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kentuckyfried · Feb 5, 2003, 02:38 PM

I was trying to add a generic DVD-rom to my tower last night, it's from btcusa.com. Really cheap.

My friend installed the same drive on his G4 and it got recognized immediately on his computer. On mine...the g3 knows that it is there (according to apple system profiler), but I can't get any cd's to mount, much less any DVD's to play. Dvd player says that "drive is not recognized."

Does anybody know how to fix this problem, or is that drive simply incompatible with the B&W G3?

Leonard · Feb 5, 2003, 03:37 PM

Which MacOS are you running? MacOS 9.x or MacOS X.x? I take it the G3 had a CD-ROM drive in it before you installed the DVD-ROM drive.

If you're running MacOS 9.x it's most likely because the G3 B&W by default uses hardware decoding for DVD playback and you don't have the hardware decoder (a daughtercard on the ATI Rage 128). You either have to get the hardware decoder daughtercard or use a hacked version of the software decoding DVD player software. It could also be the drive isn't compatible. You can check www.xlr8yourmac.com for compatibility, they have a database of other users who have done this.

If you're running MacOS X, it's probably the drive. MacOS X uses software decoding for DVD playback.

kentuckyfried · Feb 5, 2003, 06:18 PM

^ sorry. I'm using 10.2.3 right now.

Software decoding? So shouldn't the drive just "work"
or is it completely incompatible with my g3?

Axo1ot1 · Feb 5, 2003, 07:47 PM

the B&W G3s that shipped with DVD drives have special hardware in them for decoding the video. When they first released DVD support for OS X this hardware wasn't supported so G3 owners still couldn't watch DVDs. There was soon thereafter a hack discovered to alter some value in the DVDE player app with a hex-editor to trick the machine into doing software decoding. I would try to find info on that hack and attempt to apply it to the DVD Player.app on your computer. No guarantees though.

kentuckyfried · Feb 5, 2003, 10:36 PM

^ GrrRrrrrr....

That sounds way beyond me but I'll have to try, otherwise I'm returning this to Fry's.

kentuckyfried · Feb 5, 2003, 10:42 PM

Um....says here on xlr8yourmac that I shouldn't need those mods with the current generation of dvd player software:

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Apple Updates OS X DVD Player to Support B&W G3 and G4/PCI Macs: Apple has a DVD 3.01 Player update available (vis OS X Software Updates) that adds support for B&W G3s and G4/PCI (Yikes) systems without needing the mods noted here. (Beige G3s I assume will still need the mod. based on reports from readers so far.) If you don't want to use Software Updates in OS X, see the apple page on Apple DVD Player 3.0.1 for a download link.
----------------------------

Apple is on dvd player 3.1.1. now. What gives?

Axo1ot1 · Feb 6, 2003, 02:01 AM

Yes but that is talking about the update that makes the DVD Playre.app work with hardware acceleration, since your computer didn't ship with that hardware the app isn't going to work unless you trick it because it only thinks it's supposed to do software acceleration on G4s.

I found the hack:

1. Running OS 9, I made a duplicate of the DVD Player.app - which makes it appear as a folder vs a file in OS 9. (Hexedit can't open the player.app "file").

2. Using Hexedit I opened the "DVD Player" file that's in the Contents/MacOS folder. I searched for the string "PowerMac2" to find the listing of "PowerMac2.1,.."

3. I changed the "2" in "PowerMac2.1" to "1" (i.e. now reading "PowerMac1.1") and saved the file.
[Note: A G4/PCI Yikes owner noted his ID was "PowerMac1,2"
For Beige G3 info - see this update.]

4. I then renamed the "DVD Player.app copy" folder to "DVD Player.app" and it "changes" back to a single file icon. I copied that file to the B&W G3's OS X 10.1 Applications folder

This is for an older version of DVD Player and OS X, so it might not work, but I bet it will if you play around with it a bit. If you want I can post the DVD Player.app from my dad's G3 for reference.

The link to the article is here.

kentuckyfried · Feb 6, 2003, 03:20 AM

I did see that article, thanks. I was sleepy so I didn't want to bother with it tonight.

Besides, what was he talking about here then, it sounds like you don't even need the mod (I have a B&W, not a beige):

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

Apple Updates OS X DVD Player to Support B&W G3 and G4/PCI Macs: Apple has a DVD 3.01 Player update available (vis OS X Software Updates) that adds support for B&W G3s and G4/PCI (Yikes) systems without needing the mods noted here. (Beige G3s I assume will still need the mod. based on reports from readers so far.) If you don't want to use Software Updates in OS X, see the apple page on Apple DVD Player 3.0.1 for a download link.

goldplata · Feb 6, 2003, 03:43 AM

You have three options:

a) buy a Radeon 7000 and use DVD Player 3.2 under OS 10.2.3. It works perfectly. That�s the configuration I have, and it looks really nice. It must be hardware accelerated.

b) use Vlan in OS X. Is makes software decoding. You can see the DVD, with some lost frames... I do not recomend it!

c) buy a standalone DVD Player or a Playstation 2 to watch DVD�s.... it is also Hardware decoding!

Good Luck

Leonard · 09:49 AM

Ooops double post... must of hit the reply instead of edit

Leonard · Feb 6, 2003, 09:43 AM

According to Tooki in this thread http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=143108 he says MacOS X uses software decoding for DVD playback on the G3 B&W and he's tested this by taking out the DVD decoder card.

Here's his quote "OS X does not use the blue G3's hardware decoder for DVDs. I have double-checked this by removing the DVD decoder daughtercard. OS X plays DVDs in software, always. (It does use the ATI card's scalers to accelerate screen drawing, though. But Rage 128 and better [as well as many older ATIs] all have this feature.)"

Doesn't sound like you need a hack. It should just work.

So my guess is it is the drive. Like I said, I'd do a quick search of the xlr8yourmac database. There's tons of info on people who have done this and what brand and model of drive they used.

P.S. There have been about 3 threads on this in the last week. You may want to take a look at them. That's where I found Tooki's response.

goldplata · Feb 6, 2003, 10:33 AM

Try Vlan version 4.6. and see if it plays although it is a bit choppy

kentuckyfried · Feb 6, 2003, 11:55 AM

^ The problem here isn't playback. I can't even install dvd player
3.1.1, it says at installation that "OS X found no compatible hardware, installation will not occur"

What exactly is the hangup here? Shouldn't installing this DVD-rom
be exactly like installing any other off the shelf IDE hard drive?
It's not clear to me why this BTC drive will function on my friend's G4 and not the B&W if it IS after all driven by software.

I will try that vlan thing later when I get home.

I've checked xlr8yourmac and that BTC drive wasn't on the list of ones that people tried, or maybe I should double-check it.

goldplata · Feb 7, 2003, 03:33 AM

DVD Player 3.1.1. doesn�t work with Jaguar. you must use 3.2. You didn�t find it on Apple�s Webside. Install an a Partition 10.1 and DVD Player 3.1.1. and then make the Jaguar Update. So you�ll get the 3.2 version.