Patok wrote:
Jo-Anne wrote:
"Patok" wrote in message
...
Jo-Anne wrote:
Using Windows XP. I run Filehippo to let me know about updates. It's
been telling me for a while that I should download NVIDIA Forceware
280.26 WHQL XP to replace version 111.9. I checked my computer with
Belarc Advisor and found the following NVIDIA items:

NVIDIA Quadro FX 360M [Display adapter]
NVIDIA Driver Helper Service, Version 101.19 Version 6.14.11.0119

I have no idea whether I should install this update. I'd be very
grateful if someone could let me know if updating NVIDIA Forceware
is important and if the update could cause any problems.

NVIDIA is your display adapter. It makes sense to update the
display drivers *only* if you are not happy with what you have (video
is not smooth or is jerky, programs (especially games) complain about
missing features, the screen freezes.
If everything is running smoothly, there really is no need to
update the driver. It is even likely that with the new driver video
may run slower than before. That's because manufacturers optimize
their drivers for the newer hardware; if the card is an older one,
the new drivers may be optimized for newer hardware, and be
sub-optimal for the older one. In such cases, getting newer and newer
drivers will make the video perform worse and worse after each
subsequent update. So, especially if you're not a gamer, updating the
video drivers is not necessary.
(The reason, if you're wondering, is that Nvidia drivers are
universal - the same driver works for *all* cards. If it is optimized
for the newer ones, it necessarily neglects the older ones. There is
an optimal driver # for every video card model, but figuring which
one that is and downloading that particular one, is more hassle than
it's worth, IMHO.)


Thank you very much, Patok! Would the NVIDIA display driver have any
effect on watching DVD movies on my computer? I've had a lot of
trouble with freezing on many of the DVDs I've tried to watch. Some of
them are season compilations of TV programs, and usually the first
show works OK and the rest freeze and then continue many times within
each show.

The driver *could* have an effect like that, yes. However, the DVD
format is very easy, non-demanding on the video hardware, and I think it
is unlikely (not impossible, of course) that what you see is because of
the display driver. It is more likely that it is because of the DVD
drive having problems reading the disk. It reads fine at first, until it
warms up, and then starts getting read errors. One of the DVD drives on
one of my computers is like that. You can check if this is the case, by
copying the contents of the DVD to a temporary folder on the hard drive,
and then playing it from there instead of from the DVD. If it has
similar problems again, it could be a display driver problem.
Do you see artifacts when playing non-dvd videos? Like on YouTube,
Hulu, Veetle? Or high-def AVI files?


I'm no expert on DRM, but perhaps the files could be copied off
the DVD and placed on a hard drive. And then the playback tool
can play them from the hard drive ?

If you have trouble copying the files off the DVD, then that could
be your evidence the drive has issues. Of course, a DRM method used,
could also cause that kind of symptom. At least one scheme, had "bad"
info in the ISO directory structure, to screw up computers, such that
only $50 dedicated players could play the content. (In other words,
the discs were prepared, on purpose, not to work well inside a computer.)

In some cases, if you Google the title of the disc, there will be
a rundown of the method used to protect the content. And at least then,
you'd have some idea whether you're dealing with the same problem
many other customers have dealt with.

If I was to copy a DVD, I'd probably try it with a burner program
that knows how to make an ISO9660 from the disc.

When I tried to do that with my WinXP installer CD (original one),
I actually got two different checksums from the attempt to make
a block by block copy. My optical drives seem to work, so I don't
know what to make of that, whether it was a copy protection scheme,
or just one of those "media issues". The disc itself looks to be in
fine shape from the outside. Based on computing the MD5SUM of the
images, and Googling that value, it turned out that one of my copies
was a good copy. So if I need to make a new installer CD some day,
I'm ready.

Some of the commercial tools that exist for copying media like that,
understand the protection methods and defeat it. The companies must
be located in exotic locations (places without extradition treaties),
so the software writers won't be arrested :-)

Paul