[ttoth]

Now that Apple supports software based DVD playback, is it possible to get a DVD drive and use it in my G4/PCI graphics Mac? If so, what is a good drive to get? And if I get a copy of the Apple version of the iDVD (or whatever it's called) can I burn my own DVD's with a DVD-RW?

[THX1138]

I don't know the exact answer to your question, but you might try the Accelerate Your Mac (www.xlr8yourmac.com) drive compatibility database. It cross refrences drives and computers and whether they work or not.


-THX

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Just because Windows users vastly outnumber Mac users, numbers alone do not denote a higher form of life. Cøckroaches outnumber humans many times over, and no one says a cøckroach is better than a human.

I can't speak for all G4 PCIs, but I could NOT play DVDs using software decoding. I'm not sure if it's the firmware that makes the limitation or what, but here was my solution:

1. First I found out the model of the DVD rom drive and installed in place of CD-ROM.

2. On Ebay, I found someone selling the ATI MPEG-2 daughter card. I installed on my ATI video card (notice the separate set of pins near the top of the card).

3. downloaded and installed the latest apple DVD software. If you have hardware decoding, the installer will automatically install version 1.3. If not, it will install 2.2 (i think). In this case, mine installed 1.3.

4. Used the Matrix to test decoding speed. No major flaws!

Hope this helps.

I ended up putting together an appropriate Home Theater system anyway, so I rarely watch DVDs on the G4. Maybe we can work something out. I also watch DVDs on my laptop so the G4 is the last alternative.

I can't speak for all G4 PCIs, but I could NOT play DVDs using software decoding. I'm not sure if it's the firmware that makes the limitation or what, but here was my solution:

1. First I found out the model of the DVD rom drive and installed in place of CD-ROM. (Hitachi DVD-GD-3000)

2. On Ebay, I found someone selling the ATI MPEG-2 daughter card. I installed on my ATI video card (notice the separate set of pins near the top of the card).

3. downloaded and installed the latest apple DVD software. If you have hardware decoding, the installer will automatically install version 1.3. If not, it will install 2.2 (i think). In this case, mine installed 1.3.

4. Used the Matrix to test decoding speed. No major flaws!


As for DVD burning, I'm not sure if iDVD looks for specific firmware to work. But I am positive that DVD studio Pro works on a G4 PCI. it's just a matter of having a DVD-R drive that's compatible with the DVD studio pro. You're probably better off getting an external FireWire DVD-R or RW or RAM. I haven't seen the drive sold by themselves yet. Otherwise, I'd like to test internal drive bay usage.

Good Luck!

easy peasy,
pioneer dvd player works/ I used a 12x.
go find the dvd hack for the apple software decoder, its all over the internet.
works great/ apart from usual sinc problems

[SunSeeker]

Works on a G3 B&W too. I have a ricoh combi dvd/cdrw and use the hacked player mentioned above.
However I find playback choppy under 9.1. Under 9.0.4 it was fine.
No daughtercard required though.

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[tie]

Help!! I have a G4 450 PCI, which came with Apple's internal DVD drive. But I can't watch any movies.

I have Apple DVD Player 2.3 installed but when I open it, it says "This Macintosh does not support Apple DVD Player" (in OS 9.1) or "The application "Apple DVD Player" could not be opened because 'DVDVideoGadget--DrivelsDVDDrive' could not be found" (in OS 8.6). I downloaded the updater to 2.4, but when I run it, it says: "Apple DVD Player cannot be installed on this machine."

So I backtracked and downloaded DVD Player 1.1. When I open that it says "Apple DVD Player cannot open because the required hardware wasn't found" and tells me to quit applications that use sound or video. I quit everything and it tells me the same thing. I try updating the 1.1 version to 2.2 and it says Apple DVD player cannot be installed onto a volume which does not contain a US release of Mac OS 9.0.1 or newer." (It doesn't matter which partition I select, it gives the same error.) Trying to install 2.3 off the OS 9.1 CD gave the same message -- something's really wrong with this installer.

I am in fact running OS 9.1, but I get all the same errors when I reboot into OS 8.6.

The other weird thing is that even though the DVD Player is version 2.3, the readme says version 2.2 and it also says that it doesn't support PCI G4s. But I have watched DVDs before; I wonder if I ran some update I wasn't supposed to (software update?).

I'm pulling out my hair here. I don't have the disk which came with my G4 so I can't just reinstall the original working DVD player, whatever version it was. I don't see any other DVD Player updates on Apple's website besides the two I tried.

[This message has been edited by tie (edited 05-27-2001).]

[tie]

Just tried playing with the extensions and no joy. I figure that when I ran the OS 9.1 installer it installed a version of Apple DVD Player that doesn't work on my system, overwriting the old one.

This is so frustrating. If my DVD drive doesn't work in OS 9.1, it'll never work in OS X. Arghh.

[tie]

Problem solved! Thank heaven for software pirates!

I must have misplaced an extension or something because now DVD Player 2.3 works (despite the readme which says it shouldn't ). I just had to reinstall 2.3. Of course, Apple's own installer required OS 9.0.1, and wouldn't work with 9.1. The solution was to download a hacked version of the installer. Hooray for illegal software pirates.

[l008com]

Amen!

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