[rado30]

I was just at Apples site checkin out the new iBooks and noticed that there shipping with DVD drives now, and a firewire port, and 466 mhz (nice upgrade).

My question is can the original iBook SE CD-rom be swapped out for the DVD-rom that are in the new iBooks?

Anyone have any opinion?

late

[Misha]

Physically I have little doubt the 1st gen SE could accomodate the 2nd gen SE's DVD drive, since both cases appear identical.

However, this is not an easy task as a good part of the iBook needs to be disassembled. Furthermore, the 1st gen iBook does not feature DVD video decoding, so even if you were able to get the drive to be recognized by the OS, you couldn't watch movies.

Now if not being able to watch movies isn't an issue, then you might be able to use regular DVD media... in fact, I'd say that you more than likely could do that.

Of course, then the question arises as to where you could find the DVD module on its own... Apple no doubt would charge you and arm and a leg for that part.

[escher]

Originally posted by Misha:
Furthermore, the 1st gen iBook does not feature DVD video decoding, so even if you were able to get the drive to be recognized by the OS, you couldn't watch movies.

I was under the firm impression that DVD decoding has been handled by software only (i.e. without special decoding hardware) ever since the introduction of the slot-loading iMac, Lombard and Pismo PowerBook and PowerMac G4.

Escher

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"The only laptop computer that's useful is the one you have with you."
We need a real computer that is truly portable!

[Dan Szwarc]

The question should be whether or not a 300Mhz G3 can handle smooth DVD decoding through software.

Since the new ibook is still 66MHz bus, MOST of the motherboard is probably still the same, but that doesn't mean that they didn't move something to make the DVD fit or work.

Anyone gonna cannibalize 2 ibooks (1 new, i old) to see if the DVD unit fits and works in and old ibook?

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Dan
Michigan Lincoln & Continental Owners Club

[iPaul UK]

Lets not forget that the new iBooks have double the video memory which must play a large part in smooth DVD playback. I would have thought the original iBooks 4meg video memory would be insufficient for DVD playback.

Just a correction, the lombard had a built in DVD decoder chip.

[milhaus]

Well, the developer note says the CD-ROM and the DVD drive of current Ibooks can't be swapped, so that does not bode well for this idea.

[smaffei]

Well, actually, the Rage 128 (Mobility for iBooks and PBs) only aids in DVD playback. The software does the decoding and the graphics chip/RAM aid in video frame buffering and display.

To support the software decoding premise:

Apple DVD Player will not run with Macsbug installed. Why? The software contains CSS decoding code for DVDs (enabling play of the encrypted DVD data). To conform to the DVD consortium specs, Apple must insure that the decoding code can't be viewed or copied. Thus, the actual decoding code resides in the Apple DVD Player application.

Hope this helps.


[This message has been edited by smaffei (edited 09-16-2000).]

[Cipher13]

Oh ok so thats why...
What about something like TMON? Can you use the DVD player while TMON is installed?
And anyway, there is a hack for DVD Player to allow it to run while Macsbug is installed...

Cipher13

If I purchased a new ibook (no DVD) but later would like to have a DVD player installed...would that be possible? I'm just curious. Frankly, it's just a toy (expensive) that I would probably not use or need to use. But was just wondering if that's a possiblity?