Copy Protected DVDs

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Level 1

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Copy Protected DVDs

Not sure if this is the correct forum, but here goes. Recently I bought 2 DVDs that will not play/mount on my Macbook which is running 10.5.8. Other DVDs play without issue. The DVDs in question are "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs". Both of these DVDs say "copy-protected". The symptom is that the machine makes a few attempts to load the DVD and then ejects is. Does Apple have a fix that allows mounting of these DVDs for playback?

kevin

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.4.6), 2.0Ghz Core Duo - 2GB RAM

Posted on Feb 8, 2010 12:29 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Klaus1

Level 9

52,879 points

Feb 8, 2010 3:25 PM in response to hams_

Virtually all commercial DVDs are copy protected, so that is not the issue.

Are these by any chance the BlueRay versions? They will not play on a Mac.

What are your Preference settings for what should happen when you load a DVD?

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Answer 2

Klaus1

Level 9

52,879 points

Feb 8, 2010 4:01 PM in response to hams_

these are trivial answers and are not helping

Lose the attitude please.

I'm asking if Apple has a fix so allow viewing of these DVDs by the Apple DVD Player despite this "copy-protection"

No fix required as copy protection does not affect playback, only attempts at illegal copying.

If your out of date operating system can't play them, try using VLC instead of DVD Player:

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Do apple people even read/respond on these boards?

Very rarely. These are user-to-user support forums.

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Answer 3

Kurt Lang

Level 9

69,384 points

Feb 8, 2010 1:40 PM in response to hams_

Ah! Region code (I knew country wasn't right).

I'm not sure then. Try running them with the free VLC Media Player instead.

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Answer 4

hams_ Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 8, 2010 3:50 PM in response to Klaus1

Ok, these are trivial answers and are not helping. Most DVDs are not copy-protected. Some manufactures intentionally corrupt the DVD data in a way that causes devices that strictly implement DVD specs to fail reading and thus prevent computers from mounting these discs as file systems. I'm asking if Apple has a fix so allow viewing of these DVDs by the Apple DVD Player despite this "copy-protection".

Do apple people even read/respond on these boards?

kevin

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Answer 5

Feb 8, 2010 5:22 PM in response to hams_

Lots of people read and respond here. But when posters carry on with an attitude, many of us are less likely to try and take a guess at what the issue might be. I once had trouble playing back some DVD's and ended up replacing the drive.

It is possible that your optical drive is failing, or perhaps dirty? Have you tried these DVD's in a different computer?

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Answer 6

Kurt Lang

Level 9

69,384 points

Feb 8, 2010 12:37 PM in response to hams_

There's a few possibilities.

1) You've changed the country code on your DVD one too many times and now it's stuck on something other than U.S.A., country code 1.

2) You have a disk that is not coded for the U.S., in which in case you'd need to change the DVD's country code to play it (not recommended).

3) You have a counterfeit disk with who knows what as its country code. Which may still be correct, but won't play because it knows the copy protection is broken.

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Answer 7

hams_ Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 8, 2010 12:49 PM in response to Kurt Lang

It is not a country code problem. The Mac will tell you if there is an issue with the region coding. I just watch "Star Trek (2009)" with no issue. These disks were purchased from Target and Best Buy.

kevin

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