[northerngriffy]

I just got the new Lord of the Rings DVD (Special Extended Edition) and it won't work on either my PowerBook or my roommate's PowerBook. We both have PowerBook G3s (FireWire).

When we insert the disc it spins up as though about to mount and then ejects. I've never seen any other DVD do this. All four of the LOTR discs do this, suggesting that it could be some kind of encoding thing. Anyone else had this problem? I'm curious whether it's a PowerBook issue or something that won't work with all Macs.

[MountainMac]

I rented LOTR from Netflix and it worked fine on my PB.

A region code issue perhaps?


MM

[SirCastor]

Originally posted by MountainMac:
I rented LOTR from Netflix and it worked fine on my PB.
MM

Is it the extended version though? That's important.

[littlegreenspud]

It works fine on my 550 TiBook and quicksilver dual gig.

It is playing now, as I type!

I am running 10.2.2.

The extended version is much better than the cinema version, though it is too long for the cinema!

[skalie]

Wow, never thought to type and watch dvd's at the same time.

Me = happy.

( typing this while watching LOTR old version )

cool

[northerngriffy]

Originally posted by littlegreenspud:
It works fine on my 550 TiBook and quicksilver dual gig.

It is playing now, as I type!

I am running 10.2.2.

The extended version is much better than the cinema version, though it is too long for the cinema!

Well, it's nice to know someone can watch the movie!


I went to the store and exchanged the discs, only to find that the new ones do the exact same thing. Very disappointed. I guess there may be some kind of drive incompatibility with the discs issue.

[northerngriffy]

Okay, now I know what's going on. It's a problem with certain LG drives, especially those found in PowerBook G3s such as mine (DRN 8080B). It's also nice to know this problem is affecting Windows users as well! Here's the article from The One Ring.net:

Extended DVD Problems
Tehanu @ 12:08 pm EST
Darren wrote: I passed this along in the boards and the spymaster link, but am sending it to you as well. There is a problem with the new FOTR Special Edition DVD not playing in some DVD ROM drives. Here is the info I got from Interactual tech support.

"We apologize for the problems you are experiencing with the Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition DVD. We have had reports of customers experiencing problems with these discs with several specific DVD ROM drive models. If your computer has one of the following drive models installed, then it is likely that the drive will not recognize any of the discs in this DVD set.

"This is not due to a problem in the way that the discs were created, since they are all fully compliant with the DVD Specification and will play on the majority of DVD equipment. The problem is apparently due to a limitation in the programming of the internal firmware of the drive models in question, and replacing the disc will not resolve the issue.

"We have informed New Line Home Video about these problems, and they are contacting the makers of these drives to ensure that a firmware upgrade is made available to customers which correct this problem.

"The drives that have had problems reported are:

* Samsung SD-616, commonly sold in Dell and HP desktop PC's * LG DRD8160B, commonly sold in Sony, Dell, or Compaq desktop PC's * LG DRN8080B, commonly sold in Compaq and HP laptop PC's

"There are currently no fixes available for the problem at this time. When the problem has been resolved and a firmware upgrade has been released, the manufacturer of your computer system should be able to provide the update to you, and assist if needed with applying the fix to your system.

"We apologize again for the inconvenience."