Can't play DVDs with External DVD-RW drive.

[ousooners4]

I just got a External DVD-RW for my 700 mhz imac. I can't get a DVD to play. I know the apple dvd player isnt compatible with external dvd drives, so I tried a patch but that didnt seem to work. Everytime I pop in a DVD the apple dvd player opens up then closes. I've also tried some other DVD players, but they dont work either, they just do the same thing. Besides playing DVDs it works fine. Any suggestions?

[robguy]

I also have an external Lacie (really a Panasonic DVR 106-D) drive attached to my iMac graphite G3. I've found only Apple Player 2.4 will work with my external ... BUT only under OS9.

For OSX, I use VLC, which is a little jerky because it can't get to the video acceleration routines on the computer chip, but I've found nothing else so far that will give me smooth video.

You can find VLC here:
http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/

Just type in "VLC" in the search box at the top right of the page.

[ousooners4]

I dont have apple dvd player installed in os 9, and it wouldnt let me install it. soo that didnt work. (sigh). thanks though, any other suggestions?

[TugBoat]

Have you tried telling DVD player to open the VIDEO_TS Folder that's on the external player? File/Open VIDEO_TS Folder... And the Player will not start playing automatically, you have to hit the play button.

OK, I think you're saying that the machine didn't come with a DVD player and that's why DVD Player won't play. I installed the DVD Player patch 3.2 on Panther's DVD Player 4.0 and it worked on a DVD Player-less iBook. Maybe something wrong with your patch? You could try copying Jaguar's DVD Player 3.2 into Panther and patch that, if you can't get 4.0 to work. I just tried it, DVD Player 3.2 will work in Panther. Good Luck.

[WiseWeasel]

Panther's DVD Player (v.4.0) apparently no longer requires an internal drive, and is supposed to work with FW ones. Have you upgraded to Panther yet? You might need to install the DVD Player app manually if the Panther installer discs don't install it for you.

[ousooners4]

No, I dont have Panther yet. I'll probably have to get it. When I open the VIDEO_TS files it sort of works, but nothing at a level that you could actully watch.

[TugBoat]

Yes, Panther is nice. I really don't know about the new features of DVD Player 4.0. All I know is that it wouldn't work on the DVD-less 500MHz iBook until I installed a patch called 'DVDPlayer 3.2 no DVD Cocoa', and I can't remember where I found that patch. It's not the same one that's on wormintheapple. After the patch, I was able to play a VIDEO_TS folder from a Firewire HD without a DVD drive in sight. Nice. You should be able to play a VIDEO_TS folder from any location after applying that patch.

The iBook is not available right now, but, I do have a DVD-less PowerBook G3 running 10.2.8 next to me. When I launch the unmodified DVD Player 3.2 it complains about not finding a valid DVD drive. After applying the 'DVD Player Patch 3.2.dmg.sit' from wormintheapple, it gets over that part then complains about not supporting the machines configuration. Hey, it's got the old Chips&Tech. 2MB video ram graphics chip, it's not going to play a DVD. Anyway, the patch killed the problem of not finding a valid drive, so it's working. It should work for you.

You might try disabling 'When you insert a video DVD Open DVD Player' and launch the player manually instead. Then point the player towards the VIDEO_TS folder. If you still have problems, try extracting a new copy of DVD Player 3.2 from the Jaguar install Disc 1 (use Pacifist) and run a newly downloaded Patch on it. It should work. And I'd still upgrade to Panther if I was you 8)

You can find DVD player 3.2 by opening Jaguar Disc 1/System/Installation/Packages/Essentials.pkg. Extract it with Pacifist.

You can even use 9.2 with the DVD 2.7 Player hack found HERE. The 500MHz Dual USB iBook played a DVD folder fine from both a FW and internal drive while running Panther or 9.2.

[botfink]

Had same problem you need to download a program called pacifist. use this to install the dvd player from your OSX install disc then go here http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/action.lasso?-database=faq.fp3&-layout=FaqList&-response...=33820&-search
and download the patch and you should beable to watch dvd's.[/u]