[Espen Isaksen]

Hi!

I am going to buy the iBook with a CD-RW, but I can't decide whether to buy it with a DVD or not. How is the quality when playing to a TV compared to buying one of the cheaper DVD-players? Will it loose any quality passing the cable? I have never played DVD's myself so I don't know much about it. So what kind of features will I loose by playing DVD movies on my iBook compared to a pure DVD-player?

I guess I simply ask this: Will I get better off if I buy a stand alone DVD-player to the same price as I have to pay for a Combo drive on my iBook?

Espen

[C.J. Moof]

I haven't tried the ibook's DVD, but I'll say the picture quality on my Titanium's output is better than my cheapo Apex DVD player, which suffers from a tendency to blow out reds and have problem with subtle color gradients.

The biggest thing you'll loose is having decent audio. My apex puts out DTS audio, and I love my 5.1 system. I haven't seen a laptop yet that has 5.1 audio out. All do 2 channel, which is quite a dilution of the audio abilities of DVD. Watching Saving Private Ryan, Terminator 2 or the Matrix in 2 channels is now a dissapointment. Monty Python and the Holy Grail- no difference.

So if you want house rockin audio, save your pennies and get a standalone DVD player AND a real audio system. If you can live without that, get the DVD in your laptop, you'll have fun on your next trip with it.

Geeky fun: Borrow a presentation projector from the office, hook it up to your laptop. Hang a white sheet on your garage, and make yourself a 96" projection DVD player some evening. Invite your friends over to your personal drive-in.

External, amplified speakers reccomended.

[ussfolsom]

I'm not sure about the new iBooks (I've got the CD model), but I've played around with the old model and a stand alone player is MUCH better. Maybe the new iBooks have improved, but the old kind distorted the screen and black bars could be seen on the sides, plus it looked a bit fuzzy to me.

[-Q-]

As an iBook DVD owner I can say that the video quality is very nice. It's not quite comparable to my Philips DVD, but it does a good job in a pinch (like when I borrowed the office's LCD projector and hooked the iBook up to the stereo ) and when you simply want to watch the movie on your laptop.

But if you're in any way a movie buff or an audiophile, save the money for a standalone DVD. There's no comparison to what an actual DVD player can do...

[EmAn]

The quality is pretty decent, but if I were you I'd go with the stand alone DVD player because it will probably be much better and also if you get the Combo iBook the CD-RW is only 4x, on the CD-RW model the drive is 8x.

[FD]

The main issue is whether or not you want/need a portable DVD player. The CD/RW iBook burns CD-Rs at 8X compared to 4X in the combo. As far as picture and sound quality goes, if you've never played a DVD before then even a "cheapo" player will blow you away. I myself would never own a laptop without DVD but that's just me, I like to watch movies on the go. Unless you need to be able to burn
CDs on the go, you might want to consider an ext firewire CD-R/RW and either the CD iBook or the DVD iBook. With the money you save on the iBook you could get a 24X CD burner.

[neophilia]

Espen,

Personally, I'm very impressed by the image quality of the DVD player in my iBook.. This is both on the LCD screen and on my TV. Maybe it's the fact my TV is (I think) over a few decades old, but I'd be hard pressed to figure out if my iBook or my mid/high-end Sony DVD player is the one outputting the video.

As for audio, yeah, the stand-alone DVD player will probably get you 5.1 surround or DTS..but no one's mentioned the "Dolby Surround Pro Logic" option under the DVD Player's preferences. I don't think this is faked.. You can get a surround signal using a left, right and video RCA cable.. (i.e. the Apple AV cable) At least I'm pretty sure you can.. Of course, a cheapo stand-alone hooked up to a stereo TV won't change much from the iBook's dvd...

Anyway, I guess it depends if you value faster burning speeds over watching movies on your laptop. Personally, I'd take the movies. Might be a good idea to wait a bit longer to get a nice, stand-alone, progressive scan DVD player with the works for cheap..

Btw, very, very cool photography.. I must say I'm jealous.

Hope that helped,
-peter, http://peter.neophiliadesign.com/

[Codename]

Apple's hardware assisted DVD players have progressive scanning capabilities.

A set-top DVD player with progressive scan is upwards of $600.

you also might want to take into consideration that in the very near future (or even current present in some situations) Software will actually be distributed on Dvd's rather than a CD. Dvd, whole waaaaay more data than a regular CD. So you don't wanna miss out on owning a great product that will be on Dvd, but not on CD. I'm ordering mine once Peabody's Apple Store opens up and I'm just splurging on the whole thing cuz I want this baby to last me a looong time.

[Eric Lundgren]

The only gripe I have with the Apple DVD player running on my iBook DVD 256 MB RAM is that the words don't quite line up with the movement of the lips. It's very slight, but I have noticed it on a variety of movies (Crouching Tiger, The Matrix, and Dr. Strangelove), so I'm pretty sure it's something going wrong on Apple's end. The audio is just a tad off, but the video quality is superb. Has anyone else noticed a slight delay in audio during playback?

~eric

[Daver]

Originally posted by Eric Lundgren:
<STRONG>The only gripe I have with the Apple DVD player running on my iBook DVD 256 MB RAM is that the words don't quite line up with the movement of the lips. It's very slight, but I have noticed it on a variety of movies (Crouching Tiger, The Matrix, and Dr. Strangelove), so I'm pretty sure it's something going wrong on Apple's end. The audio is just a tad off, but the video quality is superb. Has anyone else noticed a slight delay in audio during playback?

~eric</STRONG>

I used to have problems like that on my iMac DV SE, using OS 9 and QuickTime 4. Ever since upgraded to QuickTime 5 and OS 9.1, though, everything has been peachy.

Perhaps there is a slight, barely perceptible audio syncing problem every now and then, but on the whole it's very good.

[jokell82]

Originally posted by Codename:
<STRONG>Apple's hardware assisted DVD players have progressive scanning capabilities.

A set-top DVD player with progressive scan is upwards of $600.</STRONG>

Not true. My Pioneer 434 has Progressive Scan for about $250 (I think the price has dropped recently).

Edit: Oh yeah, and my Pioneer dvd player plays VCDs, does the iBook dvd player do that? (The answer is no, I just tried)

[ 08-18-2001: Message edited by: jokell82 ]

[todrain]

The DVD drive iBook is great. It's not a dvd player replacement, however. The lack of a remote gets annyoing, but on the plus side, I think the picture is just as good. (using the AV cable to a TV)

Get a DVD iBook and an External Burner. I can't say enough about my QPS! For the same price as a combo drive model, I got a DVD iBook with another 256MB of RAM and the 12x10x32x QUEFire CDRW.

[x user]

There is another option that isn't really mentioned here. Buying a cheap internal DVD drive. Stick it into a Firewire case and plug it into your CDRW iBook! Yep it works great! I couldn't believe it till I saw it. But it would be consideribly cheaper than getting a Combo model. about $130... It worked plug-and-play with Apple's DVD player on a G4/533. Just another option... You'd lose portible DVD's of course, but you'd still be able to plug it into FW and the iBook into TV and TADA!


I haven't tried with the iBook yet, but since it works with the G4 I'd assume it would with the 'book too.

[acidchicken]

The DVD player in iBook is pretty boss!

[CyberDave]

Originally posted by jokell82:
<STRONG>

Not true. My Pioneer 434 has Progressive Scan for about $250 (I think the price has dropped recently).

Edit: Oh yeah, and my Pioneer dvd player plays VCDs, does the iBook dvd player do that? (The answer is no, I just tried)

[ 08-18-2001: Message edited by: jokell82 ]</STRONG>

Yeah, Apple's *DVD* player software can't play VideoCDs. Try searching on versiontracker.com for VCD software. I know you'll turn up some that will allow you to watch Video CDs on your iBook.

CyberDave

[Cipher13]

Just use QuickTime Player to watch VCD's

I'd go the DVD - its cheaper, and for me, the ability to use DVD data discs and watch DVD movies outweigh's the ability to burn CD's on the go.

Burning CD's is a desktop job for me - not something you do while moving around and running on batteries. Sure if you need to have a CDRW at home AND the office it'd be handy, but hey...

You've just gotta decide if you'd actually need a CD-RW on the move...
Watching DVD movies is just a gimick, but a cool one. And with the popularity of data DVD's increasing (I got a PC mag the other day which came with a DVD on the cover, not a CD...), you don't wanna be left behind.

Personally I'd go for a DVD model, and use the G4/CDRW at home for burning. If you don't have a desktop system, perhaps just get an external burner to leave at home - or, a bus powered FireWire burner that you can carry around if you really need to...

the video ouput is as good as any vcr sans s-video output.

good enough for my blockbuster rentals played in my icebook, viewed on my tv.

good enough to dub video projects to vhs.

good enough to watch dvds most everywhere. turning heads as you do, of course.


ice
combo
384 MB
20 GB

[ATC Ken]

Have to chime in for the DVD model. I thought about the combo but already have a burner. And being able to watch DVD movies on the go may be a bit dated, but it is still cool. You want your iBook to be portable and being able to watch full length movies on your laptop is the ultimate in portability!

Save the $300, get the DVD model, and use the extra cash to buy an external CD-RW if you don't have one. Really, how many of us need to burn a CD while on the road-you can always save the data, files, etc to your hard drive and then burn to a CD-R or RW when you get back home.

Now having a built in CD-RW for your at-home machine...different story there!

Ken

iBook (Dual)
DVD
384 MB
10 Gig

[Opus]

I would go with the dvd model, if you're into movies it's nice to take a few on vacation or other travel. I would say go for both.....get the dvd iBook, and you can get a decent home player for around 200 these days.....just use the iBook for your home player until you can afford a standalone.

ah, norway! i'd say hello in norwegian to you, espen (a friend, she had the patience to show me how), but since i've the faintest idea on how to s-p-e-l-l it out, i won't, and save you and myself some embarassment...

by all means, get the dvd on your icebook. frankly, you'll be surprised at how often you'll want to watch one on the go, and, after the 20th jaw dropping to the ground, you'll wonder to yourself how you ever lived prior.

besides, it's so easy to tote around an icebook than it is to lug around a (albeit cheaper) standalone dvd player.

insanelygreatmac.com's remy davison deftly examined and summed up several advantages that we buy portables for. which are:

1. portability
2. convenience
3. flexibility
4. display quality
5. compactness

invest (splurge) in the dvd, espen. you won't regret it!


ice
combo
384 MB
20 GB