[MAlan]

Has anyone played "The Matrix" DVD on an iMac DV or DV/SE? Firstly, let me start by saying I am aware of the problems this DVD has had with the Mac platform but I was also told that the problems have been fixed.

I got the matrix for xmas and I slipped it into my iMac DV/SE on sunday and it wouldn't mount. I tried again and it did mount successfully. I watched a little bit of the parts where you can choose scenes then shutdown. The next morning I was able to watch it just fine...I watched the cast interviews and noticed how quickly the sound went out of sync with the lips. So today I downloaded DVD player 2.0 and was going to try a series of suggestions I read on MacNN to get rid of the syncing problem.

Well today the disk would not mount at all. I find this very weird considering my success before. I tried like 5 times and nothing. I pulled up this information about the Matrix and other movies like it from the MacNN archives. However it was posted Sept. 30th...before the new iMacs were released so I don't know if this is good information.

"To properly mount and play the DVDs properly, you must press option + command + 'i' while inserting the DVD (or to control-click the disc and "Mount as ISO9660" from the contextual menu)."

Can anyone help me out on this?

[MS]

Try the option control i thing, it worked for me. Just make sure you do it immediately after you put the DVD in, then it should mount on your desktop correctly.

Many people have had trouble with DVD player 2.0. Before upgrading my DVD player I could play the Matrix DVD no matter what screen resolution I had at the time -although the sound sync problems have always been there. After upgrading to version 2.0 the program crashes if I am at any resolution except 640x480.
Clearly there are still lots of problems playing DVDs, especially the Matrix DVD.

[msingh]

I just read an extensive article on DVD-tips, with a special section on the Matrix DVD at macfixit.com

Read that, it should help.

It's in the top 15-something problems for mac users this year.

------------------
--
Mark Singh

Apple's cool, but I found something better to die for!
http://www.banquetingtable.com

[iPaul UK]

Isn't the iMac DVD rom update supposed to fix the mounting problem? It did the trick on my DVSE. I think perhaps some people think that the Rom update and DVD software update are the same thing.. Which they are not. Could this be the problem?

[disectamac]

you know what, that is really strange, I've never had trouble mounting DVD's on an iMac DV SE, or any crashing problems either with or without all the updates and upgrades. The only problem I've had which is pretty universal is the sync problem and for some strange reason (might have something to do with quicktime extensions) the sync problem wasn't solved when I got the DVD rom updtate or the DVD player 2.0......the sync promblem finally fixed when I upgraded to Quicktime 4.0.1........I still can't get anyone else to verify this for me but thats what happened.

Before the quicktime update:
The Matrix (worst sync problems of all my DVD's)
would quickly loose sync although it got slightly better with the DVD rom update and the final DVD player software release

After the quicktime update:
no more sync problems.....just dissapeared...vanished....poof....gone.

and to make the sync problem even more gone than gone, now it won't loose sync if I try to make it loose sync.....I boosted Virtual Memory to 200 just for the heck of it...changed the screen res to 1024 x 768....had netscape communicator running in the background and setting sun (screen saver always on but not in saver mode).....I even had soundapp play an Mp3 for me in the background....the dang thing just wouldn't loose sync.....I also used Ultra recorder (records background sounds) to get some sounds off my DVD's.

[gyc]

disectamac:
do you mean QuickTime 4.1 and not 4.0.1? The latest released version that I see is currently 4.0.3.

QT v4.1 was announced at Macworld SF and ic downloadble via some ftp server (not yet availailble on Apple's website, stangly enough). The latest available from Apple's website is v4.0.3...

[Misha]

QT 4.1 was not announced at Macworld SF and it is not available to download from anywhere, either.

[MAlan]

Well, the plot thickens. To reply to iPaul....I downloaded the DVD Rom update first before even trying the matrix on my machine. When I first tried it I was still using the beta version of DVD player. During that series of trials I couldn't mount it the first time but the next two times it mounted just fine.

Then I downloaded DVD player v. 2.0. Then I couldn't get it to mount at all even after 10 - 15 tries.

Then out of the blue right before I was going to sleep I decided to try it again after rebooting. Then it worked for no rhyme or reason. Very weird.

So I have a theory. The theory goes like this....when you first stick in the Matrix with either the new or beta version of DVD player it is a crap shoot. Depending on the orientation of the DVD when it goes in and what the hardware reads first will give you a mount or no mount. However, once you have successfully mounted then some low level part of the DVD software writes data to a file that allows you to rebuild the desktop file without regard to orientation.

This theory explains why I could mount successfully without problem with the beta version after mounting successfully the second time. I got a window the first time I successfully mounted that said "rebuilding the matrix desktop" or something like that. When upgrading to DVD player 2.0 this file I'm speaking of was updated as well so I had to repeat the process.

Only time will tell if my theory is accurate.

[MAlan]

I still can't get that Matrix DVD to mount consistently. I find it very strange that one time out of 20 it might decide to mount. Option+command+i didn't work. Plus my DVD player makes an awful noise when it doesn't mount...I don't think I'm going to stick it in there anymore.

What should I do to fix this problem? I thought this problem was supposed to be fixed?