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DVD Player issues!

someguy

someguy

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Dec 4, 2005
2,351
21
Still here.
OK, we have two DVD players in my room (why, I don't know) and they both have this issue where the video on the TV screen gets brighter and brighter, stops, then gets darker and darker. It's like a brightness setting is fluctuating on it's own, but from what I can tell, no settings are actually changing.

This cycle takes about 10 seconds to go from brightest, to darkest, and back to brightest in a smooth but annoying transition. Also, when the cycle reaches its darkest point, the video shakes somewhat violently until it begins to brighten back up.

Some odd things to note are that sudden scene changes can interrupt this cycle for no apparent reason, and that the shaking part of the problem usually only occurs on the initial Menu screen, but not always, and the brightness fluctuation issue occurs throughout the entire movie.

Does anyone know what could be causing this?

Let me know if you need any specific hardware spec or software setting information.
 
Are these both the same model of DVD player, or are they completely different brands? Also, are you sure the TV works ok otherwise? Kind of a stupid question, but if you don't use your TV other than to watch movies, you might not know... And lastly, does it do this with all movies, or just some, and is there any common factor between any of these movies that don't work, i.e., are they put out by the same studio or anything?

There are four possibilities I see:

-Dodgy video output hardware on the DVD players-- possible if they're both the same kind of deck, though fairly unlikely.

-Bad connection cable.

-Weird issue with the copy protection on some DVDs-- happens sometimes with cheap DVD players, and happened to me once with similar symptoms except with the color fading in and out instead of brightness.

-Broken TV.

Depending on your specific setup, it could be any of the above...
 
Um, ok let me see here.

Completely different DVD Players (neither I would say are necessarily "cheap").

TV works fine as far as I can tell. I play PSX and Nintendo 64 on it with no problems, and watch cable tv.

Happens with Life (Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy movie), doesn't happen with Hostel, happens with the Family Guy movie.

Cable connections seem to be solid.

Not sure what else to say. Any ideas?
 
Hm...

Random thought, and really the only other possibility I can see... Are the DVD players hooked to the TV through a VCR or anything? If they are, try hooking the player directly to the TV [if that's possible with the inputs on the TV].

It's possible that the copy protection on those movies in question is having issues running the connection through another source.
 
Nope. DVD players are connected straight to the TV via composite connectors (the red, yellow, and white ones).

:confused:
 
Well I'm stumped then. With a little Googling I found it's definitely a Macrovision copy protection issue, but there's no reason it should do that if it's connected to a regular TV through RCA inputs, unless it happens to be a TV/VCR combo deal, in which case it would make a little more sense. What are the specific brands/models of the equipment you're using?
 
TheEdisonEffect said:
Well I'm stumped then. With a little Googling I found it's definitely a Macrovision copy protection issue, but there's no reason it should do that if it's connected to a regular TV through RCA inputs, unless it happens to be a TV/VCR combo deal, in which case it would make a little more sense. What are the specific brands/models of the equipment you're using?
Click to expand...
The Macrovision curse does have some possible solutions as referred to in the link. We have one DVD Player when used with an older model TV/VHS Magnavox which has this problem, but have not had any success in correcting it. I'd be interested to know if you have any luck. Post back, if you do.
 
Ugh. Cannot disable MV in my DVD player. Very annoying.

Any help?

My player models:

CyberHome CH-DVD 300
Fisher DVD-S1000
 
TheEdisonEffect said:
Hm...

Random thought, and really the only other possibility I can see... Are the DVD players hooked to the TV through a VCR or anything? If they are, try hooking the player directly to the TV [if that's possible with the inputs on the TV].

It's possible that the copy protection on those movies in question is having issues running the connection through another source.
Click to expand...


I do this, and it causes the problem described. My TV only has coaxial cable input, and my DVD player only has the three colored plug (RCA?) output. The VCR is kind of an interpreter between the two, allowing RCA input and coaxial output. Apparently I am dealing with some rather out of date (or cheap) equipment, any help as to fix the problem will be much appreciated.
 
Actually the problem is quite the contrary, in your case. The issue is that the equipment is new enough to include the Macrovision protection. There really isn't much you can do aside from getting some different equipment, like either a dedicated RF hookup designed for DVD players and hook that up to the coax in on the tv, or find an early '80s Hi-Fi VCR that didn't yet include the Macrovision crap. Those options would be the cheapest, each running you in the neighborhood of $20.
 
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