topic Re: Problems playing HD content on new VGN-AR71ZU in PCs & Accessories

Problems playing HD content on new VGN-AR71ZU

mikeposh — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:50:59 GMT

Hi, I recently bought a VGN-AR71ZU (which took up much of my savings!) which is advertised as "Full HD", so I expected to be able to play Blu-ray disks and download and play HD movies.

But after updating everything, I still find:

1. I can't find a way to play downloaded HD movies (I have a sample in .ts format)

2. My Blu-ray playback in InterVideo WinDVD for VAIO starts OK, but if I pause or fast-forward (not unreasonable things to do?!) the playback is noticeably jerky when I resume play, and stays that way until I restart the software and/or the computer.

The "computer" part of this machine is fine, but I could have bought something for much less that didn't claim to do HD. I am feeling somewhat cheated at the moment.

Does anyone have any helpful suggestions (beyond returning the machine as not fit for purpose!)?

Thanks!

Re: Problems playing HD content on new VGN-AR71ZU

micdonal — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:17:57 GMT

Have you installed all necessary updates from Vaio Update - including the manual ones?

Re: Problems playing HD content on new VGN-AR71ZU

Blencogo — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:38:29 GMT

Hi mikeposh and welcome to Club Vaio.

Download and install VLC player. The Free VLC package already includes software to play MPEG-2 video content and supports opening and playing .TS files directly.

You will find it is better than the other players installed on your Vaio (like WMP 11, WinDVD etc)

Downloadit from here - it is free: -

http://www.videolan.org/

If you get choppy playback, disable "High Quality Audio Resampling" in Settings -> Preferences -> Advanced Settings

Re: Problems playing HD content on new VGN-AR71ZU

mikeposh — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 10:15:46 GMT

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

@Quackers88 - yes, I have installed every update I can get my hands on. Is there anything in particular you think I might have missed?

Download and install VLC player. The Free VLC package already includes software to play MPEG-2 video content and supports opening and playing .TS files directly. 

You will find it is better than the other players installed on your Vaio (like WMP 11, WinDVD etc).

If you get choppy playback, disable "High Quality Audio Resampling" in Settings -> Preferences -> Advanced Settings

@Blencogo - I've just tried VLC player on this particular file, but the picture freezes intermittently but frequently. Reminds me of trying to play video on my previous (200 MHz cpu) desktop, which is a bit disappointing as I assumed a new "Full HD" laptop would be able to play HD video!

I did try the recommendations on http://www.vanillahd.com/index.php/playing-non-native-video-files-in-windows-media-center-windows-media-player-11/ on getting it to play in Windows Media Center using the Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP), but the video is still a bit jerky and the sound is worse, and I don't know how to adjust things.

Any other suggestions I can try out?

Re: Problems playing HD content on new VGN-AR71ZU

micdonal — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:33:39 GMT

No, mikeposh, it's just that I know a couple of Vaio updates were for the WinDVD player. Sorry, no more ideas here.