DVD playback over HDMI...

Hi everyone,

I have an irritating problem that I just can't figure out.

When I try to play a DVD movie on my new HTPC I just get a big black screen which no amount of alt-tabbing or control-alt-deleting can exit.

This happens with with Windows Media Player and Cyberlink too. Everything works fine until I put a DVD movie in and press play. It looks like it's going to go full screen but just goes to a full black screen and becomes unresponsive.

THIS ONLY HAPPENS OVER HDMI, VGA plays the video fine (it's windowed, so it's not trying to go full screen to a multiple screen).

HDTV and any videos on the hard drive play fine over HDMI and HDCP status is fine - though I haven't tried a Blu-ray yet.

I've tried different drivers.

I have built many of these systems with the same specs so I'm going a bit nuts with this.

42" FullHD LCD HDMI 1.3
Zotac itx 9300-G-E (integrated Nvidia 9300)
E6300 2.8ghz
3GB DDR800
1000GB HDD
Sony 5600 slim slot-load Blu-ray - (I have tried different drives too).

Any help appreciated, thanks in advance!

*UPDATE: Same thing happens with Blu-rays, just get a big black screen when I play. The blu-ray also worked perfectly over VGA. When I was attempting to play a DVD over HDMI I plugged the VGA cable in too which actually got me as far as the DVD menu (while still on HDMI).*

UPDATE 2: VLC Plays the dvds fine over HDMI. This is just a problem with WMP/MC and Cyberlink PowerDVD...

Any ideas?

I fear your problem may be DRM related. HDCP is the DRM which HDMI equipment has to be certified for to allow the transmition of copywritten media (Blu Rays, DVDs, iTunes Movies etc.) to or from a device. This DRM is designed so that in theory it is impossible to rebroadcast on large screens in public places (or at least that's what I understand of it). For you to be able to play back Blu Rays and DVDs on your monitor via HDMI both devices must be HDCP complient and I'm pretty sure all monitors and screens are HDCP certified so it must be your PC that's the problem.

Read more at High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sorry to break the bad news to you.

Oli

ainslieNZ said:

Thanks for your reply.
I originally thought it may be HDCP but the Blu-ray 'Hellboy' plays over VGA so it can't use HDCP can it?

I just swapped motherboards to my older Zotac 9300-D-E but no luck. The nVidia control panel says that HDCP is go. This set-up has always worked previously. Clean install I guess

Any codecs or updates to Win7 in regards to this?

If the device it's being played on (your PC) isn't complient it will not affect the playback via VGA but will not allow it to play it back via an HDMI cable to an HDCP certified device, however if it was HDCP complient (like my MacBook) it won't let you play it on anything but an HDCP complient display using HDMI.

Also for some reason not all Blu Rays and iTunes Movies support or require HDCP.

I can't see an easy solution for this if it is DRM related, keep looking for drivers etc. and make sure that the BIOS knows that your GPU needs to be HDCP complient.

Oli