Trouble with a DVD

[saxman525]

I'm attempting to watch a DVD on my computer using an external DVD player. Most DVD's (and CD's for that matter) play fine but this particular one spins for a while and then is ejected. It plays fine on my Samsung disc player that I have hooked up to my TV but it won't play on my OWC BluRay/DVD player that is hooked up to my Mac Pro. I am assuming this DVD has a copy protect on it that prohibits playing on a computer. I like to watch DVDs on my laptop when I'm on trips. This is a DVD that I purchased and feel ethically fine with making an additional copy for my own personal use. Any advice on how to get around it?

 

[Gandalph]

You have the wrong Forum asking "how to get around it". You are asking members to contribute to Piracy. The Disc probably has DRM.

 

[MacInWin]

You said "Mac Pro." That isn't a portable machine for traveling, so did you mean something else? Let us know the real machine, what OS, whether it had a DVD internal or not and we may be able to diagnose the real problem. But as Gandalph said, we won't help you break the DRM if that's what's causing the problem.

 

[saxman525]

You have the wrong Forum asking "how to get around it". You are asking members to contribute to Piracy. The Disc probably has DRM.

I don't believe that it is piracy if I am making a personal copy of a DVD that I purchased. It is no different that copying a CD into my iTunes library. But thank you for your response.

 

[saxman525]

My Mac Pro is the computer I use for making my personal copy. The laptop I use, a Macbook Pro, is reacting the same way. The DVD spins and then is ejected. As a professional composer, I respect the value of copyrights but I do not see the problem with wanting to keep a personal copy that I can play on my computer.

- - - Updated - - -

By the way, what does DRM stand for?

 

[Slydude]

I'm going to leave this thread open for now because I'm not entirely convinced the issue is with DRM/copy protection. That's one possibility but as Jake pointed out we need more information. If the thread devolves into a discussion of breaking copy protection we'll shut the thread down.

BTW I understand your feeling that you should have the right to make a copy of something you have purcvhased. You may have that right in o9ther countries but US law does not confer that right unless the copyright holder wants to do so.

 

[MacInWin]

OK, you didn't answer the questions. One of the issues with playing a dvd on an external drive with a MBP is that IF the MBP has an internal drive, or had one, it will not play the DVD externally. It's buried in the system somewhere not to pick an external drive if an internal one existed at manufacture. As to whenever or not "making a personal copy" is legal or not, If what you are trying to play is a copy and not the original, it may well be the security of the original was not copied over and hence, it's unplayable.

So, again, what MBP, what version OS and what software are you using to try to play the DVD?

 

[MacInWin]

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, and refers to the security code on the original to prevent successful copying. It will LOOK like it's copying, but the security code doesn't copy and the resulting copy is unusable.

 

[pm-r]

One of the issues with playing a dvd on an external drive with a MBP is that IF the MBP has an internal drive, or had one, it will not play the DVD externally. It's buried in the system somewhere not to pick an external drive if an internal one existed at manufacture.

Hmmm…??? It was my understanding that that problem only occurred with Apple's external optical drive and connected to any Mac with an existing internal optical drive.

I didn't think that other external optical drive brands were so affected with the problem.




- Patrick
======

 

[chscag]

Jake is referring to the Apple branded DVD player not the standard types which can be purchased anywhere.

As to member "saxman525" and his question regarding the particular DVD he wishes to play on his computer, DRM is very likely preventing him from doing so. There are pro and con opinions regarding making a copy for one's own use and even Macworld magazine discusses this from time to time saying they believe it's okay to do so. However, I will leave it up to "saxman525" to search around for a way to make a copy for himself. But since we are a public forum operating here in the US we will not make any suggestions as to how he can do it.

 

[pm-r]

As to member "saxman525" and his question regarding the particular DVD he wishes to play on his computer, DRM is very likely preventing him from doing so.

Gee, I wonder if the OP checked at OWC's site, at least for their OWC Mercury Pro 16X External Blu-ray Burner…

Reads and Writes Blu-ray discs
Although commercial Blu-ray movie playback not supported in OS X, Blu-ray discs do mount on the desktop and can be backed up to the computer or played via third party software options.

(BOLD mine and links provided in that text at their site)

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge… (Apologies to Monty Python https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ona-RhLfRfc)

And maybe his drive is similar…???

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MR3F8BDSD16/





- Patrick
======

 

[MacInWin]

No, I was intending to include ALL external drives. They can be used to mount as a data disk, but the DVD player from Apple will ONLY look at the internal DVD drive. There was a hack around a few years ago in which you used a hex editor to amend a few system files to change the word "internal" to "external" in them to get the DVD player to look at the external drives. With SIP, that's no longer a working hack, so as it is now, if you have SIP, you cannot play a DVD movie in an external drive.

EDIT: At least with the internal DVD player. I don't know about the third party products which might override the system files. Never tried one.

 

[chscag]

I don't think that is entirely correct Jake. I just tested this by playing a commercial movie on my LG external DVD player. My 2017 27" iMac has no internal DVD player and SIP is active. There may be movies that are protected which will only play on a separate DVD player as our OP is experiencing. There is actually a way to even play those by installing a certain driver file (kext). That file is easily found by doing a search - I'm not going to mention it by name but I think you may know what it is. Hint: It's also used with Linux.

Getting late. Have a long day tomorrow.

 

[MacInWin]

Well, I was on a 2011 17" MBP and had to be edited because there had been an internal DVD that I removed to install a second HD in the space. NOTHING would play until I fixed it and then EVERYTHING would play, so it wasn't anything on the disk itself. I had to edit the framework files to get DVD player to look at the external drives at all.

Found the first link of the chain that leads to the solution: https://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20100208120847220

Maybe Apple changed it with later systems? Also the issue doesn't occur if the machine NEVER had a DVD player. It's only in the MBP and iMacs that HAD a player as factory built that don't look external to play DVDs.

 

[pm-r]

No, I was intending to include ALL external drives. They can be used to mount as a data disk, but the DVD player from Apple will ONLY look at the internal DVD drive.

I just tried using a high def commercial DVD in my 2011 27" iMac and 2007 15" MBPro's internal Apple SuperDrive and it worked and played well with DVD Player. Just for the record and as I suspected it would.

I'm sorry I can't be bothered to hook up my old external LaCie USB optical drive to test but I don't recall having any problems using it, but that was many years ago and with older Mac OS version as well.

BTW and FWIW: A right-click on the DVD to "Duplicate" seemed to work OK but would take 45minutes to complete. I'm assuming it would work and play properly just as some duplicated CD games used to do when the image was left and used on a Mac.

For some non-Apple optical drives, I can sure recall having to do some mods to get them to work properly when used with my Macs. ie: some Pioneer and Sony models I used in my MDD tower. Remember the days one could install TWO optical drives in a Tower Mac and have them both work at the same time??? Ahh…yes… the good old days eh…???





- Patrick
======