Problems with playing LMS Popular Lectures DVDs

If you are experiencing difficulties playing your DVD, then the following notes may be of use.

Why won’t my DVD player play the DVD?
The LMS DVDs are produced on a computer, whereas commercial disks are pressed from a master disk. The LMS uses DVD-R disks, as these are generally the most widely compatible.

A possible cause of the DVDs not working is that your player is an early one that will not accept modern computer disks. To check for this, try the disk on a more modern player.

Another possibility is that the disk has been damaged.

How can I tell if a DVD is damaged?
Look at the surface for scratches and thumbprints. You can clean a marked disk by using a soft cloth, but it is important to do so radially, rather than along the ‘grooves’.

Does it matter where I am in the world?
Commercial DVDs are restricted in where they will play (on a DVD player) by a ‘region code’ on the disk. This feature is not implemented in the LMS Popular Lecture DVDs and they will play anywhere in the world. However, what is on the DVD is essentially a television picture in the PAL 625-line TV standard used throughout Europe and in most of the rest of the world. If you live in an NTSC 525-line country (the USA, Canada, Japan and some parts of SE Asia), then you will be unable to play this DVD (or any other European DVD) on a DVD player.

Computer playback of DVDs bypasses TV display technology completely, and LMS DVDs will play satisfactorily on computers with a DVD drive anywhere in the world.

Why won’t my computer play the DVD?
First check that your computer does have a DVD drive. CD drives and DVD drives are visually indistinguishable. If your drive doesn’t have the DVD logo on it, then it is probably a CD-only drive.

It’s definitely a DVD drive, but the disk still won’t play.
There are several possible problems. The computer needs software that will recognise the menus on the DVD; this software is generally supplied with the DVD drive, so you may already have it. If not, it is widely available, either as a download (often free) or in your local computer store. Search for ‘software DVD players’ to see what is available.

You may already have appropriate software, but find that other programs, such as Windows Media Player, recognise that there are video files on the disk and automatically start to play the first video, bypassing access to the menu structure. If this is your problem, try cancelling the playback and running the DVD player software, choosing the DVD by using the ‘Open’ command.

There may be a further problem, however. DVD drives need periodic updating of their firmware (the software which controls the drive) in order to recognise newer types of disks. If you haven’t done this for a while, you could download the latest firmware from the manufacturer’s website. It can be difficult to identify the manufacturer when the drive is part of a complete computer, but the model number is usually easy to detect and you can then search for ‘model-number firmware download’.