Questions on Mac Locking up playing Video off HDD

[Musical]

Hi,
Until just recently, my DVD experience was absolutely zilch. Ive had my Mac for about 2 1/2 years which is used primarily for music. It doesnt go on the net. Heres my specs .....

Power Mac G4 DP 1.4 Firewire 800
PIONEER superdrive (DVD-105)
512 MB RAM
2x Seagate 120GIG (SYSTEM DRIVE) & 160 (AUDIO DRIVE) GIG 8Mb Cache
OS 10.2.6
Philips Mon 107 s4

...and heres my scenario......
A friend lent me 6 or so DVDs which have various interesting documentaries on them and on most of them copying is not only allowed but encouraged.....so,
- These, I played on my Mac, and deciding that indeed I would like to have a copy of these.
- I didnt have time to go into getting wheezed up about the ins and outs of DVD recording etc so I just simply copied them (from the finder) onto the 2nd partition (140 GIG) of the 2nd HDD which I use for music projects which include huge 24 bit audio files and such. The 2nd partition has just shy of 100 Gig free if I remember correct.
- Just "feeling" my way, I soon figured that "DVD Player" on the Mac did just that ...er ummm...played DVDs. No brainer. I also saw (after doodling around with some of the menus and bring up counters and the like) that all up some of these DVDs were playing around 4 hours of video, which I now know they have been compressed to fit, and which I would deem to be consistent with some of the quality. Soooo....
- after copying these files to HDD I ejected the source DVD and just used a little common sense, bringing up DVD PLAYER and navigating to where I put the file, from its menu. If I remember correctly I had to go in a couple levels and double clicked on the Video file which then started to play in DVD PLAYER.
- I couldnt access some features which I took to mean that they simply wernt made accessible when the DVD was made. One DVD wouldnt copy a particular file to the HDD but copied others, and after checking the file sizes against the DVD itself, I saw that the offending file was smaller in size and just wouldnt copy so I put it down to an unstable DVD that is probably been a marginal burn or whatever. Not a biggie.
- I tested each DVD > HDD copy by just playing a bit of the file after ejecting each DVD.
- I played completely about 2 of the "DVDs" from my HDD and that went OK.
- After a couple of days I went to play another one and DVD PLAYER completely locked up with the spinning beachball active. I couldnt quit or force quit in any way. I could get out onto the desktop and bring up the finder but the next mouse click caused the whole computer locked up and the only way I could get out of it was to push the tower power button. ....which Im obviously not in the habit of doing
- I tried repairing permissions and seeing if DVD PLAYER worked again. Same deal.
- I tried playing the ones that played OK the first time. Same deal.
- I booted again but didnt use DVD PLAYER, just did my usual audio stuff. No lock-ups and all OK.
- I booted in on another user Account and I can play the "DVDs" (on the HDD) from there, but I dont trust things and Im currently sizing my latest batch of audio files for
backing up on to CDR. Ive also been doing some very serious searching on the net for DVD stuff in general, to get a basic grounding in particular. Ive found this place to be an amazing resource as a lot of Mac forums dont go into things easily enough to give you this basic grounding.

All I want to do is make direct copies of these videos, and as I only know too well, if the source material is not that good, then its generally safe to say you wont make it any better, so my goal is I just wanna copy them "as is" and Ill be happy with that.

OK, so, heres some questions...
- Did I do/what did I do, something wrong to screw up my main users account using DVD PLAYER and/or copying files to HDD
- Do I have to have 3rd party/apple paid software to do a direct copy to HDD and then burn a DVD-R from there..... or.... can I do this direct from the Finder or Using Disk Copy

Any Ideas/advice to shed some light on this scenario, MOST WELCOME and appreciated.

Thanks, Musical

[terryj]

Hi,
Until just recently, my DVD experience was absolutely zilch. Ive had my Mac for about 2 1/2 years which is used primarily for music. It doesnt go on the net. Heres my specs .....

Power Mac G4 DP 1.4 Firewire 800
PIONEER superdrive (DVD-105)
512 MB RAM
2x Seagate 120GIG (SYSTEM DRIVE) & 160 (AUDIO DRIVE) GIG 8Mb Cache
OS 10.2.6
Philips Mon 107 s4

...and heres my scenario......
A friend lent me 6 or so DVDs which have various interesting documentaries on them and on most of them copying is not only allowed but encouraged.....so,
- I didnt have time to go into getting wheezed up about the ins and outs of DVD recording etc

OK, so, heres some questions...
- Did I do/what did I do, something wrong to screw up my main users account using DVD PLAYER and/or copying files to HDD

Probably...but it's more than likely minor, since it seems
you didn't copy over the IFO, you know the "small file" that
wouldn't copy correctly, that tells apps like DVD Player
how to play/navigate your disc.

First, welcome to our corner of the world, enjoy the sights and sounds
we have to offer.
8)

- Do I have to have 3rd party/apple paid software to do a direct copy to HDD and then burn a DVD-R from there..... or.... can I do this direct from the Finder or Using Disk Copy

Any Ideas/advice to shed some light on this scenario, MOST WELCOME and appreciated.

Thanks, Musical

Second,
go to the tools section or just click on the red highlighted link for
Mac The Ripper, and use that to re-rip the DVDs to your HD
again, after trashing the ones you already did, and repairing
permissions on your main boot drive
( you do know how to do that right...?)

Once you have re-ripped the DVDs using Mac The Ripper,
test them by playing them again in DVD Player, and
they should play fine no problems.
If so, then yes, you can burn the files using a number of ways,
provided that the copied DVDs do not exceed 4.3GB of space.
If they do, then you will have to re-compress ( also known as shrink)
the copied DVD folders down to get them to fit to a DVD-R disc.
Post back the results, please, so we can be of further assistance.

[Musical]

Thanks for your response terryj, and thanks for the
welcome.

mmm .... my friend with the (perfectly legit ) DVDs lives out of the area and therefore they are not on hand for me to rip. It may be quite some time before I get an opportunity to try this again. That being said, what would be my best course of action now? My 1st priority is to get on and back-up my audio files which Im in the process of sizing and such.. After this I can play around a little. Would I still be able to burn them straight onto a DVD-R and have it play in Consumer Players or would it be just like a data back-up, that needed to be copied back to the HDD? (after ditching the intitial HDD files, of course)

Yesterday I was looking at utilities and stuff on this site. Mac the ripper looks good. Only thing is my Mac doesnt even go on the internet. Its been very much optimized for audio, as such, certain components wernt installed for internet stuff. I use my PC for that so what would be the best way to Download it on my PC and transfer to the Mac?.


Quote "provided that the copied DVDs do not exceed 4.3GB of space. "

I did a "get info" on each of the main folders and there was one that was 4.32GB, does that mean that one will have to be compressed? I saw somewhere else in my travels someone saying that DVDs hold 4.4GBs.... is there a slight "forgiving" margin or is there an exact amount they hold?.

Quote "repairing permissions on your main boot drive
( you do know how to do that right...?) "

I do this from time to time by just going to Disk Utility. Havnt done it from the disk method though...Just twice Ive networked the Mac and PC via ethernet, and I find that this screws with the permissions a bit. On both occasions theres been something to repair.

Thanks for any more advice/ideas thats forthcoming.
Cheers Musical

[terryj]

Thanks for your response terryj, and thanks for the
welcome.

Would I still be able to burn them straight onto a DVD-R and have it play in Consumer Players or would it be just like a data back-up, that needed to be copied back to the HDD? (after ditching the intitial HDD files, of course)

You would be able to burn them in UDF (Universal Disc Format),
to a DVD_R using a program such as Toast Titantium 7,
or the Mac OS's native Burn Disc command,
and thus they would play back in commercial DVD Players.

Yesterday I was looking at utilities and stuff on this site. Mac the ripper looks good. Only thing is my Mac doesnt even go on the internet. Its been very much optimized for audio, as such, certain components wernt installed for internet stuff. I use my PC for that so what would be the best way to Download it on my PC and transfer to the Mac?.

On your PC, download the .zip file of Mac The Ripper, and do not open it.
Bun it to a CD-R, and then pop that into your Mac.
Have your mac open the .zip file using Stuffit Expander, and then you
will have the application. Drag it to your Applications folder,
and it is installed.

Quote "provided that the copied DVDs do not exceed 4.3GB of space. "

I did a "get info" on each of the main folders and there was one that was 4.32GB, does that mean that one will have to be compressed? I saw somewhere else in my travels someone saying that DVDs hold 4.4GBs.... is there a slight "forgiving" margin or is there an exact amount they hold?.

they are slightly forgiving, the 4.32GB folder should squeeze in to burn.
The other will have to be compressed [shrinked] to fit to a DVD-R,
best to look programs such as Popcorn or my personal fave, DVD2ONEX.

Quote "repairing permissions on your main boot drive
( you do know how to do that right...?) "

I do this from time to time by just going to Disk Utility. Havnt done it from the disk method though...Just twice Ive networked the Mac and PC via ethernet, and I find that this screws with the permissions a bit. On both occasions theres been something to repair.

Thanks for any more advice/ideas thats forthcoming.
Cheers Musical

So you do NOT have a optical drive in the Mac?
why would you need to network the PC to the Mac ..?
never network the PC to the Mac to run Disc Utility, this is a big no-no.
Running Disc Utility from the Utilities folder of the Mac is fine,
but you should at least once in a while run it from disc
ON THE MAC, to get/catch some things the Disc Utility on
the mac wouldn't catch.

[Musical]

terryj, thanks again for your input and help.

Quote
"or the Mac OS's native Burn Disc command,"

...do you mean burning from the finder ?



"So you do NOT have a optical drive in the Mac? "

Im not sure why youre saying this, but sorry if I havnt said things clearly ...yes I certainly do have an optical drive. I havnt used the Mac DVD coz its just been more convenient to use Disk Utility. I have heard it is better to use the Disk but I've just been one of those who is careful about doing new things.

Quote
"why would you need to network the PC to the Mac ..? "

I had no printer until recently...so I wanted to put a particular file I made from Mac Logic, with over 800 Key commands, onto the PC where I could edit it in Word, and take to someone else to print...who was working on the PC platform....besides, I kinda like the idea of a "peace" between my Mac and PC if thats at all possible

Quote
"never network the PC to the Mac to run Disc Utility, this is a big no-no."
No... I think youve mistaken what I was saying, or, again I probably wasnt making myself clear enough. I would never have dreamed you could even do this much less do it.

Quote
"Running Disc Utility from the Utilities folder of the Mac is fine,
but you should at least once in a while run it from disc
ON THE MAC, to get/catch some things the Disc Utility on
the mac wouldn't catch."

Thanks for that advice and I'll kick myself into gear and do it.

Thanks heaps. ,Musical.

[terryj]

Ok, we're all clear now.


And yes, burning from the finder is correct...
the OS uses Apple's Disc Utility to actually mount
and create the image ( behind the scenes magic).

Your welcome, stop by again with any further ?

terryj

[Musical]

"stop by again with any further ? "

...thanks, and have a good day...
Musical.

[Musical]

Just an update for anyone who might benefit...

I fixed my issue with DVD PLAYER totally locking up my Mac from my main user Account. Well at least so far Ive tried 2 or 3 movies and doodled around starting different chapters and the like. So far so good 8)

Trashed the prefs. (Users > Username > Library > Preferences > com.apple.dvdplayer) rebooted, fired up DVDplayer..and the Mac OS rebuilt new prefs. All sweet.

Cheers, Musical.