DVD controller restricted using external drive

Question

DVD controller restricted using external drive

I have a Mac mini with Mountain Lion (10.8.5). In order to play DVDs I use a LaCie external drive.

The description of the Apple DVD Player says that the controller works just like the one on a stand-alone DVD player. But in fact many of the options (forward, back, fast forward, etc.) only elicit a 'Not permitted' message. Why is this? Is it because an external drive has to be used with the mini? What can one do about it? Why are these options provided on the controller if they cannot be used?

Thank you in anticipation of answers.

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Dec 31, 2013 2:45 AM

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Answer 1

mooblie

Level 4

1,954 points

Dec 31, 2013 3:11 AM in response to Michael Graubart

It's the DVD, not Apple DVD Player. Many commercial producers of DVD deliberately DISABLE those functions, such that you HAVE to sit through trailers, copyright notices, warnings, etc.

It's not a fault of Apple DVD Player. You will probably find the same behaviour for this DVD on a "real" set-top DVD player too.

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Answer 2

Dec 31, 2013 4:47 AM in response to mooblie

Thank you, Mooblie. In response, I have now tried about half a dozen DVDs, including one made by the BBC and one made by the Hackney Music Development Trust. The last-named DVD is professionally made and issued, but is of an educational project, a cantata about the experiences of children during the Holocaust, developed with schoolchildren from various schools and issued as two disks, one of the development of the project and the other of a final performance; clearly not a common-or-garden entertainment DVD.

The Apple DVD Player and its controller behave identically in all these cases. This does not prove that it is the player and not the disks, but it makes it more and more probable. Unfortunately I have not got a "real" player to try these disks on.

A further hint that the problem may, after all, lie with the player is that when a DVD is playing, the slider on the progress bar underneath the picture DOES allow fast forwarding or moving backwards, thus defeating any insistence on viewing introductory material.

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