OS X 10.3.3

[thoughton]

This update is available via Software Update now. Among the list of new features: "DVD Player now recognizes and plays DVD+R media."

Woot :P

[WiseWeasel]

There have been a few problem reports on VT (as usual). I'll wait a couple days and see what the general consensus is.

[AntnyMD]

I installed this last night but didnt really get to do much with it. However, I noticed two things right away:

- the stock Apple apps all start up noticeably faster on my PowerBook 667 -- two bounces of the icon in the dock at the most;
- the new Apple DVD Player crashed on the menu of the DVD2OneX crunch of Sex and the City season five disc one. Still trying to figure out whats going on with that.

[macsys]

Yes that figures, after I just gave away a whole rack of the damn things.

[Spinduck]

One major issue, to myself and most likely several people here, is that DVD Player now doesn't support external DVD drives like it did in 10.3.2. I use a Que Fire DVD+R drive and get a -70012 error, no supported drive. Don't know of a workaround, yet.

[Frobozz]

I have no problem with DVD Player and my external Sony DW-U14A drive connected via Firewire or USB 2.0 and System 10.3.3. DVD Player automatically starts and plays my commercial, DVD-R and DVD+RW discs. This drive still is not Apple supported for iTunes etc. burning unless I use Patchburn II which gives me full support.

By the way, anyone notice how fast Apple System Profiler opens? My kudos to the Apple OS X programmers!

[thoughton]

All installed here and looking good, except for a minor issue with Keychain and some apps (particularly Mail) occasionally forgetting passwords. I'd agree that some Apple apps seem much faster when launched now. I love it when system software upgrades make my PC go faster. My ffmpegX mplayer install seems to have broken itself somehow though, have yet to try reinstall. But check out those keyboard prefs - us laptop users have one-press functions keys again! All is forgiven Apple.

[willrob]

The new DVD+R functionality must be in a System library location. The application itself has the same version number and creation date. Unless mine didn't get updated. I looked at the installer with Pacifist and there was no new DVD Player app.

For those who seem to have lost the connection to external drives, perhaps the "Easter Egg" will restore that. Or is the "Easter Egg" functionality no longer working?

william

[Spinduck]

I'm not familiar with the "easter egg" you're talking about . . . could you detail it for me? I've been searching everywhere for a workaround . . . the old hack for 10.2.x doesn't work anymore, and various people on Macfixit and xlr8yourmac are reporting the same problem as me. no more support for external drives, except for some newer drives. I don't have an internal DVD drive on my eMac, so it's not finding a supported drive anymore.

[Frobozz]

Spinduck, you say you have a Que! DVD+R drive. I'm afraid that's the problem. I suggest going to xlr8yourmac.com and checking the DVD drive user database for tips on making this work. There also is a link there for the Patchburn II download. I don't know if this will work, however, with a drive that doesn't support DVD-R media.

The "Easter Egg" is a subject heading in this forum. It enables iDVD to create disk images or use external DVD-R drives, something that Apple does not support. I just checked and it still works with 10.3.3. I'm sure it would have no bearing on your drive's problem.

[Spinduck]

Ok, thanks. I've tried Patchburn, but that only enables iDVD and iTunes burn support, not DVD Player compatibility. I'll try the easter egg and see if that works. Thanks again, I'll let you know if it works, so that others will know.

[Spinduck]

Frobozz, you're right, the iDVD easter egg isn't of consequence to me. I think that some of us are just going to have to wait for a patch. I'm going to try downgrading to DVD Player 3.2 later and see if that works.

[Spinduck]

Sorry to hit the board so many times in just a few minutes, but I just found this on the apple forums:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?13@192.vS4naDl9ha8.1@.68904d8c/4

hopefully this will help anyone else out.

[babgolis]

The new update 10.3.3 renders DVD playback impossible on my
pismo powerbook g3. DVD Player claims it requires more video
ram than my machine has (8MB). Everything was fine under 10.3.2 I must admit to being underwhelmed that a simple upgrade rendered my DVD player useless on my as of yet still supported laptop. Unfortunately, without spending $350 on a processor update VLC & mplayer are too slow to playback video.

@#$@$#%^$^%!!!!!

[galactica]

just go back to 10.3.2 and you should get your ability to play back again

[WiseWeasel]

And don't forget to submit a bug report to Apple.

[willrob]

Bagolis

Did you try the fix linked to in the post directly above yours? It might allow fundtionality in 10.3.3. Here's the gist of the link:

>>Updating to 10.3.3 also gave me the same problem, but I found out what exactly has happend. It's the DVDPlayback.framework, it was updated to a newer version. Though this may be a good thing, it will disable you from using your external DVD drive for playback of DVD Videos. What you will need to do is re-install the DVDPlayback.framework from the Mac OS 10.3 install disk 1.
I recommend using Pacifist to re-install the framework. The package you will need to use is called "Essentials" located /System/Installation/Packages/essentials.pkg".
When you re-install it will ask if you want to replace the current files, click "Yes" and make sure to check the box that says "Don't ask again for this task" before clicking "Yes". <<

william

[schwinn]

>>Updating to 10.3.3 also gave me the same problem, but I found out what exactly has happend. It's the DVDPlayback.framework, it was updated to a newer version. Though this may be a good thing, it will disable you from using your external DVD drive for playback of DVD Videos. What you will need to do is re-install the DVDPlayback.framework from the Mac OS 10.3 install disk 1.
I recommend using Pacifist to re-install the framework. The package you will need to use is called "Essentials" located /System/Installation/Packages/essentials.pkg".

This worked fine for me with my Pioneer A05/105 in a Firewire box. DVD player was the only app that didn't work. iTunes and CD burning from the finder and toast were still working. In fact Apple system profiler saw the drive as suppported. Any way the above fix works. Oddly enough the creation date is the same for both files....

[babgolis]

Actually I got the darn thing to work and it actually works better on my measly 8MB video RAM (powerbook pismo 500mHz).

The problem seems to be in that previously (OS 10.2.x) I used to use video mirroring to play DVDs on my TV that my set-top DVD player didn't like. I must admit to not having tried mirroring since updating to panther. I turned mirroring off, rebooted and voila, the new player works even better than the previous version - less stuttering when skipping chapters, changing the volume or changing the brightness. It even plays parts of discs that I had some slight trouble with in the past.

Thanks for all of the advice!