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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > DVDs on Beige G3 - No PCI Card

DVDs on Beige G3 - No PCI Card
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quicksilverG4
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May 30, 2007, 03:00 PM
 
I'm making ridiculous upgrades to a Beige G3 to be used as an OS 9-only system. I've got a DVD-ROM in my minitower and have heard there is a way to play DVDs on the Beige without upgrading with a ATI PCI graphics card.

From what I can gather there is a 3rd revision of the logicboard with a Rage 128 Turbo graphics chip that is required for DVD playback. Also needed is a DVD version of the Wings AV personality card.

Does anyone have one of these special Wings cards, know where to get one, or at least know how to identify one?

I may eventually give up and just stick a PCI video card in the thing but I'd like to try to keep all my slots free for other things. As far as why I'm bothering with a Beige and not a B&W: it works with some old hardware without having to hunt down things like a serial port or serial USB-converter.
     
bballe336
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May 30, 2007, 05:13 PM
 
Don't waste your time trying to play DVD's on it, it's going to be very choppy.
     
imitchellg5
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May 30, 2007, 07:07 PM
 
Agreed. Unless you really need something to do, avoid it. OS 9 DVD playback sucked anyway, no matter how good of a machine you had.
     
quicksilverG4  (op)
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May 30, 2007, 11:08 PM
 
OK, thanks. I don't recall ever watching a DVD under OS 9 and if its that bad I'll skip it. I've always like the playback under X. It seems to be better than on any of my PCs which are all more powerful than my Macs.
     
OreoCookie
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May 31, 2007, 12:00 AM
 
Some of the PowerBooks G3s (I think Wallstreet and Lombard had them, Pismos were powerful enough for DVD playback via the cpu) needed an accelerator card for DVD playback. Since your PowerMac is about as fast as these machines, you'll have a hard time to have smooth playback on a beige G3.

There were also special MPEG2 accelerators for smooth playback. But I doubt it'll be worth it.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
bowwowman
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Jun 13, 2007, 03:30 AM
 
Originally Posted by quicksilverG4 View Post
OK, thanks. I don't recall ever watching a DVD under OS 9 and if its that bad I'll skip it. I've always like the playback under X. It seems to be better than on any of my PCs which are all more powerful than my Macs.

google is your friend (check out the ebay auction for the wings card!)

Wings AV personality card - Google Search

And AFAIK, the only way to watch dvd's on a Beige is to get one of the old Rage 128 Cards that had a DVD decoder chip built onto it, which was a BTO option on the 1st B&W's in early '99.
Personally I find it hilarious that you have the hots for my gramma. Especially seeins how she is 3x your age, and makes your Brittney-Spears-wannabe 30-something wife look like a rag doll who went thru WWIII with a burning stick of dynamite up her a** :)
     
   
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