DVD Player / DVD Recognition

Question

DVD Player / DVD Recognition

I have just bought a DVD - "The Bank Job" for info, I can watch it my PC with VLC, but when I insert it into my MBP, it spins it three times before ejecting the DVD, I have been into Sys Prefs and told the mac to ignore the DVD - instead of playing it with DVD Player - no change, I have then deleted com.apple DVD player file, still no joy.

I have rebooted the mac, then repaired file permissions, still no joy - compared to the Pioneer DVD RW in my PC, the Mac DVD has proved to be fairy second rate - does anybody have any ideas before I go to the local Apple Store ?

MBP 15.4" 2.4 GHz IC2D (3.1 -Merom CPU) 4GB RAM 256 MB VRAM, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Feb 4, 2009 7:16 AM

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Answer 1

nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

Feb 4, 2009 8:24 AM in response to The Bretonian

It's possible that the DVD is marginal and the Mac optical drive does not recognize it. Check the DVD for damage, scratches, etc.
Does the Mac have any problems with other DVDs?
Is the DVD a dual-layer? If so, try a different dual-layer DVD.
If this is the only DVD with problems, it's the DVD. Otherwise it's your optical drive.

In your System Profiler, does the optical drive show up correctly - "Reads DVD - - OK"

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Answer 2

Feb 4, 2009 10:23 AM in response to nerowolfe

nerowolfe,
What do you mean by marginal?

The DVD is clean, unmarked or scratched.
The DVD is DL, but so are most of the other Movie DVD's I have.

I would agree with your statement "If this is the only DVD with problems, it's the DVD. Otherwise it's your optical drive", because it is the only DVD showing problems, but for the fact that my home built Windows PC plays the disk without any issues.

I have had problems burning the occasional DVD, but usually rebooting and increasing the fan speed fixes that, which I have done as well as all the other stuff.

System Profiler :
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E:

Firmware Revision: ZA0E
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

I do have Applecare, but I'm in the middle of something, so that will have to wait.
Any further ideas more than welcome, thanks

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Answer 3

Feb 4, 2009 10:38 AM in response to The Bretonian

I'm having the same problem with my Intel Macbook. I would like to boot from the Leopard install DVD so that I can run some disk repairs before running the software update to upgrade from 10.5.5 to 10.5.6. Unfortunately, when I insert the disc I can hear the drive spool up and then back down three times before spitting the disc out. All other DVDs work fine and the same DVD can be read in an identical MacBook.

One thing I have noticed is that it seems as if the drive will not accept discs as easily as it used to. It takes a small bit of force to get the disc inserted. Also, when ejecting the disc, the Macbook occasionally spits it out about 2mm and then re-loads the disc. Could this be a hardware issue?

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Answer 4

nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

Feb 4, 2009 11:08 AM in response to The Bretonian

The Bretonian wrote:
nerowolfe,
What do you mean by marginal?

By marginal, I refer to the fact that some DVDs do not play on some players for reasons unknown.
Minor defects below the surface can cause problems.

The DVD is clean, unmarked or scratched.
The DVD is DL, but so are most of the other Movie DVD's I have.
I would agree with your statement "If this is the only DVD with problems, it's the DVD. Otherwise it's your optical drive", because it is the only DVD showing problems, but for the fact that my home built Windows PC plays the disk without any issues.

It can be a problem with both the DVD and the optical drive. If both are "marginal" then you can get the kind of problem you are experiencing.

I have had problems burning the occasional DVD, but usually rebooting and increasing the fan speed fixes that, which I have done as well as all the other stuff.

Then I would certainly suspect the optical drive.

System Profiler :
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E:

Firmware Revision: ZA0E
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

I do have Applecare, but I'm in the middle of something, so that will have to wait.
Any further ideas more than welcome, thanks

I would get a new drive when you get the opportunity. If you check the MBP hardware forum, you will find that there were many optical drive issues with some of the MBPs, which required replacement of said drive.

You might also find that copying the DVD will result in a playable copy. I have found this to be the case with my standalone DVD player, when it won't accept some DVDs. Making a backup of the original DVD usually works in the player.
I think DL DVDs have more issues like this than do SL DVDs.
I usually use an external LaCie DL optical drive with my MBPs to save wear and tear on the internal drives. They do tend to heat up a bit.

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Answer 5

Feb 4, 2009 11:18 AM in response to nerowolfe

nerowolfe,

Thanks for your time, I think you have convinced me to get my MBP fixed, in the meantime I'll take the DVD into the Apple Store and check it on one of their machines, at least then it removes one of the two possible issues.

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Answer 6

Feb 4, 2009 11:22 AM in response to Rjsjayhawk

Your issue sounds similar, as you can read below, as a stopgap I'm gonna nip into my nearest Apple Store and try the DVD on one of their machines, can you do the same ? - at least you know whether it's the disk or machine.

Regards,

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Answer 7

nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

Feb 4, 2009 11:28 AM in response to The Bretonian

I would add, as an aside, that sometimes when burning a DVD that takes a long time and results in the drive getting quite warm, I cannot eject said DVD after burning.
If I let the MBP cool off a bit, I can eject it, or if I reboot and hold down the trackpad bar it will eject.
This happens rarely, and usually with DVD R/W disks that take longer than usual to burn.
The MBP optical drives are very thin and as a result are extremely sensitive to disk thickness. It's possible that some of my R/W disks are on the thick side and of course expand when they get hot.

I have never had the problem of a real stuck disk, but if you read the early posts in the MBP forums you will see this was a common issue, with all kinds of techniques devised by creative users to remove the stuck disks.

Message was edited by: nerowolfe

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Answer 8

Feb 4, 2009 11:38 AM in response to nerowolfe

As I have VMWare Fusion, and run some Windows programs, the mac can get warm, so I have smcFan Control installed, it gives me the option to bump up the fan speeds when I know she's gonna get a sweat on.

http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eidac/software/page5/page5.html

I do sometimes wonder if they made the MBP 5mm thicker, with more vents if most of these problems would disappear ! - thanks for you help and suggestions

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Answer 9

nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

Feb 4, 2009 11:45 AM in response to The Bretonian

The Bretonian wrote:
As I have VMWare Fusion, and run some Windows programs, the mac can get warm, so I have smcFan Control installed, it gives me the option to bump up the fan speeds when I know she's gonna get a sweat on.

http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eidac/software/page5/page5.html

I do sometimes wonder if they made the MBP 5mm thicker, with more vents if most of these problems would disappear ! - thanks for you help and suggestions

The MacAir has no internal optical drive. The MBP drive is probably the state-of-the-art regarding thinness.
I would have preferred a slightly thicker MBP with a normal optical drive - one with a pin hole for manual disk removal.
I recommend the LaCie or other tested external DL DVD drive to limit the usage of the builtin drive.

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Answer 10

Feb 4, 2009 12:28 PM in response to nerowolfe

I'll have a look at the LaCie drive, I've always liked their style, but always been worried about reliability, the French in their time have designed some of the most beautiful cars, I would love to own a 1971 Citroen SM, but they do have a reputation for 'below average reliability'.

BTW, My home built PC runs a ASUS mobo and Win XP X64 - used for CAD and Matlab, I wish Apple would use ASUS for some of their parts, seems a good company.

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