VLC + external DVD drive?
kj
I just bought an external DVD drive (Targus) so that I could play
DVDs from any region on my MacBook.
With one minor exception (which I'll describe below), I have not
been able to play any DVDs on this new drive, using either VLC, or
anything else.
Worst of all, VLC does not even recognize the new external drive
as a DVD drive; i.e. it does not list it among the options under
"Device name" in the menu that comes with the "File > Open disk"
dialogue. The only option I see in this dialogue is one that has
been there all along, namely the file /dev/rdisk1, corresponding,
I suppose, to the internal DVD drive.
Is there any way to get VLC to recognize the external DVD drive as
such (and not simply as another volume)? Alternatively, how should
I specify the new drive in the main field of the "File > Open disk"
dialogue?
The one exception I alluded to earlier is that I have managed to
get the new drive + VLC to play individual VOB files from this
*one* DVD. This is not great, but at least it tells me that the
external drive can, in principle, work with my laptop.
(BTW, this lone DVD I was able to play (sort of) is an academic
production, not intended for the mass market, so I figure it doesn't
have very aggressive intellectual-property protection. But otherwise
it is a "regular DVD", with menus, subtitles, etc.)
TIA!
kj
--
NOTE: In my address everything before the first period is backwards;
and the last period, and everything after it, should be discarded.
Malcolm
> I just bought an external DVD drive (Targus) so that I could play
> DVDs from any region on my MacBook.
> With one minor exception (which I'll describe below), I have not
> been able to play any DVDs on this new drive, using either VLC, or
> anything else.
When you insert a DVD, does DVD Player start? Is it set to start in
"CDs & DVDs" system preference? Has it asked you to set a Region for
the new drive? What format for the DVD is shown in Disk Utility? It
should be UDF. Does Finder show the VIDEO_TS folder?
> Worst of all, VLC does not even recognize the new external drive
> as a DVD drive; i.e. it does not list it among the options under
> "Device name" in the menu that comes with the "File > Open disk"
> dialogue. The only option I see in this dialogue is one that has
> been there all along, namely the file /dev/rdisk1, corresponding,
> I suppose, to the internal DVD drive.
>
> Is there any way to get VLC to recognize the external DVD drive as
> such (and not simply as another volume)? Alternatively, how should
> I specify the new drive in the main field of the "File > Open disk"
> dialogue?
Try dragging the VIDEO_TS folder onto the VLC dock icon.
> The one exception I alluded to earlier is that I have managed to
> get the new drive + VLC to play individual VOB files from this
> *one* DVD. This is not great, but at least it tells me that the
> external drive can, in principle, work with my laptop.
>
> (BTW, this lone DVD I was able to play (sort of) is an academic
> production, not intended for the mass market, so I figure it doesn't
> have very aggressive intellectual-property protection. But otherwise
> it is a "regular DVD", with menus, subtitles, etc.)
Will Apple's DVD Player play that disc? If so, use "Get Disc Info"
from its "File" menu and look in the "Regions" tab. Try it with the
new drive and with the MacBok's drive. What does it show, both for the
disc and the drive?
> TIA!
>
> kj
It sounds like the new drive is not capable of handling encrypted DVDs.
Meanwhile, what model DVD drive is in the MacBook? It may be possible
to make it region-free. See
<http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=43082&sid=162b0511ef9d3a6ee0af8a3657421799>
kj
>On 2007-11-03 06:29:21 -0400, kj <so...@987jk.com.invalid> said:
>> I just bought an external DVD drive (Targus) so that I could play
>> DVDs from any region on my MacBook.
>What does System Profiler (Disk Burning section) show for the new drive?
It doesn't show at all, perhaps because this drive only plays.
Under USB, I find this:
USB Mass Storage Device:
Capacity: 5.59 GB
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
BSD Name: disk1
Version: 0.33
Bus Power (mA): 500
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Genesyslogic
OS9 Drivers: No
Product ID: 0x0701
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Vendor ID: 0x05e3
...which I *think* refers to the external DVD drive, but I'm not
entirely sure, since this info does not disappear from the System
Profiler report after I disconnect the drive from the laptop's USB
port.
>> With one minor exception (which I'll describe below), I have not
>> been able to play any DVDs on this new drive, using either VLC, or
>> anything else.
>When you insert a DVD, does DVD Player start?
Originally it didn't, since I'd disabled that behavior (I've been
using VLC instead). But when I manually started DVD Player with
a DVD inserted into the new drive, the first thing DVD Player did
was to ask me to specify a region. This, of course, defeats the
original rational for getting this external drive in the first
place, but I went ahead and chose Region 1, which, in retrospect
was a stupid mistake on my part; I should have chosen Region 2
(since my internal drive is already region 1).
Now DVD Player can play Region 1 DVDs on the new external drive,
but puzzlingly enough it seems to play Region 2 DVDs as well! It
seems to recognize that these Region 2 DVDs were played before
(using the internal drive), and lets them through. If this is the
correct explanation for DVD Player's strange behavior, it is
unfortunate because I don't have on hand any Region 2 DVDs that I
have not already played on this computer, so I can't get DVD Player
to prompt me for a second change of region (I want to do this soon
to fully test the unit before the money-back-returns period for
this unit runs out).
>What format for the DVD is shown in Disk Utility? It should be
>UDF.
It is UDF.
>Does Finder show the VIDEO_TS folder?
Yes.
>Try dragging the VIDEO_TS folder onto the VLC dock icon.
This worked with most DVDs I tried (with one Region 1 DVD the image
was scrambled).
BTW, that's a good one to know about VLC and the VIDEO_TS folder.
Thanks! Is there a way to achieve the same effect from a menu, or
better yet, from the command line in Terminal?
>> The one exception I alluded to earlier is that I have managed to
>> get the new drive + VLC to play individual VOB files from this
>> *one* DVD...
>>
>> (BTW, this lone DVD I was able to play (sort of) is an academic
>> production, not intended for the mass market, so I figure it doesn't
>> have very aggressive intellectual-property protection. But otherwise
>> it is a "regular DVD", with menus, subtitles, etc.)
>Will Apple's DVD Player play that disc? If so, use "Get Disc Info"
>from its "File" menu and look in the "Regions" tab. Try it with the
>new drive and with the MacBok's drive. What does it show, both for the
>disc and the drive?
It says the same irrespective of the drive I use: the disc's region
is listed as "1,2,3,4,5,6,8" (even though the little map does not
show a region 8), and the drive region is 1.
>It sounds like the new drive is not capable of handling encrypted DVDs.
> Meanwhile, what model DVD drive is in the MacBook? It may be possible
>to make it region-free. See
><http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=43082&sid=162b0511ef9d3a6ee0af8a3657421799>
Wow! That's a great list! Thanks!!! My drive (Matsushita DVD-R
UJ-857) was basically hopeless until now... But there's a small
section of the README file that I can't understand:
Once your drive is region free you will need to use a utility
such as "Region X" to handle the region changes for the region
checks which are still present in the Mac OS X software itself.
What "region checks" are these?
Also, it is not yet clear to me what will happen (after updating
the firmware) when I insert a Region 2 DVD in the updated drive
and use DVD Player to watch it. Is that explained somewhere for
DVD idiots like me?
Many, many thanks for all your help! If you wrote a book about
all this stuff, you'd make a ton of money. I'd certainly buy it,
and I'm sure many other people would too. I hate being so clueless
about all this stuff... I'm an engineer, I'm used to understanding
how things work, but the whole media stuff, not only DVDs and video,
but audio also, makes a moron out of me...
Malcolm
You have to use "Refresh" ("View" menu) to make it look again, but if
you had a DL DVD in there, 5.9 GB would be reasonable.
>>> With one minor exception (which I'll describe below), I have not
>>> been able to play any DVDs on this new drive, using either VLC, or
>>> anything else.
>> When you insert a DVD, does DVD Player start?
>
> Originally it didn't, since I'd disabled that behavior (I've been
> using VLC instead). But when I manually started DVD Player with
> a DVD inserted into the new drive, the first thing DVD Player did
> was to ask me to specify a region. This, of course, defeats the
> original rational for getting this external drive in the first
> place, but I went ahead and chose Region 1, which, in retrospect
> was a stupid mistake on my part; I should have chosen Region 2
> (since my internal drive is already region 1).
You still have 4 region changes left.
> Now DVD Player can play Region 1 DVDs on the new external drive,
> but puzzlingly enough it seems to play Region 2 DVDs as well! It
> seems to recognize that these Region 2 DVDs were played before
> (using the internal drive), and lets them through. If this is the
> correct explanation for DVD Player's strange behavior, it is
> unfortunate because I don't have on hand any Region 2 DVDs that I
> have not already played on this computer, so I can't get DVD Player
> to prompt me for a second change of region
I think the decrypting keys are in ~/Library/Application Support/DVD
Player/Settings/
If you move that folder to the desktop it should forget about the discs
it has played. If that doesn't work, you could try using a different
account.
> (I want to do this soon
> to fully test the unit before the money-back-returns period for
> this unit runs out).
Then region 1 was the right choice (assuming the next owner is in North
America).
>> What format for the DVD is shown in Disk Utility? It should be
>> UDF.
>
> It is UDF.
>
>> Does Finder show the VIDEO_TS folder?
>
> Yes.
>
>> Try dragging the VIDEO_TS folder onto the VLC dock icon.
>
> This worked with most DVDs I tried (with one Region 1 DVD the image
> was scrambled).
>
> BTW, that's a good one to know about VLC and the VIDEO_TS folder.
> Thanks! Is there a way to achieve the same effect from a menu,
In DVD Player use "Open DVD Media" from the "File" menu and choose the
VIDEO_TS folder.
In VLC's "File" menu, use "Open Disc" and click the "VIDEO_TS directory
button", or "Open File" or "Quick Open File", and choose the VIDEO_TS
folder.
That will work with DVD video's that are on the hard drive, or with
unencrypted DVD discs. Encrypted DVDs will have to mounted with
FairMount
<http://www.metakine.com/products/fairmount/>
which, with Matshita drives, requires the drive and disc region codes match.
> or
> better yet, from the command line in Terminal?
open -a /Applications/VLC.app/ ~/DVD_Folder/VIDEO_TS/
or
open -a /Applications/DVD\ Player.app/ ~/DVD_Folder/VIDEO_TS/
>>> The one exception I alluded to earlier is that I have managed to
>>> get the new drive + VLC to play individual VOB files from this
>>> *one* DVD...
>>>
>>> (BTW, this lone DVD I was able to play (sort of) is an academic
>>> production, not intended for the mass market, so I figure it doesn't
>>> have very aggressive intellectual-property protection. But otherwise
>>> it is a "regular DVD", with menus, subtitles, etc.)
>
>> Will Apple's DVD Player play that disc? If so, use "Get Disc Info"
>> from its "File" menu and look in the "Regions" tab. Try it with the
>> new drive and with the MacBok's drive. What does it show, both for the
>> disc and the drive?
>
> It says the same irrespective of the drive I use: the disc's region
> is listed as "1,2,3,4,5,6,8"
It means it is a region-free (play anywhere disk)
> (even though the little map does not
> show a region 8),
REGION 8 -- Resevered for Cruise Ships, Airlines, etc... (Difficult to
show on a map.)
> and the drive region is 1.
>> It sounds like the new drive is not capable of handling encrypted DVDs.
>> Meanwhile, what model DVD drive is in the MacBook? It may be possible
>> to make it region-free. See
>> <http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=43082&sid=162b0511ef9d3a6ee0af8a3657421799>
Wow!
>>
> That's a great list! Thanks!!! My drive (Matsushita DVD-R
> UJ-857) was basically hopeless until now... But there's a small
> section of the README file that I can't understand:
>
> Once your drive is region free you will need to use a utility
> such as "Region X" to handle the region changes for the region
> checks which are still present in the Mac OS X software itself.
>
> What "region checks" are these?
>
> Also, it is not yet clear to me what will happen (after updating
> the firmware) when I insert a Region 2 DVD in the updated drive
> and use DVD Player to watch it. Is that explained somewhere for
> DVD idiots like me?
DVD Player will behave as usual. It will complain if the drive's
region setting does not match one of the disc's settings. What will be
new is you can use Region X to change the drive's region code as often
as you want.
A few thing about flashing the drive:
The flashing software doesn't work with Leopard.
If something goes wrong during the flashing you drive may be
permanently damaged.
Region X may or may not work with Leopard.
Do not use Region X on an unflashed drive.
If you have already used up the drive's region changes, flashing will not help.