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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Popcorn/mactheripper
Sparrowhawk - Jun 7, 2005 - 1:52 am
Greetings,
When attempting use Popcorn to copy of VIDEO_TS folder, after a given disk has been ripped by MTR, Popcorn crashes. (With the usual question of "do you want to report to Apple?")
I was under the impression that Popcorn could copy ripped DVDs. Now since this was a test, I didn't have a blank DVD in the eMac. Did Popcorn somehow sense this? I suspect I would have received the same crash if I had a DVD-R in the burner regardless.
I'm new to the Mac, so perhaps I missed something obvious. However, the instructions seemed quite simply, and I know the DVDs in memory were successfully ripped, since I was able to view the various DVDs from the hard drive.
When attempting use Popcorn to copy of VIDEO_TS folder, after a given disk has been ripped by MTR, Popcorn crashes. (With the usual question of "do you want to report to Apple?")
I was under the impression that Popcorn could copy ripped DVDs. Now since this was a test, I didn't have a blank DVD in the eMac. Did Popcorn somehow sense this? I suspect I would have received the same crash if I had a DVD-R in the burner regardless.
I'm new to the Mac, so perhaps I missed something obvious. However, the instructions seemed quite simply, and I know the DVDs in memory were successfully ripped, since I was able to view the various DVDs from the hard drive.
Rod Hagen - Jun 8, 2005 - 1:28 am
What version of Popcorn and what version of OSX are you using, Fredrick?
Popcorn is one of the apps that needs to be upgraded for use with OSX 10.4.
You can download the upgraded version (1.03) from http://www.roxio.com/en/support/popc..._updates.jhtml
Using the earlier version results in a crash of the type you mention when combined with OSX 10.4 (Tiger).
Cheers
Rod
Popcorn is one of the apps that needs to be upgraded for use with OSX 10.4.
You can download the upgraded version (1.03) from http://www.roxio.com/en/support/popc..._updates.jhtml
Using the earlier version results in a crash of the type you mention when combined with OSX 10.4 (Tiger).
Cheers
Rod
Sparrowhawk - Jun 8, 2005 - 9:48 pm
Thanks, Rod.
As it turns out, I already discovered that Popcorn was having problems with Tiger. Now I just have to figure out when I can use three hours of phone time to download the update! Evidently, I'm not the only person having this problem with Popcorn. However, I did want to thank you for the information. I was getting worried that the eMac was somehow defective, since I still can't get iPhoto to import digital images from the old Windows machine. (A pox on Microsoft!)
Best wishes, Fredrik King
As it turns out, I already discovered that Popcorn was having problems with Tiger. Now I just have to figure out when I can use three hours of phone time to download the update! Evidently, I'm not the only person having this problem with Popcorn. However, I did want to thank you for the information. I was getting worried that the eMac was somehow defective, since I still can't get iPhoto to import digital images from the old Windows machine. (A pox on Microsoft!)
Best wishes, Fredrik King
Sparrowhawk - Jun 13, 2005 - 11:47 pm
Hello Rod,
The same problem has appeared again. I upgraded Popcorn to 1.0.2, which promptly crashed when I tried to burn a VIDEO_TS file. Then I upgraded to 1.0.3, which worked--but only on a single disk. You have to reinstall Popcorn 1.0.3 each time you want to burn a disk. Should I trash the currently installed Popcorn, reinstall it, then download the complete upgrade? Possibly the installation of two upgrade packages/patches somehow corrupted the program? Thanks again. Fredrik King
The same problem has appeared again. I upgraded Popcorn to 1.0.2, which promptly crashed when I tried to burn a VIDEO_TS file. Then I upgraded to 1.0.3, which worked--but only on a single disk. You have to reinstall Popcorn 1.0.3 each time you want to burn a disk. Should I trash the currently installed Popcorn, reinstall it, then download the complete upgrade? Possibly the installation of two upgrade packages/patches somehow corrupted the program? Thanks again. Fredrik King
Rod Hagen - Jun 16, 2005 - 8:05 pm
THis seems odd, Fredrik.
It can't hurt to go through the reinstall / re-update process, I guess, but I'd also be wondering about some other sort of problem, perhaps with the particular Video_TS folder involved. Have you tried it with more than one? Sometimes things like file ordering within a particular folder can cause problems.
Another problem could be an overly full HD having difficulties handling something like the compression process with the second disc (assuming that we are talking about a Video_ts folder that requires compression here)?
You could perhaps also try deleting the com.roxio.Popcorn.plist file from the Library/Preferences folder inside you own "Home" folder.
Let me know how it goes.
Cheers
Rod
It can't hurt to go through the reinstall / re-update process, I guess, but I'd also be wondering about some other sort of problem, perhaps with the particular Video_TS folder involved. Have you tried it with more than one? Sometimes things like file ordering within a particular folder can cause problems.
Another problem could be an overly full HD having difficulties handling something like the compression process with the second disc (assuming that we are talking about a Video_ts folder that requires compression here)?
You could perhaps also try deleting the com.roxio.Popcorn.plist file from the Library/Preferences folder inside you own "Home" folder.
Let me know how it goes.
Cheers
Rod
Sparrowhawk - Jun 17, 2005 - 2:11 am
Hello Rod,
I've removed the plist and reinstalled Popcorn and the update. I've tried to copy two VIDEO_TS folders, with the response that Popcorn "cannot handle the contents of this VIDEO_TS folder". However, I suspect this might be because these two DVDs are possibly corrupted or damaged disks, since they will not play on my regular DVD player, and one resisted being played on the Mac. Is this a typical response for Popcorn when it encounters a VIDEO_TS folder that has been successfully moved into the hard drive, but the disk itself doesn't like to play? Further tests will have to wait until I get a few other disks and blanks to work with. BTW, what are your thoughts about DVD-R amd DVD+R disks? For the life of me, I can't really find anythng that indicates an appreciable difference.
As always, your help and perserverance is greatly appreciated.
Fredrik King
I've removed the plist and reinstalled Popcorn and the update. I've tried to copy two VIDEO_TS folders, with the response that Popcorn "cannot handle the contents of this VIDEO_TS folder". However, I suspect this might be because these two DVDs are possibly corrupted or damaged disks, since they will not play on my regular DVD player, and one resisted being played on the Mac. Is this a typical response for Popcorn when it encounters a VIDEO_TS folder that has been successfully moved into the hard drive, but the disk itself doesn't like to play? Further tests will have to wait until I get a few other disks and blanks to work with. BTW, what are your thoughts about DVD-R amd DVD+R disks? For the life of me, I can't really find anythng that indicates an appreciable difference.
As always, your help and perserverance is greatly appreciated.
Fredrik King
Rod Hagen - Jun 17, 2005 - 4:57 am
The fact that the discs won't play on your regular DVD player certainly suggests that the problems are likely to lie with the discs rather than the drive or the software.
I don't normally like advocating the use of such software, but problematic discs like this can sometimes be recovered using things like Mac the Ripper - http://www.ripdifferent.com/~mtr/ (It can also be used for things like overcoming copy protection mechanisms and may not be legally useable accordingly in some countries)
You can find some other troubleshooting info at http://www.ripdifferent.com/~mtr/#instructions and in the application's manual.
As far as DVD+R and DVD-R discs are concerned , it depends on:
1) the drive on which you are trying to burn them and
2) the drive on which you are trying to play them
Some burners can only deal with one type, or, like my Pioneer 109, can burn one type of disc at faster speeds than the other. Some players seem to also prefer one or the other, although brands and colors often make more difference here. In functional terms, if you have a player and a burner that can deal with both, the difference is, as you say, insignificant. I personally like TDK DVD's, in both + and - formats for "single layer" burning, and Verbatim +R DL discs for "Dual Layer" burning in my Pioneer and LG drives.
Cheers
Rod
I don't normally like advocating the use of such software, but problematic discs like this can sometimes be recovered using things like Mac the Ripper - http://www.ripdifferent.com/~mtr/ (It can also be used for things like overcoming copy protection mechanisms and may not be legally useable accordingly in some countries)
You can find some other troubleshooting info at http://www.ripdifferent.com/~mtr/#instructions and in the application's manual.
As far as DVD+R and DVD-R discs are concerned , it depends on:
1) the drive on which you are trying to burn them and
2) the drive on which you are trying to play them
Some burners can only deal with one type, or, like my Pioneer 109, can burn one type of disc at faster speeds than the other. Some players seem to also prefer one or the other, although brands and colors often make more difference here. In functional terms, if you have a player and a burner that can deal with both, the difference is, as you say, insignificant. I personally like TDK DVD's, in both + and - formats for "single layer" burning, and Verbatim +R DL discs for "Dual Layer" burning in my Pioneer and LG drives.
Cheers
Rod
Rod Hagen - Jun 17, 2005 - 6:54 pm
Whoops, looking back at the start of this I see that you had already tried the MTR approach.
Sorry, Fredrik, but this leaves me thinking that it is almost certainly a problem with the disks themselves which is causing the problem. You could try changing settings in MTR perhaps, to see if you can , at least, extract the main movie.
You might want to check out the roxio and mtr forums as well if you haven't already. It would be nice to know if ANY disc will work for you.
Cheers
Rod
Sorry, Fredrik, but this leaves me thinking that it is almost certainly a problem with the disks themselves which is causing the problem. You could try changing settings in MTR perhaps, to see if you can , at least, extract the main movie.
You might want to check out the roxio and mtr forums as well if you haven't already. It would be nice to know if ANY disc will work for you.
Cheers
Rod
Sparrowhawk - Jun 18, 2005 - 2:40 am
Hello Rod,
Success! With your help, I was able to succeed in making Popcorn work, although, as you suggested, not consistently because of flaws in master disks. For the benefit of others reading this, here's what I did:
1. Removed Popcorn and the plist, and reinstalled Popcorn with the 1.0.3 upgrade which I had saved to disk. During this process I checked with the "About Popcorn" on the menu to make sure the version I had was indeed 1.0.3, since it turned out on a couple of occasions that the 1.0.3 version was not being used.
2. Extraction of certain portions of used master disks were part of the problem. Sometimes Popcorn would indicate a "Feature Only" VIDEO_TS was corrupted, but a full extraction was possible. I'm confused why this would work, but it seems to do so regardless. The lesson here would seem to be to use a master disk that hasn't been manhandled too much or scratched, as is often the case with rentals DVDs. (BTW, this is not to advocate copyright infringement.)
Lastly, Popcorn no longer requires reinstalling of the upgrade, which was the original reason this string of messages began.
So, Rod, thanks bunches for all the help. Contributions to come as soon as my next check comes in the mail! I will have a couple of other questions, I'm sure, in the near future (like, when will Apple upgrade Tiger to speed up Safari, and would increased memory for the eMac speed up word processing, or is it limited because of its standard microprocessor? Concerning the former, a character should appear on the display as soon as the typist hits the key, not a split second later. This problem appears in both AppleWorks and MS Word for Mac.) (Of course, if you're not a touch typist, this wouldn't be a problem for you.)
Thanks again, Rod, and well done!
Success! With your help, I was able to succeed in making Popcorn work, although, as you suggested, not consistently because of flaws in master disks. For the benefit of others reading this, here's what I did:
1. Removed Popcorn and the plist, and reinstalled Popcorn with the 1.0.3 upgrade which I had saved to disk. During this process I checked with the "About Popcorn" on the menu to make sure the version I had was indeed 1.0.3, since it turned out on a couple of occasions that the 1.0.3 version was not being used.
2. Extraction of certain portions of used master disks were part of the problem. Sometimes Popcorn would indicate a "Feature Only" VIDEO_TS was corrupted, but a full extraction was possible. I'm confused why this would work, but it seems to do so regardless. The lesson here would seem to be to use a master disk that hasn't been manhandled too much or scratched, as is often the case with rentals DVDs. (BTW, this is not to advocate copyright infringement.)
Lastly, Popcorn no longer requires reinstalling of the upgrade, which was the original reason this string of messages began.
So, Rod, thanks bunches for all the help. Contributions to come as soon as my next check comes in the mail! I will have a couple of other questions, I'm sure, in the near future (like, when will Apple upgrade Tiger to speed up Safari, and would increased memory for the eMac speed up word processing, or is it limited because of its standard microprocessor? Concerning the former, a character should appear on the display as soon as the typist hits the key, not a split second later. This problem appears in both AppleWorks and MS Word for Mac.) (Of course, if you're not a touch typist, this wouldn't be a problem for you.)
Thanks again, Rod, and well done!
Sparrowhawk - Jun 18, 2005 - 2:44 am
Whoops, I meant latter, not former. A subtle distinction, but an important one. F
Rod Hagen - Jun 18, 2005 - 7:03 am
Mmm. Slow keyboard response in both Appleworks and Word, eh?
Definitely not the processor's fault. Something is up. A paucity of RAM COULD be part of the problem, but only if you have very little. Even our old iMac DV+ 450 MHz G3 manages to keep up with the our household's resident 120wpm supertypist (brought up in the days of IBM golfballs and the like), with a mere 320 Meg running under Tiger.
My bet , though would be that something else running in the background is doing a nasty job of hogging processor, or graphics, capacity. Try firing up Activity Monitor (in your utilities folder) and seeing what is sapping your eMac's vital powers.
One program renowned for doing this, by the way, is Virex, so if you have it installed you may want to see what happens if you temporarily get rid of it (I gather that simply turning it off isn't enough). Entourage can be a nasty resource hog to have running in the background, but other "background" programs, virus checkers, button checkers, fax software etc can do this too.
If there doesn't seem to be any problem with other apps some people have reported problems with high levels of "font smoothing", so this might be worth a look as well. Check for corrrupted fonts too.
Then there is the problem of an overfull HD causing problems with swap file activity and consequent snail's pace performance. Always aim to have at least 5 Gig free space on your HD when running with Panther or Tiger.
Cheers
Rod
Definitely not the processor's fault. Something is up. A paucity of RAM COULD be part of the problem, but only if you have very little. Even our old iMac DV+ 450 MHz G3 manages to keep up with the our household's resident 120wpm supertypist (brought up in the days of IBM golfballs and the like), with a mere 320 Meg running under Tiger.
My bet , though would be that something else running in the background is doing a nasty job of hogging processor, or graphics, capacity. Try firing up Activity Monitor (in your utilities folder) and seeing what is sapping your eMac's vital powers.
One program renowned for doing this, by the way, is Virex, so if you have it installed you may want to see what happens if you temporarily get rid of it (I gather that simply turning it off isn't enough). Entourage can be a nasty resource hog to have running in the background, but other "background" programs, virus checkers, button checkers, fax software etc can do this too.
If there doesn't seem to be any problem with other apps some people have reported problems with high levels of "font smoothing", so this might be worth a look as well. Check for corrrupted fonts too.
Then there is the problem of an overfull HD causing problems with swap file activity and consequent snail's pace performance. Always aim to have at least 5 Gig free space on your HD when running with Panther or Tiger.
Cheers
Rod
Rod Hagen - Jun 18, 2005 - 8:29 am
PS for your other issue:
Deleting com.apple.quicktime.plugin.preferences.plist from ~/Library/Preferences and then restarting Safari can sometimes solve nasty performance problems with Safari under Tiger.
Cheers
Rod
Deleting com.apple.quicktime.plugin.preferences.plist from ~/Library/Preferences and then restarting Safari can sometimes solve nasty performance problems with Safari under Tiger.
Cheers
Rod
Sparrowhawk - Jun 18, 2005 - 6:03 pm
Hi Rod,
There are over 37 Gs free on my eMac, and minimal added software. MS Office has only Word and Entourage installed, and I rarely use Entourage. I don't use any anti-virus programs--that's one of the reasons I switched to a Mac in the first place. As for typing speed, heck, my old Commodore 64 kept up with me fine, as did the Amiga 500. Other than Word/Entourage, the only major piece of added software is Popcorn and MTR. Another program for making the cursor more visible (an amazing problem for the Mac to have--even the old Amiga 500 allowed you to customize your own cursor) is Unsanity's Mighty Mouse. I was able to slightly increase Word's speed by turning off certain features like AutoCorrect. I suspect the problem is that the Mac is so complex that simple functions become more complicated as well.
I did delete the com.apple.quicktime plist. It's hard to tell if Safari has improved its speed as yet. I think that many websites are simply taking longer to load because of the push for users to switch to DSL instead of dial-up modem, so webpages are becoming more data-heavy. However, remembering how cable tv used to only cost a few dollars a month, it'll be a cold day in hell before I fall into the trap of getting DSL.
There are over 37 Gs free on my eMac, and minimal added software. MS Office has only Word and Entourage installed, and I rarely use Entourage. I don't use any anti-virus programs--that's one of the reasons I switched to a Mac in the first place. As for typing speed, heck, my old Commodore 64 kept up with me fine, as did the Amiga 500. Other than Word/Entourage, the only major piece of added software is Popcorn and MTR. Another program for making the cursor more visible (an amazing problem for the Mac to have--even the old Amiga 500 allowed you to customize your own cursor) is Unsanity's Mighty Mouse. I was able to slightly increase Word's speed by turning off certain features like AutoCorrect. I suspect the problem is that the Mac is so complex that simple functions become more complicated as well.
I did delete the com.apple.quicktime plist. It's hard to tell if Safari has improved its speed as yet. I think that many websites are simply taking longer to load because of the push for users to switch to DSL instead of dial-up modem, so webpages are becoming more data-heavy. However, remembering how cable tv used to only cost a few dollars a month, it'll be a cold day in hell before I fall into the trap of getting DSL.
Sparrowhawk - Jun 18, 2005 - 7:40 pm
Hi Rod,
A brief follow up about memory usage, with thanks for introducing me to the
Activity Monitor. (There's a widget that performs a similar function, but the fonts are so tiny that the info is hard to read, and what I can read looks like Greek to me.) The Monitor indicates minimal processing use, even when I have the system online, and MS Word is opened. I wonder if the slightly slower processing is because of the keyboard's USB connector instead of the old fashioned single pin jack? Also, concerning word processing fonts, as a professional writer, I use only one: Times New Roman, pt. 12. This has become the standard among writers, although some of us old war horses still prefer a typewriter look, and thus use Courier. FK
A brief follow up about memory usage, with thanks for introducing me to the
Activity Monitor. (There's a widget that performs a similar function, but the fonts are so tiny that the info is hard to read, and what I can read looks like Greek to me.) The Monitor indicates minimal processing use, even when I have the system online, and MS Word is opened. I wonder if the slightly slower processing is because of the keyboard's USB connector instead of the old fashioned single pin jack? Also, concerning word processing fonts, as a professional writer, I use only one: Times New Roman, pt. 12. This has become the standard among writers, although some of us old war horses still prefer a typewriter look, and thus use Courier. FK
Rod Hagen - Jun 19, 2005 - 1:37 am
Well it clearly isn't an absence of HD space for the Tiger to roam in that is causing the cursor delay problem, but there is definitely something up here.
It won't be the USB keyboard connection either. Even USB version 1.1 is way, way faster than the Apple Desktop Bus connection or any of the keyboard specific connections you will have used on your other computers.
The 'mighty mouse" haxie COULD be part of the problem. System level haxies can cause all sorts of nasties and are usually good things to avoid if possible. That said, I haven't heard of many complaints about this particular one.
You can actually change the size of the mouse cursor /arrow quite easily in the "universal Access" System preferences under the mouse and trackpad tab in Tiger, but my guess is that this isn't the cursor you want to grow.
Even if you only use Times New Roman it is still possible for font corruption issues with other fonts to cause slowdowns in display updates etc. It is also not uncommon to find that people have multiple, conflicting, copies of fonts that they use a lot, causing similar issues. I'd be inclined to start up Font Book (in your Applications Folder) and use it to "validate" your fonts. You can find good information on using FontBook for general font management and troubleshooting in the "FontBook" help files.
I promise, there should NOT be a perceptible delay when typing away in Word or Appleworks on your eMac. In my "other life" I spend a great deal of my time writing (see http://homepage.mac.com/rodhagen/ ) and I couldn't stand this sort of delayed response.
Cheers
Rod
It won't be the USB keyboard connection either. Even USB version 1.1 is way, way faster than the Apple Desktop Bus connection or any of the keyboard specific connections you will have used on your other computers.
The 'mighty mouse" haxie COULD be part of the problem. System level haxies can cause all sorts of nasties and are usually good things to avoid if possible. That said, I haven't heard of many complaints about this particular one.
You can actually change the size of the mouse cursor /arrow quite easily in the "universal Access" System preferences under the mouse and trackpad tab in Tiger, but my guess is that this isn't the cursor you want to grow.
Even if you only use Times New Roman it is still possible for font corruption issues with other fonts to cause slowdowns in display updates etc. It is also not uncommon to find that people have multiple, conflicting, copies of fonts that they use a lot, causing similar issues. I'd be inclined to start up Font Book (in your Applications Folder) and use it to "validate" your fonts. You can find good information on using FontBook for general font management and troubleshooting in the "FontBook" help files.
I promise, there should NOT be a perceptible delay when typing away in Word or Appleworks on your eMac. In my "other life" I spend a great deal of my time writing (see http://homepage.mac.com/rodhagen/ ) and I couldn't stand this sort of delayed response.
Cheers
Rod
Sparrowhawk - Jun 19, 2005 - 2:24 am
I did try the Universal Access prefs, but found them esthetically unpleasing. The cursor set I use now is simply a set of red cursors, easy to spot. Still, I wish I could recreate my old Amiga cursor set--if there's anyone out there who can do it, I hope you'll contact me.
Using the Font Book verify function, I found 2 fonts of the more exotic types that are damaged. The fonts were "Fang Song" and "Song". Since I neither write nor read Chinese or any other Asia language, I can't imagine a need for these fonts. Can I delete these fonts safely?
As always, Rod, I appreciate your advice. I've learned quite a bit from you about Macs over the past week.
Is it just me, or does the eMac looked eerily like the head of a robot?
Best, Fredrik King
PS: I don't have a webpage, others do that for me. But do a search on "fkhome" if you want to see some interesting, not to say disturbing, pen and ink artwork.
Using the Font Book verify function, I found 2 fonts of the more exotic types that are damaged. The fonts were "Fang Song" and "Song". Since I neither write nor read Chinese or any other Asia language, I can't imagine a need for these fonts. Can I delete these fonts safely?
As always, Rod, I appreciate your advice. I've learned quite a bit from you about Macs over the past week.
Is it just me, or does the eMac looked eerily like the head of a robot?
Best, Fredrik King
PS: I don't have a webpage, others do that for me. But do a search on "fkhome" if you want to see some interesting, not to say disturbing, pen and ink artwork.
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