Video and Sound Settings

[codenamevirus]

Hi

My brother got a me DVD from US and it was playing with some bad sounds.

Actually its a home-theater wide screen edition, and somebody suggested to "change the aspect ratio to 221:100 or the image will be stretched" and also "change the audio to 5.1 or sound will be very low and will be missing channels".

How to go about that???

[nihil]

Moved to hardware.............this is nothing to do with "operating systems" as such.

What are the details of your hardware for sound, video, DVD/CD and display (make, model, specifications)?

What software are you using to play the media?

I am assuming that you are using a PC and a CRT or LCD display?

Actually its a home-theater wide screen edition, and somebody suggested to "change the aspect ratio to 221:100 or the image will be stretched" and also "change the audio to 5.1 or sound will be very low and will be missing channels".

Your advisor is very good............he should post here in "technical humour"

I won't bother to go into aspect ratios until you tell us more about your hardware. Just try 1280 x 768 (which should be supported) or better still 1280 x 720 You will find the options in your video settings, it is the "screen area"

As for the audio, you will need a soundcard or chipset that supports 5.1 and the requisite number of speakers, if you wish to use that protocol.

This might be called "surroundsound", "Dolby", "3D" sound or whatever. If you only have something like AC97 you may well lose out because your kit is obsolete by comparison to the media you are trying to play. At best you will only get a "compromise" performance.

Having said that, I can play Lord of the Rings on this box which has an ATi Radeon 64Mb AGP card, onboard AC97 sound and a couple of cheap "Labtec" speakers. It doesn't lose channels it just merges them as a compromise, but that is the player/settings I would imagine. LotR is in "Cinemascope" by the way (AR 2.35:1)

Finally, try the video on a proper home entertainment system and see if it works........... they can be faulty you know. AND you may be hitting up against DRM and the fact that the DVD is not suitable for the zone(s) your equipment supports.

EDIT: The zone thing would only apply to older equipment these days. There is some interesting information here:

http://www.fact-uk.org.uk/site/about/faq.htm#13

The link may interest those who follow DRM and the "fair use" concept. In the UK I can legally buy and privately use "pirate" media. It is illegal to manufacture and distribute it

EDIT #2 This box allows the following settings for speakers:

1. Headphones
2. 2 channel stereo (2 Speakers)
3. 4 channel stereo (4 speakers)
4. 6 channel stereo (this is 5.1)

The setting has to be made in the AC97 management module NOT Windows. If you have an independent sound card I would suggest looking at its management module.

Not sure if it is relevant, but a sub-woofer is not counted as a "speaker" as such AFAIK.