disks? hmmm.... :-? .

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 11:44 am
by apkellogg
Vrock wrote:
See if you can exchange the disc.


Well, I exchanged it once already. Do you think I got two bad disks in a row?

I was thinking about it more last night and is there any possibility there is an incompatibilty between the software I am using and the disk (ie its not decoding the AACS protection properly or something)? The first Dreamworks shot shows up fine, but as soon as it gets to the menu I start having the display problems.

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 12:28 pm
by UberGerbil
apkellogg wrote:
Vrock wrote:
See if you can exchange the disc.

Well, I exchanged it once already. Do you think I got two bad disks in a row?

I was thinking about it more last night and is there any possibility there is an incompatibilty between the software I am using and the disk (ie its not decoding the AACS protection properly or something)? The first Dreamworks shot shows up fine, but as soon as it gets to the menu I start having the display problems.
Yeah, that was my guess pretty much from the point where you said the second disc had the same problem. Of course it's possible that there's something wonky about this entire run of discs, but we'd likely have already heard more about that. More likely, HP/cyberlink has a problem (I haven't been paying close attention, but the HD formats are designed to "evolve" their DRM somewhat to defeat new hacks, which adds a whole new wrinkle to the question of compatibility and "standards" when it comes to discs and players).

If you can stand going back to best buy, you can try out the disc on one of their demo standalone HD players -- if it plays fine there (and I'm betting it will) then you can tell HP support to stop telling you to exchange discs and look into getting you a fix for their software, or giving you an alternative player executable.

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 2:47 pm
by Vrock
apkellogg wrote:
Vrock wrote:
See if you can exchange the disc.


Well, I exchanged it once already. Do you think I got two bad disks in a row?
Oh, I totally missed that, I should read more carefully. :oops:. Yeah, it seems really doubtful that you got two bad discs in a row. Sorry.

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 3:07 pm
by apkellogg
Vrock wrote:
Oh, I totally missed that, I should read more carefully. :oops:. Yeah, it seems really doubtful that you got two bad discs in a row. Sorry.


Sorry if that came across snarky. I truly didn't know if it was probable I got two bad disks. When buying some TV shows on DVD, I've had to take back some seasons multiple times as one of the disks kept turning up bad.

Plus spending two hours on chat with HP tech when their final suggestion is to "If possible try to copy the files on any other HD-DVD and use the new DVDs with the Notebook" (...huh?) left me a little irritated.

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 5:23 pm
by Vrock
apkellogg wrote:
Vrock wrote:
Oh, I totally missed that, I should read more carefully. :oops:. Yeah, it seems really doubtful that you got two bad discs in a row. Sorry.


Sorry if that came across snarky.
Nope, it didn't come across that way at all. I just felt dumb for telling you to do something you'd already done. No worries.

Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 12:22 am
by bitvector
If you don't have any qualms about stripping DRM (and don't mind using 30G of hard drive space), you might want to try running the disc through DumpHD, which is a Java app and will strip the protection and put the contents of the HD-DVD on your hard drive. That's one way of testing whether it is a DRM-related problem.

Here's some info on how to use DumpHD for playing HD-DVD/BluRay on Ubuntu's wiki (it has a link to DumpHD and a place to get values for keydb.cfg):
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Restr ... ayAndHDDVD