Seems to be the same problem than on the Star War discs and some other ones. It's not the video eating CPU time, it's some Java crap running in background from what I have read.

About the PowerDVD version, latest on this site in downloads is 2118a... how did you get 2219? My collection: http://www.blu-ray.com/community/collection.php?u=194008&action=showcategory&category=1&categoryid=7

Hi Korrigan,

No idea - bought and downloaded CyberLink_PowerDVD12_Ultra_v2219_DVD121018-03.exe

About java crap? Where does it come from? Why is it needed at all? Do you have any url to those discussions?

It comes from the copy protection.

I still get it on the SW movies even with the latest PDVD 12 patch which is a shame... but it doesn't affect playback, my processor being powerful enough to take it apparently (Phenom II X4 940 @3.4 ghz). My collection: http://www.blu-ray.com/community/collection.php?u=194008&action=showcategory&category=1&categoryid=7

I didn't yet investigate thoroughly but the symptoms are these:
Every few minutes the video freezes for few seconds, sound is gone and then sound is back next ~10s I see a photos instead of video and then resumes normally.
I assume the problem steams from high CPU usage but I am no 100% sure right now.

As per java crap. Even though there is protection, the player should handle it gracefully. 100% on a single core when video is paused sounds like an absurd to me.

Thing is my CPU is a 3.4ghz quad core. Yours is an older Intel @ 2.93ghz with only two cores and no hyperthreading. This is a possible source of slowdowns/freezes when one of the two cores is already used 100%. Just my educated guess, of course.

I agree with you it's a shame, once again it's us, consumers, who are annoyed by stupid silly protections which are "cracked" within a few days by those who really want to copy anyway.

Same thing happens with Totalmedia Theater 5 by the way - it's not typical to PowerDVD.

One solution that works is to use AnyDVD HD and enable "Speedmenu". It replaces the original menu of the disc, and the 100% core usage disappears. Which also makes me think it's a bug somewhere in the menu code of those discs - or the interpretation of that code by PDVD/TMT, which may share a common code base there... My collection: http://www.blu-ray.com/community/collection.php?u=194008&action=showcategory&category=1&categoryid=7

Out of curiosity, what usage per core are you seeing? Is any core maxed out?

I wonder whether PowerDVD could provide similar feature as I am not really in a mood spending another 50-100€ on AnyDVD right now.

And yes, bloooody Hollywood! I can't avoid playing in my head "you'll be watching movie instantly while pirates will have problems downloading it" <- or something like that from their anti-piracy commercial we are *forced* to see before many movies.

Yes, the first core is at 100% on a disc with that "problem".

I'm a honest person, and I think movies I will watch a lot of times definitely deserve being paid for. I have over 100 movies on Blu-Ray (102 or 103 last time I counted). But things like that are making me angry.

It's still weird that those discs play without problems on dedicated "living room" Blu-Ray players. I still think it could be avoided software side in both PDVD and TMT.

PS: AnyDVD HD also removes all those annoying trailers and small videos at the beginning of discs. My lifetime license for that software was definitely an excellent purchase. My collection: http://www.blu-ray.com/community/collection.php?u=194008&action=showcategory&category=1&categoryid=7

Agreed. It is around 100€ though for AnyDVD HD.
Anyway, I've filled a support request. Let's see what will be the answer. I don't think it will be helpful...

Make sure it is not your anti-virus doing it. Sometimes they will kick in and screw up things. Make sure you don't have anything else running while you are watching DVD. Use msconfig.exe/ start up to make sure nothing is started at boot that you don't need. A free program "Soluto" will help if you are not sure what can be stopped from starting.

Happy Holidays ! .
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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Hi Steve,

I really doubt that this could be caused by an antivirus. But hey, checking won't hurt - I'll turn off MS Security Essentials and try.

Quote: Hi Steve,

I really doubt that this could be caused by an antivirus. But hey, checking won't hurt - I'll turn off MS Security Essentials and try.

Usually that one is not an issue; It is the high priced ones that do everything that are the problem. .
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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

I assume the problem steams from high CPU usage but I am no 100% sure right now.

I suspect BD Live is a resource hog. Make sure you have it disabled if you're playing a disc that supports it.

Quote: I suspect BD Live is a resource hog. Make sure you have it disabled if you're playing a disc that supports it.

By disabled you mean to disable it within playback - through option that disk content gives me and not through a software option?

It doesn't come from BDLive - even when disabled with AnyDVD HD, the 100% cpu core "bug" still happens. My collection: http://www.blu-ray.com/community/collection.php?u=194008&action=showcategory&category=1&categoryid=7

My only other suggestion is to download the free MS utility Process Explorer (or if you have Win8, the new Task Manager) and see what else might be using your CPU cycles. I have a quad core Intel i5, and no single core or total CPU goes over 35% running PDVD 12.

Quote: My only other suggestion is to download the free MS utility Process Explorer (or if you have Win8, the new Task Manager) and see what else might be using your CPU cycles. I have a quad core Intel i5, and no single core or total CPU goes over 35% running PDVD 12.

It is PowerDVD. Did you tray bluray Starwars?

Quote: It is PowerDVD. Did you tray bluray Starwars?

I can duplicate the problem with Star Wars. Core 0 goes to 100%. If I disable Core 0, Core 1 goes to about 85%. This occurs whether the movie is playing or paused. Process Explorer shows PowerDVD using about 25% total CPU, and I don't see any other process eating up the remaining CPU.

Very weird. I would suspect the Java runtime copy protection, but the javaw.exe process is only using a tiny amount of CPU. I'm stumped.

I tried a bit more after I've read this thread... as I said, when you replace the menu with the speedmenu from AnyDVD HD, the 100% core usage bug doesn't happen. I suspect a bug in the menu code... could be related to the protection or not.
I guess it's really annoying when you only have an older two core CPU. My collection: http://www.blu-ray.com/community/collection.php?u=194008&action=showcategory&category=1&categoryid=7