Ticket Options

Question Details

TICKET ARCHIVE -> Lacie D2 Dvd External Usb

wemuse - Jun 28, 2005 - 11:57 am

I bought this and found that it did not include software to allow my G4 OS 10.3.8 to view DVD videos. I called Lacie and they directed me to some freeware which I downloaded, but it does not work well at all. Can you advise me about what software to buy or download which will let me view videos from DVD-R? Thanks, Bill Mooz

marcusr - Jun 28, 2005 - 4:06 pm

Hello Bill.

Could you tell me what software you have already tried?

An excellent application is VLC:

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

It plays just about any movie format going, and should work fine with any external DVD.

Let me know if this is the software you have already tried, and we can look at other options.

Marcus

wemuse - Jun 28, 2005 - 7:24 pm

Thanks, Marcus. VLC is what I installed. It starts to play the video, and then freezes on a single frame. I've tried it over and over, but the same thing happens. Bill

marcusr - Jun 29, 2005 - 2:23 am

Hi Bill,

Is your problem with just one DVD, or many? Are they pre-recorded DVDs you have bought in the shop, or are they DVDs someone else has burnt for you?

What model of Lacie drive is it? Are you using it with a Firewire or USB connection? Does your machine have USB1 or USB 2 ports?


Sorry for so many questions, but they will help narrow the problem down.

If the DVD is not a commercial one, you could try copying the video from the DVD to your hard drive, and check it plays OK from there.

If the DVD is a shop bought disc, we can test if the problem is the drive or the disc by again copying it to your local hard drive. A program for doing this is called Mac the Ripper:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22715

Try installing that and then copying the video to your hard drive, and playing it from there.

If the content copies from the DVD to your drive, that will show the drive is reading the data OK, and we can then focus on the video playback.

Let me know how you get on,

Marcus

wemuse - Jun 30, 2005 - 10:33 am

I have been working with small DVDs that come from my camcorder, which records directly to them, and also with a DVD that a friend of mine burned on his computer. I also copied the DVD to my hard drive, but it does not play any better. I will get a commercial DVD and try it. Maybe that will cast some light on the problem, and I will let you know. The Lacie drive is a d2 lightscribe, and it is connected via USB. My computer is a G4 Quicksilver 800 MHZ. I do not know what version of USB it has, but I assume that it is 2.0. More after I make this trial with a commercial DVD. Many thanks, Bill

marcusr - Jun 30, 2005 - 10:51 am

Hi Bill,

Let me know how you get on with the commercial discs.

I've looked up the specs for the G4 Quicksilver, and unless you're using an add-on card, you only have USB1. The drive should still work fine, but it might be a bit slower than you would expect. If you do find it slow, adding a USB2 card to the Mac is quite cheap, and would increase your data rates from 12Mbps to 400Mbps, quite an improvement :-)

I'm a little worried that if you do indeed only have USB1, it's right on the edge of the performance needed for DVD playback. I've searched Google and can't find any definite figures, but that might be a problem if you find the playback stutters and freezes occasionally. A DVD uses about 10Mbps of bandwidth, and USB1 is a theoretical maximum of 12Mbps.

Anyway, let's wait and see how the performance is with a commercial DVD.

Marcus

wemuse - Jul 1, 2005 - 9:57 am

OK, Marcus. I changed my USB connection to a firewire connection with no change in the problem. But the message that I get when I try to open the DVD reads as follows: "Main: decoder is leaking pictures, resetting the heap". I have not yet tried a commercial DVD but will do this this weekend. I appreciate knowing that I have USB1, and I've found USB2 cards on ebay. I'll probably buy one. Bill

wemuse - Jul 4, 2005 - 4:10 pm

I'll be contacting you agian in a day or two, after I have tried a commercial DVD. Thanks, Bill Mooz

wemuse - Jul 4, 2005 - 7:48 pm

I got a commercial DVD movie, and it did the same thing and gave me the same error message. Any suggestions? Thanks, Bill

marcusr - Jul 5, 2005 - 11:13 am

Bill,

Did you try Mac The Ripper on your commercial DVD to read the content to the local hard drive, and then play it from there with VNC.

If it rips across and plays OK, then that narrows the issue down to a problem with the DVD player (as we can tell the DVD can read the discs fine).

If it doesn't rip then the DVD drive itself is having problems reading the disc content.

Another thing to do would be to try downloading the latest copy of VLC - it's being updated all the time, and may have a fix for your particular problem.

wemuse - Jul 5, 2005 - 11:31 am

I did not try mac the Ripper, but I will today or tomorrow, and I'll let you know what happens. Thanks, Bill

wemuse - Jul 8, 2005 - 1:02 pm

I did not try the ripper, because there are three OS 10.3.8 installation disks, and I did not kow which to use. But I bounced the question to LaCie, telling them the whole story and soliciting their advice on how to get their product to read CDs and DVDs. I'd like to wait until I get some kind of an answer from them, and if it turns out to be ineffective, I'll send another question to you. Many thanks, Bill Mooz

marcusr - Jul 8, 2005 - 1:07 pm

Bill,

Thanks for letting me know how you're getting on - hopefully Lacie can sort something for you, it shouldn't be this hard, particularly on a Mac

Marcus