Unsupported video format with DVD player

Question

Level 2

258 points

Unsupported video format with DVD player

WTH, Apple? I tried playing some older (2002-03) videos on my desktop and I get "An unsupported video format was encountered. Playback was stopped." These are not Hollywood DVDs; they're videos of high school shows produced by our local cable outlet, which has a production studio at the school. They've always played OK before and they still play just fine on my Macbook Pro, and they still work on the TV.

The Macbook is on Snow Leopard, but the iMac is on Lion, because I was forced to upgrade or I'd lose my MobileMe email addresses. So, it wasn't enough that the upgrade disabled Adobe Photoshop and Adobe In Design, and Audacity and Final Vinyl, which I've used in digitizing my LP collection, and a half-dozen games. Someone also decided Lion would eliminate support for some video formats, for reasons unknown. I used to be a real Apple partisan, but not after what's happened to me this year.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.4), iPhone 4S; iPad 3G; Macbook Pro

Posted on Sep 3, 2012 11:54 PM

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Answer 1

Shootist007

Level 6

16,709 points

Sep 4, 2012 2:58 AM in response to Tom Burnett1

Try VLC to play them.

Actually you wouldn't lose your @me address you just need to use an Email program to access the iCloud mail servers to get your mail.

Funny how MS has made available XP Mode virtual machine for free for users of Win 7 to access their older Windows program that won't run on Win 7 but yet Apple has left all their users with non functioning PPC programs once they upgrade to Lion and no way to install Snow Leopard into a VM.

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Answer 2

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,286 points

Sep 4, 2012 10:54 AM in response to Shootist007

Shootist007 wrote:

...Funny how MS has made available XP Mode virtual machine for free for users of Win 7 to access their older Windows program that won't run on Win 7 but yet Apple has left all their users with non functioning PPC programs once they upgrade to Lion and no way to install Snow Leopard into a VM.

Microsoft never had to migrate from the PowerPC platform to Intel like Apple did in 2006. Perhaps you have forgotten from previous posts that Apple's license for the technology underlying Rosetta expired with OS X Lion. Since IBM now owns that technology, it is doubtful that it will be renewed.

It would be funny, however, if we watched you dump all of your Mac hardware and software just so you could migrate to Windows and run XP Mode in Windows 7! 😁

Even funnier is that you know I have provided full installation instructions for Snow Leopard into Parallels 7. Maybe you forgot that too?

Let me refresh your memory:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1365439

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Answer 3

Tom Burnett1 Author

Level 2

258 points

Sep 4, 2012 1:03 PM in response to Shootist007

Shootist: I was told last February -- when all of a sudden my Mail program was unable to access those five MobileMe email accounts -- that I had to migrate to iCloud. And that iCloud would not work unless I upgraded from Snow Leopard to Lion. OK, I grumbled about that, but figured it's only $30 for the upgrade. Oops -- disabled Adobe programs will cost several hundred to update.

MichaelLAX: Not a computer geek, and I've never gone into Terminal. Looking through those instructions -- and some of the replies -- it appears about as simple as replacing the valves on a Ferrari.

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Answer 4

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,286 points

Sep 4, 2012 8:21 PM in response to Tom Burnett1

It looks more daunting than it is to accomplish! Everyone who has attempted it has completed it successfully. It is spelled out in more detail than necessary to help even the non-geeks. There are not that many Terminal commands.

Also I am happy to help you in the process if you have any problems; contact me on that forum.

BTW: The Parallels solution may not work well with your games. Alternative solutions:

1. Restore your original OS X; or

2. Partition your hard drive or add an external hard drive and install Snow Leopard on it and use the "dual-boot" solution;

Also BTW: Do you have MediaMac Info to run your 2003 Videos through and print out the specs for us? The only thing I can think of, off hand, is that they are MPEG-2 and after the upgrade to Lion, the MPEG-2 codec needs to be reinstalled (especially since it was an option that had to be purchased from Apple and added to QuickTime before Lion).

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