DVD Playback Fails

Verify audio is working in Media Center

If DVD playback fails or you have no sound, first verify that you can play any audio in Media Center. Play an audio track and if you can hear it, continue to the next section. If you can't hear any audio, check out this link.

Check audio/video settings for DVD playback

1. Go to Tools / Options / Video from the Media Center main menu and check the following options:
   1. Audio for Video, DVD, & Television
      1. Playback device: If you have verified that regular audio playback is working in Media Center, you should be able to leave this set to Same as device used in audio playback. If you want to try a different setting...
         1. If you're using analog audio output, you can try Default Windows playback device.
         2. If you're using digital audio output, you can try the Digital Audio setting.
      2. Connection type: This is probably the most important setting to check. You must inform Media Center of whether your audio connection is analog or digital. If this is set wrong, you will get no sound out of the speakers.
   2. Decoders, Renderers, & More
      1. Select DVD Video (iof,vob) from the drop list.
      2. Playback Method should be set to Automatic.
      3. Audio Decoders should normally be set to automatic, but you can try explicitly selecting either ffdshow (analog or digital) or Microsoft (digital only) if you are having problems.
      4. Video Decoders should normally be set to automatic, but you can try explicitly selecting either ffdshow or Microsoft if you're having problems.
      5. Video Renderer should be set to automatic. In rare cases selecting Video Mixing Renderer 9 or one of the others may help.
   3. under decoders, etc. pick DVD
      1. automatic
      2. automatic, then vmr9

Miscellaneous tips and links

1. If you think you've got the above setting correct - check dsp settings if using "same as audio" especially "output format" page (trial and error)
2. if sound stutters, reduce buffering, or try using default windows playback device