Superdrive W/ Power Mac G3

gunnar23gunnar23
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Superdrive W/ Power Mac G3 400MHz Question



I have a Blue and White Power Mac G3 400 MHz with loads of RAM and I am going to upgrade the DVD-Rom to a Superdrive which I am going to purchase from MCE Technologies.

Is the Superdrive going to work? The most important thing is that I can use iMovie and iDVD with the Superdrive to burn DVD movies I can play on my home DVD player.

On MCE Technologies website they recommend a G4, I called Apple and they suggested that I buy a new computer with a Superdrve already in it.

I can?t afford a new computer, I only want to transfer a few family movies from my camcorder to DVD, I don?t really care about speed.



Thanks for your input guys.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Don't bother buying from MCE. They charge $150 for a 4x DVD-R and $230 for an 8x DVD-R. The same drives, which are fully supported by Apple, are $113 and $140 respectively at NewEgg.com.



    Pioneer DVD-RW drives



    Now, MCE might use Sony drives, or they might use Pioneer drives. Either way, they will work just fine in a PowerMac. Since Apple-supplied Superdrives are DVR-106 models, iDVD can't tell the difference between one you bought from Apple and one bought from NewEgg.



    EDIT: Someone told me the DVR-107 (the 8x one available from NewEgg) wasn't supported on a Mac. I have no idea if it's true or not, but Apple will move to 8x DVD-Rs sometime and I bet they'll use the DVR-107 so even if it's not supported now, it may well work in the future. But if you get the DVR-106 you're sure of compatibility.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    cosmocosmo Posts: 662member
    be careful

    i'm not sure that iDVD's mpeg encoder will work without a g4



    can someone confirm this?

    Maybe DVDSP will work on a g3



    even if it works with a g3, it will take a very very long time to encode movies
  • Reply 3 of 6
    formerlurkerformerlurker Posts: 2,686member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Cosmo

    be careful

    i'm not sure that iDVD's mpeg encoder will work without a g4



    can someone confirm this?

    Maybe DVDSP will work on a g3



    even if it will work with a g3, it will take a very very long time to encode movies



    Cosmo is correct. iDVD will not install or run on a G3. Other than burning data DVDs, a "SuperDrive" is useless on a G3.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    gunnar23gunnar23 Posts: 12member
    If I upgrade my G3 400MHz to G3 900MHz would that enable me to use iDVD?

    I am guessing the answer is no, but just in case.

    My next solution is (if it is possible) to upgrade my Blue & White to a G4 with a processor card, does anyone know if this doable?



    Thanks you all your help guys.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    studio896studio896 Posts: 19member
    iDVD requires a G4.
  • Reply 6 of 6
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by gunnar23

    If I upgrade my G3 400MHz to G3 900MHz would that enable me to use iDVD?

    I am guessing the answer is no, but just in case.

    My next solution is (if it is possible) to upgrade my Blue & White to a G4 with a processor card, does anyone know if this doable?



    Thanks you all your help guys.



    Yes, actually, a G4 ZIF (ZIF = zero insertion force, the type of processor the B&W uses) will not be too expensive. Look for a used one somewhere and it'll only cost you about $150 or so. There are G4/800 and G4/1GHz upgrades available, but they aren't worth the cost because they throttle your bus down to 66 MHz, which negates much of the advantage in clock speed.



    Keep in mind that if you get a G4 upgrade, it will still take a really long time to encode video in iDVD. A G4/450 or G4/500 is not the best setup for that, but it'll run iDVD, unlike the G3 (even the G3/900).
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