External SuperDrive DVD player fix
This solution worked for my Superdrive, which I had installed in a USB external case, so now it can play movies using Apples DVD Player App, but additional steps may be needed, as I outline below. I had removed the SuperDrive from my mid-2009 Macbook Pro 15" 2.53 ghz to install a second hard drive with Other World Computing's "Data Doubler" adapter, and mounted the SuperDrive in an OWC Value Line SuperSlim external case.
I don't know if the first two steps below are necessary, but I had done them first, because others suggested them as fixes before I found the solution in the 3rd step.
1) I installed Apple's SuperDrive Firmware Update 3.0, which is on Apple's support site at http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201953 (Note: I had already done this step before removing my SuperDrive, which worked fine as in internal drive in Yosemite. However, when I first used the SuperDrive after installing it in an external case, it worked fine for data DVDs, but not for playing movies with Apples DVD Player.)
2) Then I applied a fix on this page, http://www.hardturm.ch/luz/2011/10/how-to-make-the-macbook-air-superdrive-work-w ith-any-mac/comment-page-12/#comment-106449, using Text Wrangler to edit the preference file at /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist by adding code mbasd=1 between the two string values. However, that still did not resolve the problem. I left the preference file with the code “mbasd=1″ included, as outlined on that site.
3) Then, I used the fix at http://macriot.com/mcrt/?p=2294 which requires modification of some code embedded into OS X’s DVDPlayback framework; essentially replacing the words “internal” with “external”
That did it! Now my external Superdrive plays movies using DVD Player.. 🙂
