Pioneer DVR 550 Mac compatible DVD?

[tjon]

Can you burn a MAC compatible DVD using a pioneer DVR-550h DVD/HD combo machine? I've done lots of windows dvds but not MAC

[orsetto]

The Pioneer 550 makes universal video dvds from its recordings that are technically compatible with any dvd drive or software player (as long as you finalize the disc in the Pioneer first). The only issue some people run into comes up often with Windows but almost never with Macs: most software dvd players running under Windows don't recognize Pioneer dvds because the recorder does not include an instruction flag telling the player what to do with the dvd (run the menu? play the first video?). So a player screen opens, then nothing happens and sometimes theres no way to get the dvd to play. Standalone DVD and BluRay players will just wait for you to hit their play or menu button, and Mac software dvd players usually auto-play any dvd they detect with a VOB file on it. But Windows software dvd players often choke on Pioneer dvds (esp WIndows Media Player).

If you're asking about the custom slide show feature, where you use the Pioneer jukebox system to combine jpeg photos from your camera with your MP3 music files to create a presentation, the same applies as above. These slide shows are formatted as MPEGs, stored on the 550 hard drive as if they were normal video recordings. When burned to dvd, they need to be finalized to make them compatible with standalone players and most computer software players. Since the slideshow dvd is created as if it were a regular video dvd, the same weirdness with some Windows software players will occur, while Mac software players and standalone players usually work fine.

BTW, this issue with "missing playback instructions" causing problems with Windows software players (and disc-image media players like WD Live) is not limited to just Pioneer. When DVD recorders were in their heyday, about half the brands made the same stupid mistake Pioneer did with dvd formatting, including JVC. The only 100% workaround is to rip (copy) the recorder DVD to your PC, and add the necessary "First Play PGC" flag with a utility like pgcEdit. Burn this revised copy to a new dvd, and it will function normally anywhere (loading the dvd menu automatically or start playing the videos, whichever you selected with pgcEdit).

[theewizard]

Dead thread...
Don't resurrect old threads

[tjon]

Thanks for the response. I was able to play a recorded dvd in Windows 10 but had to download VLC media player to do it. However I tried to play the same DVD in a MAC with no success. The disc was both initialized and finalized. Is there a certain mode that you need to record in on the DVR 550 or is it more related to having a piece of software on the MAC that will decode the DVD. Thanks for your detailed response!

[usually_quiet]

Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 don't come equipped with DVD player software. You must take care of that yourself.

For help with a Mac software problem (VLC won't play your DVD), you would have been better off creating a new thread in the Mac forum instead of grave-digging and hijacking an old dead thread.

[orsetto]

I understand the hostility here towards gravedigging old threads, but sometimes its acceptable, as in this case. If tjon had posted this query in the Mac forums he would have gotten squat for a response- NOBODY is using these Pioneer dvd/hdd recorders anymore, the few who are certainly aren't frequenting the Mac forums expecting to answer questions about them in that venue. The odds of a Mac guru also owning a Pioneer 550 and experiencing this "play dead" symptom are fairly slim: if it were me, I'd be looking at Pioneer threads instead of Mac threads, too.

tjon: at some point Apple in its infinite tinkering may have changed the behavior of their built-in DVD Player software. My Macs are deliberately kept on older versions of OSX to remain compatible with drivers of the old photo hardware I use, so I don't have fingertip comparison access to recent versions like Mavericks, Yosemite or El Capitan. Pre-Lion versions of Mac DVD Player do not have issues playing Pioneer dvds. But those newer versions of OSX, esp when running on newer Macs with no built-in optical drive, might well react the same way Windows software players do: by playing dead when you load a Pioneer dvd.

There is no setting you can change on your Pioneer 550 recorder that will fix this dvd formatting error: all Pioneers sold between 2002 and their discontinuance in 2008 finalize their dvds without the vital "first play pgc" flag that most software players look for to recognize a video dvd. See if you can try your Pioneer dvds on one or two other recent Macs: if it won't play in any of them, you will need to make modified copies as I explained in a prior post. This is better than trying to find specific Mac or Windows player apps that might work: you never know when the software specs might change again. Modifying these dvds to include the universal playback flag is insurance that you can play them anywhere on anything in future. I'll send you a private message with a link to a tutorial on that task: we need to kill this thread before another ten members complain about gravedigging.

[tjon]

Thanks again for the response orsetto. I'm new to these threads and not even familiar with the term gravedigging. I thought usually_quiet was a little harsh as my query was related to the pioneer 550 as you say. I look forward to your private message.

[usually_quiet]

Thanks again for the response orsetto. I'm new to these threads and not even familiar with the term gravedigging. I thought usually_quiet was a little harsh as my query was related to the pioneer 550 as you say. I look forward to your private message.

If I had a nickel for every time someone indignantly explained, "my question was related" after hijacking a thread... The point is, your question may be about the same machine, but it is not about transferring files out via its USB port (or firewire port as mentioned elsewhere in the course of the thread).

Thread hijacking is against the forum rules, if you can be bothered climb down off you high-horse and read them some time. If you keep digging up years old dead threads to post your "related" questions in, don't be surprised if you hear from a moderator.

[redwudz]

Now a new thread. Go ahead.

Moderator redwudz

[usually_quiet]

I normally start DVD playback manually with VLC, by clicking Media->Open Flie, then navigating to the VIDEO_TS folder on the DVD and selecting VIDEO_TS.IFO. However, I could not find or create a DVD without a first play PGC to test with, so I cannot verify that this method works on such a disc. If that has not been tried and works, it would be easier than editing PGCs and burning a new DVD.

[orsetto]

I just re-installed VLC 2.1.3 on one of my Windows laptops and a Mac to test usually_quiet's suggestion, and it does work with recorder-made dvds that lack first-play pgc data. I also tried opening the VLC player and dragging the VIDEO_TS folder to it: this also works, as does "Media>Open Folder>VIDEO_TS". The dvd menu will appear and allow selecting a title to play. I appreciate usually_quiet coming back to share that idea, despite his misgivings about gravedigging old threads.

So VLC is an option, as long as you don't mind opening DVDs as if they were ordinary files. Other media players like KMP can work but will require more steps: opening the VIDEO_TS.IFO still leaves you with a dead blank screen until you navigate to MENU>TITLE MENU to make the disc menu appear.

Note that unless you disable them or change file associations, you might still have the annoyance of Windows Media Player or Mac DVD Player launching as soon as a dvd is loaded, then opening a blank screen where nothing happens. You would need to close those 'dead' players first, then manually open VLC.

Windows Media Player is useless with this type of recorder dvd because its completely optimized for pgc-enabled discs, with no interface to override its futile search for an auto-first-play-pgc. If Mac DVD Player app opens to a blank screen, move your mouse pointer to the top to make the interface appear, then use File>Open DVD Media and it might let you play the VIDEO_TS manually like VLC does. Depends on the version: all my Macs run an older OSX where DVD Player launches as soon as a recorder dvd is inserted, and begins to play the first video title on the disc (bypassing the pgc or menu).

My recommendation to burn a backup dvd modified by pgcEdit utility skips all that, and will future-proof Pioneer or JVC etc recorder-made dvds. This avoids having to worry what player software is installed on what computer at all, since the modified dvd will be recognized as if it were a commercial Hollywood dvd and launch automatically. The modified dvd is also much less of a headache to friends and family if you share discs: while you or I (or usually_quiet) may think nothing of installing VLC or manually navigating a dvd as if it were a hard drive, most people are not prepared to deal with that nonsense: they expect a dvd to simply play like its supposed to. The phone complaints were driving me crazy until I learned the problem was with the recorder formatting and it could be fixed on a dupe disc. pgcEdit saved me a lot of grief in that regard, plus allows me to fix the widescreen bug in these types of disc. Of course, if nobody uses your dvds but yourself, it won't matter to you.

[orsetto]

For future reference, I guess, it should be noted here that OP tjon informed me (via PM) he was having related difficulty just making a playable dupe of a Pioneer DVD on his Windows PC. We figured out the issue was his burning utility: when he tried ad-free imgBurn v2.5.5.0, everything worked perfectly, with and without pgcEdit (of course pgcEdit adds the nicety of auto-run disc menu to the otherwise-static Pioneer dvds, solving the software player "dead screen" issue). Once again, imgBurn saves the day- it remains the best utility for burning accurate, compatible video dvds (from any source, any authoring program). So many of us use it, we take it for granted and don't always think of it as a first-line solution to a disc problem.

Static recorder burned dvd + pgcEdit + imgBurn = problem-free, auto-run dupe dvd.

[r0lZ]

I agree mostly with the explanations given here by orsetto, but I would like to add that the First-Play is not a flag but a PGC (with as many commands as you like but without video content) and, more importantly, that its presence is NOT mandatory. The DVD-Video specs are not particularly clear, but it seems that the FP-PGC can be omitted, and if it is not present, the first title on the DVD should be played automatically. (Questions remains on what is the "first" title. Is it the first PGC in the VTST 1 domain, or the title that has the number 1 in the Title Play Map table? It's not necessarily the same title.)

Anyway, that means that the DVD recorders CAN create finalized DVDs without FP-PGC. However, it's obviously not a good idea, because many players do not know what to do in such situation. It's why I have decided to create automatically a new FP-PGC when PgcEdit opens a DVD without FP-PGC. By default, it jumps directly to the first title (as it should), but you can change that behaviour manually if you prefer the menu.

That means also that the culprit are the players. In fact, there is a VM command called Exit that "quits" the DVD when it is executed. The same action can theoretically be executed by pressing TWO times the Stop button on the remote (as long as there is no PUO prohibiting to stop the playback or to exit the DVD). Although the Exit command is very rarely used, it permits to enter the so called "Exit state". To restart the DVD from the exit state, the user must press the Play button, and in that case, with or without a FP-PGC, the player should jump to the first title. (It is even possible with some players to jump to any title between title 1 and title 9 by pressing the corresponding number on the remote, but only a few players implement that possibility.) The Stop+Stop+Play combination is therefore normally a handy shortcut to jump almost directly to the main movie and bypass the studio logos, FBI warnings, the menus and previews rapidly, but of course, for this to work properly, the main movie must have been authored in the Title 1, and there must be no PUOs prohibiting to press the Stop button twice.

When there is no FP-PGC, the DVD is supposed to start in the Exit state automatically, and pressing Play should do exactly the same thing. Some players do not need the Play button press because they assume that there is no sense to enter the Exit state when the DVD is inserted, and most players ignore completely that Exit state behaviour. All bad players like WMP are unable to play the DVD at all. Some software players remember the state of the DVD and the position of the playback in the current title so that they can offer to continue where the user left off the next time that DVD is opened, but that's a player feature, not planned by the DVD-Video specs.

Last note: Never use VLC to test if your DVD reacts correctly with a standard player. VLC is a good player, but it is not at all compliant with the DVD-Video specifications. There are many better player out there. Of course, the terrible Windows Media Player, compatible with nothing, should be avoided too!