Hi Mike I did as u suggested with the results root at blubox:~# hdparm -d1 /dev/dvd /dev/dvd: setting using_dma to 1 (on) HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Invalid argument However, I am trying to watch an avi file that is saved to my harddisk. hdparm /dev/hda gives <snip> using_dma = 1 (on) <snip> The video output is still slow (kinda choppy) Thanks Nneoma --