MBP with rental DVD (Netflix) won't play

Question

Level 1

5 points

MBP with rental DVD (Netflix) won't play

I have a mid-2009 MBP running Snow Leopard and I am unable to play any rental DVDs (i.e. Netflix, but also tried one from the video store that didn't work). DVDs that I own work fine. I called Apple and they said it is a Netflix problem. I called Netflix and they said while they do get special 'rental DVDs' from production companies, that this is still an Apple problem.

Apparently (according to Netflix) these rental DVDs now have a built-in protective layer that detects the potential to illegally rip the disc. Since my MBP is capable of ripping, the DVD will not play. After a few minutes of spinning in the drive, it registers as a blank DVD, which is unable to play.

Has anyone ever seen this before? I don't have a TV, so my computer is the only way I can play DVDs. I have no intention of ripping the DVDs, so I would be happy to disable that function if it allows me to play them on my computer. How do I get around this?

Any advice would be appreciated!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Nov 8, 2010 10:14 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Nov 8, 2010 10:26 AM in response to Jenna Smith1

Welcome to the wonderful world of Digital Rights Management and the idiotic things the Motion Picture Industry does to annoy customers.

Is this one of the discs with the slightly thickened center plastic ring? They often will play in an external drive (USB or FireWire, even a recordable external).

Other than that, you are kind of stuck I think. Apple has to abide by the DRM rules or face lawsuits from the Motion Picture Industry, as does netflix.

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Answer 2

dwb

Level 7

32,920 points

Nov 8, 2010 10:29 AM in response to Jenna Smith1

The problem may be more mundane than you think - I've come across several Netflix DVDs that won't play on my notebook but would work just fine in my DVD player on desktop. When I look at those discs I've seen a large amount of scratches and fingerprints. In a few cases simply buffing the disc made it usable.

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Answer 3

JasonFear

Level 5

4,965 points

Nov 8, 2010 12:06 PM in response to Jenna Smith1

Hi Jenna,

I've run a whole lot of "rental" DVDs through my MacBook Pro and I've yet to encounter an issue. Matter of fact, I've yet to encounter a DVD that couldn't be ripped or played through my MacBook Pro (assuming appropriate region).

I agree about the buff/polish bottom of the disc, otherwise sending it back to Netflix and see if you can get another one.

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Answer 4

Dec 11, 2010 6:15 PM in response to JasonFear

I'm having the same problem with a brand new shiny DVD that is labeled "rental". If one knows that a rented DVD won't play on their device, and the title isn't available for rent through iTunes, then what are their other options?

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Answer 5

mle425

Level 1

4 points

Feb 4, 2011 8:24 PM in response to Jenna Smith1

I have a MB 2006 and I often receive Netflix DVD's that won't play. Cleaning them doesn't help...they just spin and get spit back out. I don't have an easy way to test them on another device, but when I claim them as damaged and get a new DVD, the new one usually won't play either...so I think as mentioned above it has something to do with the type of DVD/protection placed on it

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Answer 6

Feb 5, 2011 6:49 AM in response to Jenna Smith1

What you describe is the way Blu-Ray disks behave in a Mac. Macs optical drives are not Blu-ray compatible. Are you sure you're not trying to use Blu-Ray disks?

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Answer 7

mle425

Level 1

4 points

May 12, 2011 7:36 PM in response to Jenna Smith1

I have a MB 2006 and I have been unable to play the last three movies I received (all from 2004 or later). One of them I sent back three times and none of the DVD's played on my computer. As described above, I put the DVD in, it spins around, and then spits it out as if it is unreadable. They will play on my old 2000 imac that only has a DVD player and not a superdrive. If this copyright issue isn't resolved, I might have to cancel netflix because I don't usually have another device to watch them on...is there a way to bug netflix about this (besides just calling and getting the response the first poster did)?

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Answer 8

Feb 29, 2012 1:14 PM in response to Jenna Smith1

I have a 2011 I-Mac and thought my drive was bad because it suddenly doesn't play dvds from netflix or redbox anymore. Store bought dvds, no problem. All dvds play fine on my crappy old Getway PC from 2005. It also ***** that mac users can't watch Starz channel live through Netflix while PC users can.

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Answer 9

Apr 17, 2013 3:41 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Just ran into this and it was a Blu-Ray.

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Answer 10

auntfe

Level 1

4 points

Apr 21, 2016 2:40 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thank you very much! 😀 This solve the problem... Hehehe ....In my case they were Blu_ray DVDs from netflix. All I had to do is turn over the netflix envelope and then I saw it.... Blu-ray DVD . *} Thank you.

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