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GK · Jan 31, 2003, 06:47 PM

There were rumors that iDVD would recognize external DVD-R drives (Pioneer A05), can anybody confirm that this is still possible with the retail version of iDVD 3 ?

Thanks

ttliem · Feb 6, 2003, 02:05 PM

Originally posted by GK:
There were rumors that iDVD would recognize external DVD-R drives (Pioneer A05), can anybody confirm that this is still possible with the retail version of iDVD 3 ?

Perhaps not at Apple's pleasure, and not working for all, but it's working for many. Check the following URLs:

Reminder on iDVD3 Install Tip for Retail Pioneer Drives
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/

iDVD3 Install Reports and Tips (from Retail DVR-105/DVR-104/DVR-103 owners):
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/idvd3_reports.html

nickm · Feb 6, 2003, 02:46 PM

Those posts are about internal burners, as far as I can tell. The original question was about external burners.

An external burner would be so much more valuable to me. If I wanted to use iDVD with an internal burner on my B&W G3, I'd have to buy a G4 upgrade and a new IDE card. If I bought an external burner, though, I could use it with my Tibook 800 and my G3 (for burning data DVDs). I could also use it with my wife's PC laptop.

Colonel Panic · Feb 6, 2003, 04:51 PM

Originally posted by nickm:
Those posts are about internal burners, as far as I can tell. The original question was about external burners.

An external burner would be so much more valuable to me. If I wanted to use iDVD with an internal burner on my B&W G3, I'd have to buy a G4 upgrade and a new IDE card. If I bought an external burner, though, I could use it with my Tibook 800 and my G3 (for burning data DVDs). I could also use it with my wife's PC laptop.

that's the rub. that's why apple won't allow it to work with external burners. they'd much rather you invested in a new tower, new powerbook, etc etc.

and, of course, there are no other options out there (given apple's strategy here to own the burning process on the platform - hardware and software) they pretty much are sticking to people. c'est la vie.

nickm · Feb 7, 2003, 02:17 AM

and, of course, there are no other options out there

I thought there was a solution by Charismac or some company like that. It wasn't as pretty as iDVD, but it got the job done and had chapter markers from day one, if I recall.

I really don't understand Apple's position here in the long run. It seems to me that if I burned discs with my external burner, a couple of things would happen: first, all my friends and family would see how cool something like iDVD really is. Second, and perhaps more important, I would realize just how slow my hardware is and want to upgrade.

Digital video is the one thing that a consumer may wish to do that can still tax current systems. I think Apple stands to benefit in the long run by getting more people to have a taste of what they can do with it (to be fair, I don't know how popular things like iMovie are among consumers, but I use it all the time).

Superchicken · Feb 8, 2003, 12:08 AM

few things... Apple has to pay licencing costs for the software in iDVD hence they have to sell it they just kinda take the cost out of your new comp if it's got a burner. To get it to work with external burners they'd have to A) devoute time and effort into making iDVD run on all manner of DVD burners since they're not the same. And there'd be just as many people complaining about the fact that they can't download it... hence they just say screw you why should we help you out if you didn't buy this option from us. Besides if you have an iMac, Power Mac, or eMac you can just install an internal DVD burner... ultimately apple doesn't mind pissing off a very small market section because they would benifit very little form appeasing you... or not enough to cover their costs.

Colonel Panic · Feb 8, 2003, 12:26 AM

Originally posted by Superchic[k]en:
few things... Apple has to pay licencing costs for the software in iDVD hence they have to sell it they just kinda take the cost out of your new comp if it's got a burner. To get it to work with external burners they'd have to A) devoute time and effort into making iDVD run on all manner of DVD burners since they're not the same. And there'd be just as many people complaining about the fact that they can't download it... hence they just say screw you why should we help you out if you didn't buy this option from us. Besides if you have an iMac, Power Mac, or eMac you can just install an internal DVD burner... ultimately apple doesn't mind pissing off a very small market section because they would benifit very little form appeasing you... or not enough to cover their costs.

do you have any, say, cost/benefit data to back that last assertion up or is that a "guess"?

Superchicken · Feb 8, 2003, 01:22 AM

can you quote without quoting the entire post?

Do I have data on the subject? No... is there any data avalible to the public on the subject... not to my knowlege, hence I simply say what makes sense to anyone who's not unwilling to think.

jtc · Feb 8, 2003, 10:57 AM

Originally posted by Superchic[k]en:
To get it to work with external burners they'd have to A) devoute time and effort into making iDVD run on all manner of DVD burners since they're not the same.

There's nothing special about the DVD format, it's just UDF (or maybe a mix of UDF and ISO - I can't remember) with AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders. Toast has no problem with external DVD burners, and I've used nero on the PC with a USB DVD drive. Apple just has to get rid of the lock that prevents it from running on all machines without the superdrive built-in.

DeathMan · Feb 8, 2003, 03:13 PM

Originally posted by Superchic[k]en:
few things... Apple has to pay licencing costs for the software in iDVD hence they have to sell it they just kinda take the cost out of your new comp if it's got a burner. To get it to work with external burners they'd have to A) devoute time and effort into making iDVD run on all manner of DVD burners since they're not the same. And there'd be just as many people complaining about the fact that they can't download it... hence they just say screw you why should we help you out if you didn't buy this option from us. Besides if you have an iMac, Power Mac, or eMac you can just install an internal DVD burner... ultimately apple doesn't mind pissing off a very small market section because they would benifit very little form appeasing you... or not enough to cover their costs.

Even if this were true, they could put out a version of iDVD for non Mac superdrives, and they wouldn't have to change anything if they said, this only works on pioneer DVD drives, and throw in support for one external drive. I think Apple could even sell external apple branded superdrives, and I'd buy one. or an internal. I just want to use iDVD with my dual 500 mhz g4. It can handle it just fine, and I'm not ready to upgrade.

I think they need to make a super drive available even if it was mondo expensive.

bradoesch · Feb 9, 2003, 12:03 PM

What does it take for your Mac to be able to burn DVDs? If Apple did include support for externals with iDVD, I got a compatible DVD burner, would my iMac DV be up to the task? I'm sure it would have no problem with a data DVD, but what about iDVD? Does it encode in real time while burning?

Colonel Panic · Feb 9, 2003, 12:06 PM

Originally posted by bradoesch:
What does it take for your Mac to be able to burn DVDs? If Apple did include support for externals with iDVD, I got a compatible DVD burner, would my iMac DV be up to the task? I'm sure it would have no problem with a data DVD, but what about iDVD? Does it encode in real time while burning?

one of the required specs is a g4...