Freeze-framing DVD's--is there a solution?

Factual Questions
1

This question must have a long history, but I’ll ask it again.

I have Microsoft Windows Vista, which uses Windows Media Center to run my DVD movies. I start the movie normally by physically closing the turntable “drawer” with the DVD in place. When the movie comes up, I click out of it, then I go to a menu I have on my computer for Windows Media Center, then click on “Play DVD.”

–Sometimes, a movie will freeze-frame at a particular moment in a scene. If I leave it alone, sometimes it “blips” to the next minute of the scene and freeze-frames again. If I click on the “play” button on the pop-up menu it may do the same thing (nothing consistently, though, adding to the frustration).

–If I leave it alone for half an hour nothing happens. If I restart the program, nothing happens to “fix” the freeze-frame point, which continues. If I restart the computer, nothing happens to “fix” the freeze-frame.

–Returning to or using the original software that seems to come with the movie doesn’t seem to impact the freeze-framing in any manner.

–If I try to fast-forward over the problem, sometimes it works, sometimes it just freezes at that place again.

–In the menu for the movie, if I select the scene with the freeze-frame and replay it, it freeze-frames at the usual place. If I click forward to the next scene, it resumes playing normally.

Sometimes I buy 2nd hand movies that have this glitch already in place. Sometimes I buy new movies that soon develop this glitch.

The only “solution” I’ve found is to click ahead to the next scene, then click fast reverse from the pop-up menu and go back to as close to the freeze-frame as possible, stop, and play the movie normally.

I fiddled with it extensively on one movie and only created more freeze-framing moments on that DVD, moving these forward into other scenes. I can’t figure out how I did that, because I was so mad I lost track of what I was doing and played hammer mechanic (sometimes it works).

This has got to be some simple and basic thing; dozens of frustrated DVD users must have asked this question already.

Someone must know how to fix this.

2

Fingerprints on the DVD will cause read errors. The movie will pause as the drive repeatedly tries reading that bad spot. Clean the dvd well with a clean soft cloth.

wipe from the hole to the outside edge in a straight line. Then do the next section. you never want to wipe in a circular motion.

3

Ditto what aceplace57 says.

In addition, you might want to suspect the DVD drive in your computer-- is it clogged with dirt or dust? Does it have any loose part that might be scratching holes in your DVDs? Does it make any unusual sounds you don’t normally hear from DVD players?

The software isn’t the problem, either the disk or the player is.

4

Thanks. That gets me in the game. I had assumed it was software.