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wdale · Nov 30, 2002, 03:47 PM

Hi, I just received my powerbook today, first impressions, absolutely great.

However, I am a switcher and have a number of questions.

When I load Stuffit Expander (from Application/Utilities/) It takes 37 bounces to load, is this normal?

Also when I play a DVD in DVD Player I have an annoying green line at the bottom of the picture, I have no dead pixels on my screen usually and I think this is more a video issue. How can I solve this and what is causing it? I have tried a number of DVD's. Gladiator and Any Given Sunday included.

On a related note, the DVD player also has black lines top and bottom of screen despite the DVD's being widescreen, and I'm running full screen dvd player mode.

Finally, how do I change the icon of a file for example the library folder?

Thanks for all your time

icruise · Nov 30, 2002, 03:59 PM

1. 37 bounces for Stuffit seems rather excessive. It took 8 just now to open on my 500mhz G4 Powerbook. Does it consistantly take that long?

2. Don't know about the green line in DVD player issue except to say that it isn't normal (at least it doesn't happen on my machine) Could be an issue wit the particular video card in the new Powerbooks -- anyone else have this problem?

3. If the DVD you are playing is a very wide widescreen, or if it is non-anamorphic (not optimised for widescreen tvs) you will see more prominant black lines, but since the powerbook is not the same dimensions as the common DVD dimensions I think you will always have some black lines.

4. I'm not sure about the library folder in particular, but to change icons in general you "get info" on the file with the icon you want in the finder, click on the little icon in the window and select "copy." Do the same for the one you want to change the icon for and select "paste." Some system icons cannot be changed this way (and library may be one). In that case you need an application like CandyBar (see www.iconfactory.com) which can change the icons systemwide for almost everything. I recommend it, although you do have to pay a bit for it.

wdale · Nov 30, 2002, 04:05 PM

Yeah, I've done it a couple of times and it always takes about 35-37, the little coloured circle runs for a bit too while it is trying to load it up.

mjlukich · Nov 30, 2002, 04:13 PM

wdale: Welcome to the Forum! I am a recent switcher myself (3 weeks), so I can only answer your question regarding black bars at the top and bottom of DVD movies.

Although the PB's widescreen display is wider than the standard television's 4:3, the aspect ratio is not quite as wide as a dedicated HD TV screen's 16:9, so the black bars are perfectly normal.

For that matter, you will still see bars at the top and bottom of a widescreen TV wile watching WS DVDs. The 16:9 aspect ratio translates to approximately 1.77:1, and WS films START at 1.85:1 (there are a few exceptions here and there, mostly older films) and get wider from there, with 1.85:1 and 2.35:1 being the most common.

Hope this helps, and enjoy that Powerbook! I just picked up the 867 myself.

Art Vandelay · Nov 30, 2002, 04:37 PM

Originally posted by wdale:
Yeah, I've done it a couple of times and it always takes about 35-37, the little coloured circle runs for a bit too while it is trying to load it up.

Are you connected to the Internet? Stuffit Expander, by default, will check for updates. You can turn this off in its preferences.

Art Vandelay · Nov 30, 2002, 04:45 PM

Originally posted by wdale:

Also when I play a DVD in DVD Player I have an annoying green line at the bottom of the picture, I have no dead pixels on my screen usually and I think this is more a video issue. How can I solve this and what is causing it? I have tried a number of DVD's. Gladiator and Any Given Sunday included.

I haven't gotten my new PowerBook yet. It should be here in a few days.

I don't see this on my iMac. It sounds like you are seeing part of the green mask that the system displays to play DVDs. The OS displays a green mask where the video should appear. The DVD player decodes the DVD and sends the video stream directly to the video card, bypassing the OS (this prevents screen shots of DVDs for copyright reasons). The video card then displays the video whereever that particular shade of green is displayed. It sounds like this process isn't quite working correctly in your case.

photoeditor · Nov 30, 2002, 05:00 PM

I certainly haven't been getting 37 bounces on Stuffit -- more like one or two. I wonder if something is misconfigured? I know the current (free) Stuffit Expander, version 7, keeps telling you that there is an update, even though seven is the current version. You've got a choice between either disabling this window that tells you to update or buying the pay version which has a few extra features (not essential to extracting downloaded files though).

Art Vandelay · Nov 30, 2002, 05:04 PM

Originally posted by photoeditor:
I certainly haven't been getting 37 bounces on Stuffit -- more like one or two. I wonder if something is misconfigured? I know the current (free) Stuffit Expander, version 7, keeps telling you that there is an update, even though seven is the current version. You've got a choice between either disabling this window that tells you to update or buying the pay version which has a few extra features (not essential to extracting downloaded files though).

Actually, 7.01 is the latest version. So, it is correct when it says there is an update.

wdale · Nov 30, 2002, 05:22 PM

I have turned version checking off and Stuffit now loads in one bounce, thanks guys!

Also, I have installed VideoLan (VLC) and I dont seem to have the green line problem with it, only DVD Player. I would really like to get DVD player to work though so what does this problem suggest?

Thanks

lokjah · Nov 30, 2002, 07:09 PM

well the obvious, have u tried a fresh install of osx to see if that gets it taken care of? could be something with the video card. second, if there is an apple store near you you could take it to the genius bar and have them take a look at it.

l�k

Originally posted by wdale:
I have turned version checking off and Stuffit now loads in one bounce, thanks guys!

Also, I have installed VideoLan (VLC) and I dont seem to have the green line problem with it, only DVD Player. I would really like to get DVD player to work though so what does this problem suggest?

Thanks

CheesePuff · Nov 30, 2002, 08:48 PM

Yeah, I always format my drive when I get a new computer from Apple.

Put the Mac OS X installer disc into the drive, restart, and install Mac OS X only. Once thats done do the updates with Software Update to OS X 10.2.2, and then get Stuffit Expander 7.0.1.

With update checking on, Stuffit Expander 7.0.1 takes 1 bounce.

dvd · Nov 30, 2002, 10:31 PM

^^^ i agreee with what cheese said.