# External DVD-RW; Can't play DVD movies?!



## thendis (Jun 9, 2004)

Hello!

Today I purchased a LaCie external FireWire DVD-RW (Porsche designed model) and it seems to be working fine in that I can read and burn DVDs without trouble. 

Problem is I can't seem to install a DVD Player so that I can use it to view DVD Movies. 

I downloaded Apple DVD Player from Apple.com, but when I run the setup it says "Compatible DVD Hardware Not Detected; installation will not occur". 

Am I doing something wrong? I've tried it with and witout a DVD inserted. I'm out of ideas! lol

Specs:
Mac OS X 10.2.8
eMac G4 800mhz
256 RAM


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## Randman (Jun 9, 2004)

The DVD player is on your hard drive? You can play movies on the external but the player should be on your hard drive.


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## thendis (Jun 9, 2004)

well, at this point I have no DVD Player on the HD because when I run the setup it tells me it can't find any hardware, so it refuses to install.


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## Randman (Jun 9, 2004)

You're not trying to load iDVD, are you? That's for the creation of DVDs, not playing.  You should have the DVD player on your installation disk. There's an app called Pacificst available at macupdate.com or versiontracker.com that will allow you to access individual applications from the install disk.
  Also, you have the external hard disk formatted correctly? Even if the icon loads, try going into Utilities > Disk Utility and click on the external icon and then go and Verify Disk, and if needed, Repair Disk.
  Then repair permissions on your hard drive.

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/dvdplayer.html

That's the direct link for the DVD player download, if you don't want to use Pacificst. You could also download VLC, which is a freeware app that allows you to play DVDs and other media files.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Jun 9, 2004)

DVD Player won't install/update on any machine that doesn't have an *internal*, Apple-supported DVD drive.  You'll need to use Pacifist (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12743) to extract the DVD Player application from the Mac OS X Install CD.


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## thendis (Jun 9, 2004)

tell me about it...i just finished re-installing my OS and the stupid program still isn't installed!

I have downloaded Pacifist and have used it to open the PKG file, but can't find DVD Player. Would you be able to post a but more information? Is it OS X Install Disc or System Restore Disc? What file name am I looking for in Pacifist when viewing inside a Package?

Thanks so much for the help! 

Whose dumb idea was it to make it impossible to install DVD Player for external drives?!?!

btw, i installed VLC, but it's very dodgy. It just skips through menus (doesn't stay put, just cycles through all screens) then plays the movie (although usually it doesn't play the movie, it comes up with various error messages). Be good to install DVD Player so i can see if it's a prob with VLC or a prob with my hardware.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Jun 9, 2004)

Open Pacifist, then click "Open Package."  You'll need to have your OS X Install Disk 1 (not the Restore disk) in the drive.  Then, navigate to "/System/Installation/Packages/Essentials.pkg" on the OS X Install Disk and click "Open."  Once Pacifist opens that package (it may take a few moments), open the "Applications" folder inside that package from the Pacifist window and simply drag "DVD Player.app" to the desktop (or wherever you want it).

Voila!


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## thendis (Jun 9, 2004)

niiiiiice!

thanks dude. i was looking in all the wrong places! got it installed. 

...oh, and it still doesn't work! lol got it installed, but when i open it it says a valid DVD drive could not be found  I think it may be impossible!

are there any other decent DVD Players other than Apple Player and VLC?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Jun 9, 2004)

Hmm... maybe MPlayer, but I don't know if it'll recognize a DVD... may wanna try it, though:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/16623


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## brianleahy (Jun 9, 2004)

Does DVD Player just 'throw you out' after launching, or will it simply not play?

If it does NOT throw you out, try doing File/"Open VIDEO_TS folder"  and navigate to the video_ts folder on your external drive.   

I'm not at my Mac, so I can't swear it's on the "File" menu, but it's there somewhere.


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## Freiheit (Jun 10, 2004)

This is one of the most irritating problems I'm going to be facing (very soon) as a new Mac user -- that Apple refuses to support long-standing standards in their i-Apps.  iDVD won't even install unless a "SuperDrive" is found -- I can record DVDs in OS/2 (possibly the least supported OS for the PC platform) by using the standard UNIX-ported tool CDRecord, but iDVD is somehow incapable of supporting the same CD-R/DVD-R standards which allow 99.99% of drives to work with software by other developers.  And now to hear that one cannot even install Apple's DVD "Player" without an authorized-by-Apple DVD drive.  Sheesh.

(thankfully my new PowerMac is coming with a SuperDrive, but it seems like extortion, especially when Apple is up to a year behind the market in terms of DVD/CD drive speeds)

Thanks for the tips, ElDiablo.  They may come in handy here.


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## Salvo (Jun 10, 2004)

thendis said:
			
		

> Whose dumb idea was it to make it impossible to install DVD Player for external drives?!?!


For every User who uses DVD Player, Apple have to pay royalties to Dolby. The simplest way for Apple to do this is to incorporate the Royalties into to cost of the Hardware. If you don't buy a Mac with a Built-In DVD Reader, you haven't paid royalties to Dolby, and therefore shouldn't be using DVD Player.
Likewise, a similar Licensing dilemma surrounds iDVD. Apple pay royalties for every user who can burn a DVD using iDVD. When you buy a 3rd-Party DVD Burner, the Manufacturer usually bundles Toast; LaCie and Roxio pay royalties for every DVD Burner sold.

The way around paying royalties is to use Free (as in Speech) Software like CDRecord and MPlayer or VLC. If it doesn't quite suit your needs, contribute to the development of the software.


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## thendis (Jun 10, 2004)

I understand Salvo, thanks for making sense of it. Though it still seems somewhat of an unnecessary headache. I mean, obviously Microsoft have found a way around this problem, as I have no problem using the drive to play DVD Movies on WinXP. 

ok, so far absolutely no media player is working on this friggin' DVD player!! So far I have tried Apple DVD Player, VLC, Windows Media Player for Mac, MPlayer, InterActual Player, and Trans Lucy ...none of them work!!!!!!! I know it's not a hardware problem because I have tested playing DVDs on Windows XP and it's fine. 

What's goin' on here?!?! 


just thought of something...could it be my DVD Decoder?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Jun 10, 2004)

Just for clarification -- did you try brianleahy's suggestion?  Open DVD Player, then select "Open Video_TS" folder and navigate to that folder on the DVD.  Click open, and it should play -- if not, what error message does it give you?


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## thendis (Jun 10, 2004)

no, i couldn't coz it doesn't actually let me open the program in order to open a file. 

Unfortunately the OS no longer detects the DVD player at all (which is weird because i have burnt 4 DVDs, and not suddenly it doesn't work). 

I think i might just return it. it's not worth all the headaches!!!

PS: LaCie sucks.


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## Salvo (Jun 13, 2004)

thendis said:
			
		

> Though it still seems somewhat of an unnecessary headache. I mean, obviously Microsoft have found a way around this problem, as I have no problem using the drive to play DVD Movies on WinXP.



Microsoft *haven't* found a way around the problem either. Most DVD Readers come with software like _WinDVD_ which can integrate with the _Windows Media Player_, providing DVD Decoding capabilities. Windows XP, without 3rd-Party Decoding Software cannot Play DVDs natively.



			
				thendis said:
			
		

> just thought of something...could it be my DVD Decoder?


That is the problem. Most DVD Playing on Computers use a Software Decoder. in Windows, that means a program like _WinDVD_, which has to be licensed. The Creators of _WinDVD_ pay royalties.
These software decoders use the Computers CPU to decode the DVD.
There are also Hardware Decoders, but these are getting quite Rare, and have limited Capabilities.
Apple use a Software Decoder, which is contained in _DVD Player_. They have to pay a licensing fee for every installation of _DVD Player_, just like the creators of _WinDVD_.

Free software solutions, like _MPlayer_ and _VideoLAN Client_ cannot regulate their install base, and therefore are unable to pay royalties on the Decoding Algorithms. They have to reverse engineer the algorithms, and as a result, their Software takes longer to mature than Commercial Products.


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