DVD stuttering

I've begun playing DVD movies on my WinXP laptop with VLC Media Player.
Today, a brand new DVD kept "stuttering" all the way through. That is, both
video and sound would completely stop and then, after a few seconds, resume.
I thought the DVD was bad--but I played it on my WinXP desktop computer with
the same media player, and it seemed to run mostly OK (although there were
some places where I sensed very slight hesitations).

Could it be a marginal DVD? And if so, is there a way of making it work
better? (It's a DVD I bought a couple months ago, so I'm not sure I can
return it.) I've played a few other DVD movies on the laptop without any
stuttering.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne