[DKeithA]

Everytime I play a DVD on my Ti 500MHz the fan comes on about 20 minutes into the movie. Is this normal? I know that the fan will come on to cool the procesor, but 20 minutes into the DVD? I'm wondering if it is running a little hot. The bottom is very warm when the fan come on, but it is not scorching. Anyone out there that has noticed similar behavior from their Ti?

[jmatero]

the dvd player on the Ti is software driven (the old Pismo used a PC card). That being the case, I'm sure the G4 is working overtime decoding the DVD so I'm not shocked at all that your fan is coming on.

[mike one]

also, your dvd drive should be heating up quite nicely at about the 20 minute mark, adding to an increased internal temperature.
take the disc out and see if it is getting hot, if so then your dvd drive is also adding heat.

i don't think this is abnormal behavior.

[jwh_one]

I've played DVD's on my Ti 500 without problem, or fan. I think the fan coming on depends heavily on two things - the ambient temperature, and what the machiene is sitting on. Believe it or not, that slim space between the bottom of the laptop and the table/surface that it's on is important for cooling. Make sure that you're placing the Ti on a flat, hard surface that isn't already warm. If you still get the fan, I'd guess it's just too warm in the room you're in.

[seanyepez]

The Wallstreet was the first PowerBook with a DVD drive, and it played DVD movies via an MPEG decoder card (PCMCIA). Pismo and Lombard are completely different notebooks from the Wallstreet. Lombard was the 333-megahertz and 400-megahertz laptops that were basically Wallstreets a little bit slimmer and have a little more stamina. The Pismo is a Lombard with FireWire that has a 100-megahertz bus instead of one running at 66 megahertz and came in higher megahertz. The Lombards that came with DVD players played them via the video card, the ATi Rage Pro LT. The ones that didn't come with DVD drives didn't have that decoder in the video card. Each model had slight improvements on the hard drive and RAM, including the inclusion of DVD with every Pismo. They're all different models. That's my entire point. Sorry for rambling.

[tooki]

Originally posted by jmatero:
the dvd player on the Ti is software driven (the old Pismo used a PC card).

Absolutely not:

Wallstreet -- optional DVD decoder PC Card
Lombard -- optional internal DVD decoder card (non-upgradeable; VST makes PC Card decoder as aftermarket product)
Pismo & TiBook -- hardware-assist decoding using both the main CPU and the ATI chip's decoding facilities

Originally posted by jmatero:
That being the case, I'm sure the G4 is working overtime decoding the DVD so I'm not shocked at all that your fan is coming on.

This is true, it does use a significant amount of processing power.

tooki

[qnc]

thanks tooki was just gona point that out anyway better the fan comes on than your ti over heats its doing that to protect itself don't sweat it like your computer, just be cool likelittle elvises

[nuckin futs]

tooki,
since you seem to know a lot about apple laptops, i was wondering if you could help me out...
which of apple's laptops can i just connect directly to an external monitor or television and watch/play a DVD movie without any problems? If none, what are my alternatives besides getting a real portable DVD player or a real tabletop model.

[mojojojo]

I'm not sure if that's correct tooki.

From what I remember from some posts by an ATI folk over at xlr8yourmac, Apple's DVD player does not take advantage of ATI's decoding capabilities. I belive he said this would change with OSX. This seems like a waste, but remember that Apple's DVD software ain't exactly the best in the world.

[qnc]

"nuckin futs tooki,
since you seem to know a lot about apple laptops, i was wondering if you could help me out...
which of apple's laptops can i just connect directly to an external monitor or television and watch/play a DVD movie without any problems?

The pismo/Ti can play DVD on TV through Svideo quality is good but colours are a bit off e.g. pink instead of light reds etc.. also you must put the menu bar (the bar at the top of the screen with file edit etc.. on the screen that plays the DVD and have mirroring turned off this is done in control panels and is easy just turn of mirroring in the control strip and drag the menu bar on to the TV screen under moniters in control panel.


I think the ibook does the same through a standard arial jack i.e. any video will do but I'm not sure if you get DVD on the iBook

there are PC cards adaptors for the others (I think)

[nuckin futs]

thanks for the info qnc.
i've been wanting a portable dvd player, so i figured i might as well get a laptop w/ DVD.