Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mac and dvd

How to scale up DVD playback on Mac?

kidbritish — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:04:58 -0800

In Apple's DVD Player app for Mac (or in VLC), how can I scale the footage beyond the screen resolution? (Or specifically, scale the footage to the full width of the screen.) I'm playing a DVD on a widescreen Mac, and even when I'm in "full screen" mode, it displays black bars on all four sides of the video. (Presumably because the DVD is not anamorphically encoded).

No problem, I thought, I'll just scale it up even further. (I don't care if the black bars on top & bottom are cropped off). But I can't find a way to scale it up any further. How can I utilize the full width of my screen?

(20" iMac early 2009, OS X 10.6.2)

Creating a Subtitled DVD

Silky Slim — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:09:43 -0800

I need some help with creating a DVD with subtitles. My computer is a Mac, but also runs Parallels and XP. I'm adept at using Subtitle Workshop (under Windows) to create .srt files. I have also used .srt files with Submerge on the Mac to create Quicktime movies with hardcoded subs.
Right now, I'd like to create subs in Subtitle Workshop and use them to create a subtitled DVD that can be played anywhere (hopefully not hardcoded subs).
It dawned on me that I have no idea how to do this.
I noticed SW can export subs in .sub format. That's a good thing, right?
I only have iDVD right now. Do I need to get DVD Studio Pro for this? Maybe this could be achieved using Toast?
Thanks a lot in advance for any assistance. I'd like to do this on the Mac if possible, but Windows solutions are also OK.

DVD Backup Frustration-Mac!

doorsfan — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:00:46 -0800

Mac Filter: Backup and Burning DVDs HELP! Life was so much easier on my Windows machine - DVD Shrink + ImgBurn + about 1.5 hrs...BAM, done!

On my MacBook, not so much. I just got done wasting 3 hours with handbrake for it to spit out a 1.5 GB mp4 which with the help of google appears not to be the best way to go to DVD.

What are the best/easiest backup and burning applications out there for a MacBook? I'm not even looking for free at this point I just want something like the 2 programs mentioned above (enter DVD, backup, replace DVD with blank, burn - 4 steps). And of course any guidance for this Mac n00b would be greatly appreciated.

And lets just assume these are not home DVDs

Thank you for helping me lower my blood pressure and helping me return to some resemblance of a sane person!

How do I eject the Snow Leopard install DVD on a Mac Mini?

keijo — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:42:54 -0800

How do I eject the Snow Leopard install DVD on a Mac Mini? I tried to install Snow Leopard on an older Mac Mini but foolishly did not realise that it required 1GB of memory. The install program informs me of this and then gives options to either "Restore From Backup" or "Restart". There is no time machine backup and if I restart it boots again (and again) from the install disc.

I have tried rebooting with holding down the eject button on the keyboard or the left mouse button to no avail. Thanks for any help in getting the big cat out.

Hunk of Burning Love Needed

cazoo — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:30:36 -0800

How do I burn a dvd on a mac from an iso file with subtitles? I have folder which contains a film in iso format. The iso includes two folders, AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS. I would like to burn this on dvd. There are also several other files, srt., sfv., md5., and nfo.

I already tried burning it to a dvd using the built in mac Disk Utility but the subtitles do not seem to work.

What am I doing wrong? Please hope me.

CD manufacturer identification on the Mac?

ignignokt — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:18:38 -0800

Is there a Mac equivalent to CDR Media Code Identifier. This could be run in Parallels, but I'm not sure it'll be able to get what it needs out of the DVD drive. And of course, it'd be nice to not have to run Parallels.

iDVD, iDontDVD

lhauser — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:50:17 -0800

I need to duplicate a short bit of video across an entire DVD. Difficulty - Mac OS X Leopard 10.5, no iDVD. I have ten minutes of video, copied from VHS to DVD. I need to loop it or duplicate it or something so it fills an entire two hour DVD. I have Mac OS X 10.5; However, I do not have iDVD 08 or 09, and iDVD 06 will not work on this version of OS X. This is something I've never done before and don't expect to again, so spending $99 on iLife 09 isn't an option. How can I accomplish this with free software?

Help me offload my movies offshore to DVDs

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:23:22 -0800

Hi everyone. I have a some of movie files that I'd like to transder to DVD. However... I have a DVD burner on my computer, however, my MacBook Pro (OS 10.5) will not give me the option of burning the file directly onto the blank DVD. When I try to do so, all it does is make a shortcut to the movie rather than to the movie itself.

The only other option it gives me when I insert the DVD is to create a movie through iMovie, which won't let me transfer the file either.

Why yes, these are downloaded BitTorrent files. Are there fundamental barriers to burning them coded into the files? Is my only option to transfer them to an external hard drive?

I've found some answers on burning DVDs on a Mac generally, but not with these specifics. Will Mac the Ripper (currently unavailable online) or Handbrake solve my problem?

Thanks for your help!

Mac backup DVD software

jcdill — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:28:51 -0800

I need recommendations for Mac backup / archive software to make DVDs that fill each DVD to capacity with files from a group of folders. I'm using a MacBook Pro with OS X 10.5. I've searched the archives, but I can't find any recent posts on this topic - most of the threads I read were 2-3 years old, or older.

I am a pro photographer, and I have 2 TBs of photos stored on external drives. Periodically I backup data from my laptop to the current external drive, and also make DVDs so I have 2 copies of all files, on 2 different media (DVD, hard drive) which I can store in 2 places (here, and offsite). I need a solution that will take a group of ~10-40 folders, and make DVDs filling up each DVD as it goes. I also need to know what files were on each DVD - a plain text index file that I can write to the first or last DVD in each burn set would suffice.

Bonus if the software is open source or free software. Compression is not important - RAW photo files don't compress very effectively.

I'm NOT interested in using online archive services such as .mac (MobileMe) or Amazon's S3. With 2 almost TBs of data, growing by many GBs every month, the monthly hosting fees for these services are not within my budget.

How can extract audio from my DVD's on my mac?

fishthefly — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:25:24 -0800

How can I extract audio from DVD's on my mac? I have an iBook G4 and am trying to sample audio parts of movies for a music project I am working on. Also, what program can I manipulate said files (i.e. Audacity maybe?) with?

Thank you for your help!

Please Walk Me Through the Steps in Making a Divx DVD

UnholyJudas — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 08:59:08 -0800

Well, something is wrong...I use Mac the Ripper to rip the DVDs...then I am not sure what to do. I turned them into mp4s in Handbrake and then burnt them in Toast under the Divx tab. I get a lot (maybe 6?) movies to a disc (dual layer)and the picture is decent BUT it takes several days...a day to encode the files through Handbrake and then 2 whole days to burn the disc in Toast. Am I doing things completely wrong? I would appreciate a step by step walkthrough if there is a much easier and more efficient way to make Divx discs primarily because I have a huge spindle of DVD-DLs that I don't want to waste on one movie at a time. Thanks for your help and happy holidays! By the way I am using a brand new IMac running OS 10.5.5

HDCP on DVDs?

middleclasstool — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:32:02 -0800

What is the future of HDCP -- are DVDs likely to adopt it, and is it going to mess me up? I'm going to buy a laptop, quite possibly as soon as Black Friday, and the new Macbook appears to be the big winner. My only concern now is the new revelation that Apple put HDCP in the new Macbooks, limiting your options on playing protected content on external screens.

This blows but is normally is not an issue for me, because I try like all hell to avoid downloading DRMed content and never shop iTMS, but what's the likelihood that future DVD releases could start putting HDCP protection on them? I anticipate using this as a DVD player while traveling, and I'd hate not to be able to hook it up to a TV or external monitor to watch a movie while on the road.

DVD/Handbrake Divx Burning Woes

snap_dragon — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:59:36 -0800

I using Mac the Ripper than Handbrake to turn DVDs into mp4 files. (I use DVD dual layer)...When I use Roxio Popcorn, I can fit several movies on a disc (4) but it takes honestly a day and a half to burn on DVD !!!! But the DVD plays perfectly in my cheap player. Trying a different route, I tried dragging the mp4s to a blank DVD disc and then clicking "Burn" -- it burns and takes only 30-40 minutes but this version will not play on my DVD player. Anybody out there have an idea what I can do to make the process more efficient? Different software or different method? I appreciate your insight. By the way, I am running Mac OX X 10.5.5.

SuperDrive icon is super annoying

BitterOldPunk — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:33:51 -0800

Why the mystery icon? Should I eat it? I just upgraded my desktop Mac (2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB SDRAM) to Leopard 10.5.5, attached an external 250 GB LaCie hard drive via USB, and directed Time Machine to back up to the new drive. No problem, works like a charm.

But now when I restart, there's a SuperDrive icon up in the right-hand corner alongside the usual Time Machine, BlueTooth, AirPort, Volume, Date & Time, and Spotlight icons. Clicking on the icon gets me a single grayed-out and unclickable "SuperDrive" menu option. There is no CD/DVD in the drive.

(OK, I just put in a DVD, it played fine, and I can use the icon to eject it.)

Is this just a convenient way of ejecting discs in Leopard? Can I make it go away? (I don't like icons I'll never use cluttering my workspace, and since ejecting the disc doesn't quit the DVD Player, what's the point of this icon?) Apple Help is, of course, no help.

Also, I will accept praise for actually implementing a plan to back up my data after years of saying I'll do it someday.

DVD Burning 101 for Macintosh

snap_dragon — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:52:36 -0800

I was hoping someone could recommend a one-stop DVD burning software for my Mac. I am wanting to make dvds that will work on my regular home player...I am running the latest operating system. My hopes are to have it be able to put a movie on a DVD-R and not invest in more expensive DVD-dual layer discs. Unfortunately, I am not good at using three different types of software to rip, edit, and burn, and hence the request for one all in one package. I know Wondershare does only dvd burning to dual layer. I have seen Fast DVD Copy but not sure how good it works, though it looks nice. Any suggestions? I appreciate all advice and wish all respondents and awesome week. Thanks.

Mac Pro DVD troubleshooting

Zonker — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 09:20:37 -0800

Can / should I troubleshoot the optical drive on my Mac Pro? Within the last month or so, the optical drive on my Mac Pro (a Pioneer DVR-112D) has become unresponsive. It still opens when I hit the eject key, but it doesn't close that way. If I push the tray closed, it doesn't mount the disc. The machine's working fine in every other way, and passes its self-tests when I reboot it.

Googling hasn't been helpful, I see plenty of hits on how to force an eject (which is the one thing that works for me). I've checked the Apple site and some documents I found there, but nothing that's really addressed my problem. I don't believe I got the AppleCare plan, and while I could do that I'm wondering if it is possible to resolve this myself, either by some sort of DIY troubleshooting guide or by simply getting a new DVD drive. I'd really rather not lug the thing in to the local Apple Store. Any advice?

Can't burn DVD+R's on a Mac

Silky Slim — Sun, 25 May 2008 07:35:23 -0800

For the life of me, I can't seem to burn a dual-layer DVD+R on a Mac. I've been downloading large movie files lately, and burning them to DVD.
My MacBook's internal optical drive was handy for burning them onto 4.7 GB DVD's.
The problem started when I downloaded larger files that wouldn't fit on a DVD. The optical drive on my MacBook (running OS 10.5) is supposed to support the burning of 8 GB DVD+R discs, but every time I tried burning, I got an error; either when starting the burn or in the middle of it. I don't remember the exact error message, but it had to do with the drive failing to calibrate the laser.
I assumed it was a problem with the drive, so I now tried burning from another machine: an Intel iMac running OS 10.4 with an external FireWire Pioneer drive. I tried burning 4 discs, and every time, at exactly 50%, I got an error; "unknown error" in the finder and "buffer underrun" from Toast 8.0. Reducing the burn speed to 6X didn't help.
To date I have been unable to burn a DVD+R successfully.
Perhaps, like with everything else, "The Media is to blame"?

"Ugh, get that filthy thing out of me at once."

greytape — Wed, 07 May 2008 06:33:39 -0800

Why is my Mac's DVD player so stupid? OK so this is a bit of a vague question, with an answer that I probably won't understand, but it's annoyed me long enough to ask. Here's the problem:
When I play a DVD in my MacBook Pro using DVD player, the software will often crash if the DVD is scratched, saying "An Error was encountered that DVD player cannot recover from"
Now call me naive, but wouldn't it be possible for the DVD player simply to skip on to the next bit of the film that it can read? As it is, I am forced to reload the software and refind my place in the film, which often just crashes again if I go back to exactly the same place.
What sort of 5th-rate brain designs a DVD player that can't cope with scratched discs? I'm reminded of the episode of the Twilight Zone where a man invents a virtual prison, but doesn't take into account that sompe prisoners might be innocent. He is subsequently jailed for this oversight, I feel rightly.
I feel like my Mac is putting unrealistic expectations of perfection on me, that it refuses to have anything to do with my sometimes imperfect physical posessions. Now if there was some vaguely techy reason for this apparent idiocy/snobbery, I'd feel much relieved. Perhaps someone could try and explain it to my not very technical brain?

How do I copy a DVD movie to DVD-R on a Mac?

rentalkarma — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:26:40 -0800

MacFilter: Mac DVD copying on the ~~cheap~~ free? I'm a Mac user now. Hooray!

I want to be able to backup DVDs that I own. (So this is legal, see?) On Windows, I'd use DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink. The first gets rid of the copy protection, the second squeezes the DVD image down to 4.3GB, the size of a blank DVD.

It's a painless process, and it's free. My goal is to play a copied DVD in ANY player I run across, not just some fancy smancy iPod or XBOX or whatever.

On Mac, I've found MacTheRipper (free) for stripping the copy protection. If the resulting DVD is small enough, I can burn it to a DVD with Burn (free). It plays on any player, and makes me happy.

However, if the DVD is greater than 4.3 GB, I've been unable to find any FREE DVDShink equivilant software for the Mac.

Does such an animal exist?

I keep seeing Handbrake appear in discussion threads, but Handbrake doesn't handle VOBs and VIDEO_TS folders and the like.

Thoughts? Or have Apple fanboys been lying to me all this time?

Mac Mini scratched my DVD

snarfois — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:44:04 -0800

Mac Mini scratched my DVD -- anyone seen this before? (photo inside) What should I do? I popped a brand new DVD in the slot, and for about a minute nothing happened, except the noises of a computer struggling with a disc.

Then it popped back out, and it looked like this. Almost pretty.

Never mind salvaging the DVD -- I'll download a torrent with a clean conscience. (I guess I could try the toothpaste trick on the DVD first.) Is this a familiar problem to anyone? Did I do something wrong? What should I do? I have subsequently played other DVDs in the Mini without problems, but am wondering how likely this problem is to recur.

DVD Burning 101 MetaQuestion

snap_dragon — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 06:11:22 -0800

How do I back up my movies to DVD-R so I can take the backups to the gym on my portable and prevent my good ones from getting scratched? I just bought a new IMac running Leopard. It has the burner. From research, it looks like I need 1. Mac the Ripper---2.DVD 2toOneX (for compression)---and 3.Roxio Toast to burn (even though there is burning software on my computer).....I have no really good clue and am open to any support and advice you might have to offer. I don't want to buy things that are not so easy to work. I am a very basic computer user. thanks for your time!

What's the best way of distributing a DVD over the Internet?

amcewen — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 03:37:06 -0800

What's the best way of distributing a DVD over the Internet? I'm thinking probably bittorrent for transmission, but what format? ISO? A set of VOBs, etc.? Basically, I decided to make a DVD of some of the excellent TED Talks to give to a friend - I figured a DVD would be better as it wouldn't require him to sit in front of his computer to watch them.

As the TED Talks are creative commons, I thought other people on t'Internet might like a copy and so I'm looking at how to share it with everyone.

I'm trying to make it easy for people to use (it's going to be tricky enough if they have to install a bittorrent client), so want to distribute it in a format that can be burnt to DVD easily on Windows, Mac and Linux. Preferably where I can provide a short set of instructions and pointers to suitable software for each platform.

The easiest for me would be a mirror of the DVD structure - so AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders containing .VOB files - but I've also come across ISO files or .CUE/.BIN files.

Which should I pick? (and if it's one of the latter, does anyone have any recommendations for software to create them on Windows XP?)

Words and pictures, together at last

doift — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:55:05 -0800

Taking text notes with incorporated image thumbnails: there's gotta be an application that does exactly what I need. I'm writing a thesis that involves watching a lot of TV shows on DVD and taking notes on it. My current note-taking system has utterly failed me. I'm in the midst of a note-taking epiphany, but I'm having trouble finding the software solution that I know is out there somewhere. Here's what I would like to be doing:

-Watching DVD on laptop
-Taking text notes on said DVD
-Occasionally taking a screen capture of the DVD, saving a nice-sized jpg of it somewhere, and incorporating a thumbnail of it into the text notes.
-Keeping the resulting notes document/file relatively small, manageable, and easily scrolled through
-Moving the whole process along as quickly as possible
(These last two were where just inserting images into a Word document really failed)

What software application will help me streamline this process and make a painful, painful writing process slightly sunnier?

What I'm working with: Macbook, 10.4, Firefox

Need to watch it over and over and over...

rhoticity — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:54:03 -0800

Is there a program for Mac OS X (Tiger, if it makes a difference) which I can use to play a DVD video file AND scan through, using the arrow keys, in increments of a few seconds? I've tried the Mac DVD player and I've tried VLC. VLC is somewhat better but still doesn't offer scanning like I need.

If it matters, I'm working in a lab where I'm transcribing speech from a poorly-recorded video and it often takes several tries to get every bit of it down. I have full install privileges as far as I know.

Playing region 1 DVDs on a region 2 mac

Andy Harwood — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 16:43:08 -0800

is it possible to play region 1 DVDs on a region 2 macbook without changing the drive setting? I can play them using VLC player on my PC but the mac just ejects the disc if I don't change the drive setting to region 1. Is there any way around this or will I have to keep my old PC around to play all my American DVDs?