DVD Player - Audio Trouble

[Bout40]

I bought some DVDs on an Ebay auction. When I play these in my DVD player (Audiovox 220) and I can hear some of what is being said, but not all of it (i.e. I can hear Buzz Lightyear talk to Woody, but I can't hear Woody's response to Buzz).

I tried to adjust the audio to the different settings (Left Mono, Right Mono, Mixed, Mono, Stereo) but I am still having the same problems with not being able to hear the movie audio (voices). I even turned the volume all the way up on the DVD player and up pretty far on the TV and it is still messed up.

Is the problem my TV (it's not "new" and I had to purchase an adapter to hookup my DVD player to it), my DVD player, or the DVDs I purchased?

Also, when I first put the DVDs into the player, the hearing impaired feature is automatically turned on (subtitles) and I have to turn this off each time I play these DVDs, otherwise I have to put up with the words running across the bottom of the screen.

I'm new to DVDs and the DVD player, and I don't know how to pinpoint the problem.

Any help suggestions on this?

Thanks..

[tomdkat]

Welcome to the DVD File message forum!

Originally Posted by Bout40

I bought some DVDs on an Ebay auction. When I play these in my DVD player (Audiovox 220) and I can hear some of what is being said, but not all of it (i.e. I can hear Buzz Lightyear talk to Woody, but I can't hear Woody's response to Buzz).

I tried to adjust the audio to the different settings (Left Mono, Right Mono, Mixed, Mono, Stereo) but I am still having the same problems with not being able to hear the movie audio (voices). I even turned the volume all the way up on the DVD player and up pretty far on the TV and it is still messed up.

Is the problem my TV (it's not "new" and I had to purchase an adapter to hookup my DVD player to it), my DVD player, or the DVDs I purchased?

What kind of adapter did youuse? A RF modulator? Do you have a coaxial cable running from the adapter to your TV? I can't seem to find any info on your particular DVD player. How old is it and can you post a link to some specs on the player?

Also, when I first put the DVDs into the player, the hearing impaired feature is automatically turned on (subtitles) and I have to turn this off each time I play these DVDs, otherwise I have to put up with the words running across the bottom of the screen.

Does this happen with ALL DVDs (please name some titles) or just some DVDs? Some DVDs have subtitles enabled by default and you have to manually turn them off. Also, access the DVD player menu (with no disc in the player) and make sure there is no setting to enable subtitles by default. Lastly, there should be a "subtitle" button on your remote that you can sometimes use to enable/disble subtitles.

Peace...

[Bout40]

To Tomcat:

Thanks for the reply.

Quote: What kind of adapter did you use? A RF modulator?
My Answer: The adapter is a Philips RF Modulator, Video Converter (this is what the box says) "Connects DVD players to TVs with only one coax cable input", "Picture Qualilty Comparable to RF Modulators with S-Video Inputs". It uses RCA cables to connect to the DVD player.

Quote: Do you have a coaxial cable running from the adapter to your TV?
My Answer: I have a cable running from the adapter to the TV, I guess is's a coaxial??

Quote: I can't seem to find any info on your particular DVD player. How old is it and can you post a link to some specs on the player?
My Answer: I don't know where to find a link for my DVD player. I purchased my DVD player in December 2002 at a Shopko store. The box says Audiovox DVD220. Here are the features:
DVD/MP3/CD/CD-R/CD-RW; 2 channel audio output (channel 3 or 4); Component video output (Y/Cb/Cr); Coaxdial digital output; S-video output; Composite video output; System: NTSC; Headphone Jack w/volume control; Frame by frame and slow motion playback; Multi language selection; Multi Angle playback; Zoom function; VFD display with 3 level dimmer; Screen saver function; Full function remote control; Power saving function.
(I'm not sure what all these things/features do, but I do understand some of them).

Quote: Does this happen with ALL DVDs (please name some titles) or just some DVDs?
My Answer: No, the subtitles do not come on and the voices are just fine with two DVDs I already had that I DID NOT get through Ebay. They are "The Muppets Take Manhattan" and one called "Buddy". These two DVDs came with some cereal I bought (General Mills).

The DVDs I purchased on auction (Ebay) were: Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Mulan, Lady and the Tramp (Scamps adventure) (but the box shows the original Lady and the Tramp picture-?), Piglets Big Movie, and Treasure Planet. These 6 I purchased from an Ebay auction and all have the subtitles coming on automatically and only two of them I can hear without turning the volume all the way up, and then when I have the volume turned way up, sometimes the voices suddenly "blast" out loud at you. I am very suspicious that they are some type of copies.

Upon further investigation, I noticed that one DVD looks like something (by the inner DVD ring) has been marked/blobbed out. Could this have been a number or something? I have been trying to find information regarding bootleg copies, etc., to see if I can identify if these are such copies, but I have not been able to find any good information to help me identify them. I read something about serial numbers missing (?) on bootleg/illegal copies. What do you think? Do you think these Ebay DVDs are copies and not the real thing?

Quote: Some DVDs have subtitles enabled by default and you have to manually turn them off. Also, access the DVD player menu (with no disc in the player) and make sure there is no setting to enable subtitles by default. Lastly, there should be a "subtitle" button on your remote that you can sometimes use to enable/disble subtitles.
My Answer: I did not know for sure if some DVDs had the subtitle come on automatically/by default--this is helpful to know.
I did access the DVD player menu and turned the subtitles off each time I played the DVDs that I bought on Ebay. There is a feature on my DVD player in one of the menus called "Preferences", but you can only get to this menu selection/feature when the DVD player is turned on, and there is no DVD/movie in the player.
I can turn off the subtitles through the DVD remote.
I know I turned the subtitles off.

Thanks for any help or additional info.

[tomdkat]

Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Moulin Rouge are some very major titles and should not be giving you problems. Here's a quick test: rent a copy of any of the above movies and see how they behave.

I don't think subtitles are enabled by default with ANY of the above named titles. It's possible you got some "bogus" copies on eBay. How long ago did you buy them on eBay? I've purchased region 1 DVDs on eBay and haven't had any problems with them at all, so if you did get bogus copies, it's that particular eBay seller and you should follow this up with eBay immediately.

Does anyone else out there know of any good online resources for identifying bootleg/pirated DVDs?

One other thing to try is to select the Dolby Stereo audio track in the menu of the DVD you're watching (NOT the DVD player's menu) and see if that makes any difference for you.

Peace...

[Bout40]

From the information I've given you, do you think I have the TV and DVD connected/hooked up correctly?

I will try to locate the Dolby Stereo function/feature on the DVD(s) and see if this helps. If the audio is still messed up, I think I'll send them back for a refund.

The Ebay DVDs say they are for Region 1.

Thanks again!

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Bout40

From the information I've given you, do you think I have the TV and DVD connected/hooked up correctly?

Yep...

I will try to locate the Dolby Stereo function/feature on the DVD(s) and see if this helps. If the audio is still messed up, I think I'll send them back for a refund.

Not all DVDs will have a separate Dolby Stereo track and I'm not sure if the Toy Story or Moulin Rouge DVDs do. Just go to the audio menu for the DVD (with the particular disc in the player) and see what your audio options are. The problem might be your player does a crap job on downconverting 5.1 audio to stereo audio or something along those lines.

See if you can rent Toy Story or Moulin Rouge FIRST so you can compare the discs side-by-side and see what's up. Is there a BlockBuster or Hollywood Video near you?

Peace...

[Bout40]

I never found a dolby stereo audio option on any of the DVDs, so I went ahead and sent the ones from Ebay back to the seller. I tried looking at some of the additional features on Toy Story 2, and they were in a different language. Seemed strange to me.

I also rented a DVD from a place just a bit ago, and will see what it does.

Thanks for the help.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Bout40

I never found a dolby stereo audio option on any of the DVDs,

Yeah, as MY luck would have it, the particular titles you named only have English 5.1 audio tracks and no other English audio tracks....

Which DVD did you rent?

Be sure to keep us posted on your progress with this...

Peace...

[Bout40]

I rented "Two Weeks Notice" (Sandra Bullock) and just finished watching it, and I didn't have any problems with it. The audio and video were just fine and the subtitles for the hearing impaired did not appear on the screen. I went into the "Preferences" menu on my DVD player and turned the subtitles off before viewing the movie and it must have worked, at least for this DVD.

I don't have any major movie rental places close to me, I live in a rural area, so the "Quick Stop/Shop" place I rented this from was very limited on movie selections, and they did not have any of the ones I got on the Ebay auction so that I could do a comparison.

I mailed the DVDs back to the lady I bought them from, and she said she would give me a full refund.

[disclover]

As soon as I saw "eBay auction," I thought "bootlegs." The fact that some materials were not in English on the discs makes me think you got some bad copies. Ebay is full of bootleg discs, especially Disney titles which tend to go out of print periodically; some sellers try to capitalize on this by selling bootlegs. Beware.

[Bout40]

Thanks for the information on Ebay.

It's too bad that certain sellers on Ebay make these illegal copies and pass them off as originals, it makes it that much harder for the people that are selling originals, especially with things like movies that are no longer available.

_____________________________
"It's not how often you're coughin',
it's the coffin they carry you off in".

[limacharliewhiskey]

One general rule to figuring out whether DVDs are bootlegs or not are to see if they have Chinese subtitles or not. The only studio that does Chinese subtitles on their Region 1 DVDs is Columbia, and they only do it if they offer 7 or 8 other language subtitles, like Korean, Thai, Japanese, etc.

If the DVD offers subtitles of just English and Chinese, chances are very good that it's a knockoff made in China or Malaysia, which seem to be the two countries churning out pirated DVD knockoffs.

Most Region 1 DVDs will tend to just have English, French, and Spanish as the language and subtitle options. When in doubt about the specs of a DVD, just check out the title on DVDEmpire or Amazon, who do a pretty good job at getting most technical DVD specs accurate in their descriptions.

[Bout40]

Thank you, I appreciate the additional information.

I am new to DVDs and it is nice to get some tips on what to look for when purchasing them. I will be very careful with any of my future purchases, and probably won't get any more from Ebay.

I checked out the DVD site you mentioned--thanks!

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