DVD-R - Pseudo SuperDrives

scott f.scott f.
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I was starting to get bummed-out as I learned more & more about the limitations to NOT having an Apple-installed DVD SuperDrive.



I currently own Final Cut Pro 3 and will soon purchase DVD Studio Pro 1.5 for OSX. Apple lists a few third-party external FireWire DVD-R drives (103/A03) that are supported by DVD-SP.



The problems are... you cannot use Apple's DVD Player with an external DVD-R... and more importantly... you cannot preview and/or TEST your DVD project within DVD-SP unless you have the Apple SuperDrive installed internally.



Then it all became "good"...! I spoke with a sales rep at FirewireDirect.com and he asked plainly: "So why not just buy the 104/A04 internal IDE SuperDrive...? It took a moment for it to register in my brain... then it made sense! Duh! Of course! He claims that it is the SAME drive shipping with the QuickSilver G4s and the new iMacs... He ASSURES me that iDVD, DVD Player and DVD Studio Pro will recognize the drive as an Apple SuperDrive and work flawlessly.



We shall see. I'm getting the drive in a couple days and the software in about 5 days... I'll let y'all know if the claims are true.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    scott f.scott f. Posts: 276member
    By the way... does anyone know if I can just "COPY" all DVD-Relaed files from my iBook that DOES have DVD Playback support to my G4 that doesn't once I get the new DVD-R drive...?



    Basically, I want to be able to use the Apple DVD Player and be able to get Preview support within DVD Studio Pro... has anyone here done this yet...?



    Thanx.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    unfilteredunfiltered Posts: 49member
    The DVD playback ability that you have in previewing in DVD SP is purely software based and is not dependent on a DVD drive. Apple DVD Player can run without an actual DVD. It can run off of mounted images of DVDs, or in your case, preview a project you are creating in DVD SP. Of course, when you want to actually PLAYBACK that new DVD you have burned, you may have issues with the aforementioned Firewire drives.



    [ 04-30-2002: Message edited by: Unfiltered ]</p>
  • Reply 3 of 9
    scott f.scott f. Posts: 276member
    [quote]Originally posted by Unfiltered:

    <strong>The DVD playback ability that you have in previewing in DVD SP is purely software based and is not dependent on a DVD drive. Apple DVD Player can run without an actual DVD. It can run off of mounted images of DVDs, or in your case, preview a project you are creating in DVD SP. Of course, when you want to actually PLAYBACK that new DVD you have burned, you may have issues with the aforementioned Firewire drives.



    [ 04-30-2002: Message edited by: Unfiltered ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I wish that were true. According to Apple's K-Base Document #60891, it says:



    Although DVD Studio Pro can write to DVD-R discs using third-party external DVD-R drives, DVD Studio Pro requires an Apple-shipped internal DVD-ROM or DVD-R drive in order to use the Preview mode, or to test built projects using the Apple DVD Player application. These features will not work with Macintosh computers containing built-in CD-RW drives.



    This behavior is also applicable to Apple DVD Player, regardless of whether you have DVD Studio Pro installed.



    --------------



    Unfortunately... that contradicts your claim (not trying to PROVE you wrong). This is why I bought the internal.
  • Reply 4 of 9
    scott f.scott f. Posts: 276member
    Does anyone know where I can "acquire" Apple's DVD Player and/or iDVD since my computer didn't "ship" with a SuperDrive...? I can't seem to find any downloads for them (only Updaters).



    Thanks in advance.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    You can buy iDVD 2 for $20 at the Apple Store.



    You can unpack the DVD Player software from your OS X 10.1 CD, but I don't know how off the top off my head and it's late/early...
  • Reply 6 of 9
    surfrattsurfratt Posts: 9member
    What options do I have for using a superdrive with my powerbook? Can I hook up an external apple superdrive that will work correctly with Final Cut pro 3 and studio pro dvd? Or am I sol and have to wait until apple releases an Powerbook with superdrive
  • Reply 7 of 9
    scott f.scott f. Posts: 276member
    [quote]Originally posted by surfratt:

    <strong>What options do I have for using a superdrive with my powerbook? Can I hook up an external apple superdrive that will work correctly with Final Cut pro 3 and studio pro dvd? Or am I sol and have to wait until apple releases an Powerbook with superdrive</strong><hr></blockquote>



    As far as I know... the issue isn't USING DVD-Studio Pro on a PowerBook... you can do that with an external FireWire DVD-R as is suggested on Apple's site. As a matter of fact... you can purchase and USE the DVD Studio Pro software on any Mac... you just need the burner to MAKE the DVD... some people just make the necessary files and send them out to be burned. The issue is that (for some reason) DVD Playback is restricted (currently) to the INTERNAL IDE A03/103 and A04/104 Pioneer drives supplied in the Apple machines. This means that on your PowerBook... you can run DVD Studio Pro right now, but you cannot burn a DVD, preview the project or even TEST the project.



    If you buy an external DVD-R (One supported by Apple) then you can at least BURN the DVD, but you wont know if it works until you try it on a DVD Player.



    (Hope that helped)
  • Reply 8 of 9
    scott f.scott f. Posts: 276member
    [quote]Originally posted by Eugene:

    <strong>You can buy iDVD 2 for $20 at the Apple Store.



    You can unpack the DVD Player software from your OS X 10.1 CD, but I don't know how off the top off my head and it's late/early...</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Does anyone HERE know how to "Unpack" the DVD Player and/or iDVD from the 10.1 CD...? My drive arrives tomorrow and I'll be eager to take her for a spin. DVD Studio Pro will not arrive until Thurs or Fri and I want to test out the drive.



    Thanks in advance for your help



    EDIT: The CD of iDVD on Apple's site does not say if it's a full install or an Upgrade". The title of the page says Upgrade... I don't want to blow $20 on shipping just to get an updater to software I don't have... know what I mean...?



    [ 05-05-2002: Message edited by: Scott F. ]</p>
  • Reply 9 of 9
    scott f.scott f. Posts: 276member
    Drive arrived... made the quick & easy swap. The drive showed-up in Apple SysProfiler as a DVD-R... launched iTunes... recognized the burner to burn a CD.



    Copied DVD Player from my girlfriend's iBook on to MY machine... lanched it... it launched... put in a DVD, and it asked if I wanted to "Set" the region code... but of course... I click "Set Region Code"



    ERROR MESSAGE: Cannot Find Region Manager, Please reinstall DVD Player Application.



    I searched High & Low for whatever file HELD that information to no avail. How did I solve it...? (and I did solve it)... well. I Installed OSK on a new partition and did all the subsequent upgrades... 10.1, 10.1.2, etc... I wanted to see if the drive would WORK. Sure enough... since the installer SAW the drive from the beginning, it loaded DVD Player and all of it's updates. I launched it... it asked to set the region... I sed yep... it did it and it worked.



    So I figured I'd have to do that to my ACTUAL OSX partition... Start from SCRATCH! So... I go boot back into the actual OSX partition, but just for fun... I try running DVD Player... WHOA!!! It works!!!! I guess the region code must be set in the DVD Drive itself...? I dunno... all I know is it WORKS now.



    Just thought I'd share that with y'all.



    - Scott
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