bioneural.net » dvd

Home-made DVDs won't mount or copy on Mac

Bruce — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:39:07 +0000

Home-made DVDs of our travels and family events were backed up as disk images (.dmg) onto an external hard drive as they were made. When these were inadvertently deleted I attempted to re-create the backup using Disk Utility to create new disk images. I was very concerned to find that about a third of my collection would either fail to mount on the OS X desktop or, if so, caused Disk Utility to report an input/ output error resulting in failure to copy. So what gives Apple? Why can my Mac not mount, copy, or play back Mac-made DVDs—when my consumer player handles them fine? All the DVDs in question were made using iDVD (various versions), using several brands of media (mainly Apple and Imation), between 2001 and 2007. Here's what I found: Some disks mounted under OS X 10.5.4 via a slot-loading drive (Intel MacBook) and Disk Utility was able to create .dmg files; Of the remainder some mounted under OS X 10.5.4 via a slot-loading drive (Intel MacBook) and Disk Utility failed to create .dmg files, citing in input/ output error; Of the remainder some mounted under OS X 10.5.4 via a slot-loading drive (Intel MacBook) and Carbon Copy Cloner was able to create .dmg files; Of the remainder some mounted under OS X 10.5.4 via a tray-loading drive (G4 iMac) and Disk Utility was able to create .dmg files; Of the remainder some mounted under OS X 10.5.4 via a tray-loading drive (G4 iMac) and Disk Utility failed to create .dmg files, citing ...

New Zealand progressive on fair use laws

Bruce — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:12:48 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

As reported by Ars Technica, the New Zealand House of Representatives passed a bill on 8 April 2008 reforming copyright law for the "digital age". Most netizens even outside the US will have come across the American DMCA: any mention seems tainted by the taste of bile. The DMCA criminalises circumvention of digital rights management (DRM) technologies and access controls—many folk argue at the expense of "fair use". Do the NZ reforms provide workable compromise? Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand [© iStockPhoto] Ars cite a Canadian law professor as saying: The anti-circumvention provisions are arguably the best of any country, since they are compliant with WIPO, limited in scope, and seek to preserve fair dealing rights. Having looked at the new Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Bill I find myself almost as confused as I was before; it raises at least as many questions as it answers. Time and format shifting I've always wondered exactly how recording a TV programme to VHS tape, DVD+RW, or PVR hard drives sat with current copyright laws. It must be pretty unusual to walk into a living room and not find the home owner's favourite TV series or movie archived on recordable media for repeated viewing at their leisure. Fortunately the bill specifies that anyone watching TV that isn't "live" is no longer engaged in a criminal act (recording of an on-demand broadcast isn't allowed). It does mean, however, that domestic recording libraries are still illegal: you must watch your recordings within a "reasonable" time frame and then delete them. No ...

HDTV, Blue-ray, HD DVD, HDV, PVR, TV & Macs

Bruce — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 09:29:18 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

I was recently impressed by a HDTV broadcast I saw in Brisbane. The Wellington House & Home Exhibition demoed the Bose Series III Lifestyle 28 ($NZ5500), a Toshiba-based DVD player with media centre functionality. House of flying daggers looked and sounded superb on a large $NZ10000 Samsung "high definition" LCD TV. Although the Lifestyle is a multi-region player (I'll never by region-locked again) it uses yesterday's tech, offering neither HD nor support for higher-capacity optical discs (Blue-ray or HD DVD). My current DVD player, TV, and camcorder are all limited to "standard definition". Would largely garbage free-to-air TV programming justify the cost of making the jump to high def? What equipment would I need and what technology standards should I be mindful of? And, in a Mac-centric home, how much of this would be compatible with my preferred computing platform? Here are the results of my investigations into these surprisingly complex questions: if I have erred please feel free to re-educate me. Terminology and standards Firstly the normal PAL television is now considered to be SD, or standard-definition. HD is thus high-definition, and HDTV refers to high-definition television. There are three HDTV formats in common usage: 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. Note that: The numbers stand for lines of vertical display resolution; The p stands for progressive scan (the whole frame is redrawn in each refresh); The i stands for interlaced (alternate lines are redrawn in each refresh); Sometimes another number, the frame rate, is tacked on to the end (e.g. 1080i25). "Full HD" may refer to 1080p, ...

Changing DVD regions

Bruce — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 00:15:13 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

When we moved to New Zealand I brought my UK-purchased Mac mini with us. In the world of DVD region codes, the UK is "2" but New Zealand is "4". When I rented Utu, an 80's film about revenge set during the New Zealand Wars (fought over land) between various Maori tribes and the Colonial Government, I ran into this obstacle to the "fair use" of my Mac as a DVD player. Should I change the region code of my DVD drive? Were there alternatives? Region codes are geographic (Image: Wikipedia) Consumer DVD players currently on sale in New Zealand are apparently not restricted to playing discs from a single region. Apple computers currently sold worldwide are so restricted. So what do you do when you pop in a DVD and see a message like this?: The answer, of course, is to consult the melee of misinformed opinion and rock-solid advice that can be had via Google. It turns out that the Matshita UJ-846 drive in my Mac mini poses something of a problem, as there is no region-free firmware available. I found an very helpful article that discusses viewing options for both Intel-based and PowerPC Macs (interestingly, written by a lawyer who likes Mac The Ripper). I didn't want to buy extra hardware and VLC as a region-ignorant alternative to Apple's DVD Player didn't work with my drive. I do have Windows XP installed via Boot Camp and I do own a copy of WinDVD—but this combo likewise coughed at the ...

Anamorphic DVD playback revisited

Bruce — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 09:58:42 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

I previously blogged a solution to playing anamorphic DVD recordings under Mac OS X using VLC. VLC is not yet a Universal Binary and seems unstable on my Intel-based Mac, which is also capable of reading the DVD+RW disks that my Philips DVD Recorder uses. On my previous (DVD "minus" only) Mac, getting .VOB (MPEG-2) video of such disks was complicated and involved using a PC (shudder!). Thankfully there is a way to watch recorded anamorphic TV broadcasts on the Mac in the correct aspect ratio using none other than the DVD Player software included with Tiger. BBC documentaries involving David Attenborough typically look stunning on our 32" widescreen telly. Worth recording to watch again. The DVD recorder records anamorphic video: in a 4:3 frame it looks horizontally squeezed, but in a 16:9 frame it expands to create a properly-proportioned widescreen picture. Except, alas, if viewed using Apple's DVD Player. The picture does not expand horizontally to playback in a widescreen aspect ratio; I really don't know why (commercial DVDs do) but presume my home-made disks are not delivering the correct aspect ratio data to DVD Player. The option took some discovering, but it is possible to override the default behaviour in DVD player. The control we're interested in lives under Window > Video Zoom. In Normal mode aspect ratio is locked and square elements (such as the BBC logo boxes) appear squished: Activating the Zoom control and unlocking aspect ratio preservation allows adjustment to taste. I used a digital screen ruler (XScope) ...

How do you edit .VOB files on DVD+RW?

Bruce — Sun, 07 Mar 2004 06:58:08 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

If you've recorded to DVD+RW using a consumer DVD recorder, how can you extract the .VOB files and edit video and audio on the Mac? There are probably numerous ways you could accomplish this task. The graphic below is the workflow I use; it is laborious, but it works. Unfortunately it does depend on access to a PC—merely because the Apple SuperDrive does not acknowledge the DVD+RW format. However, dual-format third party DVD drives are now available which should greatly simplify the process of getting the .VOB files onto the Mac. You can use VLC to play the .VOB files on the Mac, but re-encoding them to MPEG-4 will (i) significantly reduce the file size and (ii) enable you to edit/ extract the video and/or audio channels using iMovie and iTunes. Other tools used here are VOBMerge, OpenShiiva, and QuickTime Pro. Update 23.12.05: I no longer use the PC to merge .VOB files into a single MPEG-2 stream. Instead I use MPEG Streamclip (freeware), which has a straight-forward interface yet lots of options (requires Apple's $20 QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component). When you insert a DVD it even prompts you to open just the .VOB file you selected or all files in that stream. Scan through the stream to select your "In" and "Out" points (even if they transcend one or more sequential .VOB files) and then head to the file menu. Options include export to QuickTime, DV (e.g. for re-use in iMovie), MPEG-4 (including an iPod pre-set), and demuxing to the AIFF ...

Playing anamorphic DVDs under OS X

Bruce — Thu, 25 Dec 2003 10:17:42 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

Apple's DVD Player won't change the aspect ratio for anamorphic video, but the VLC media player can... So you've recorded anamorphic video to DVD but when you watch it on your Mac it plays back looking horizontally squashed? This will occur, for example, when using a Philips DVD Recorder to save a widescreen movie on Freeview, the UK's digital terrestrial television (DVB-T) service. The VLC media player can be manually adjusted to play back your movie using the correct aspect ratio. From the VCL menu select Preferences then check the Advanced box. Select Video in the left pane and scroll down to Source Aspect Ratio and type in 16:9 Click Save. Quit VLC and then launch it again in order to play the VOB file or DVD. This is an anamorphic picture: Changing the aspect ratio to 16:9 will allow widescreen viewing: Update 26.03.06: You can also use Apple's DVD Player (OS X Tiger plus) to view anamorphic video. Details here.

Digital video: iDVD and DVD-RWs

Bruce — Fri, 03 Oct 2003 12:36:46 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

iDVD 3 does not burn to DVD-RW media by default, but can be tricked into doing so... Use the Disk Utility to erase a DVD-RW placed in your Superdrive. With the blank DVD-RW inserted, open iDVD and click twice on the Burn icon. That's it: great for producing a preview DVD to avoid wasting DVD-Rs!

Digital video: iDVD and widescreen movies

Bruce — Fri, 03 Oct 2003 11:34:04 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

iDVD 3 does not produce PAL widescreen (16:9) movies by default, but can be tricked into doing so... If you have a camcorder that can shoot anamorphic DV (e.g. Sony DCR-TVR60e PAL), you will need Final Cut Express rather than iMovie to edit the footage. Once editing is complete, save the movie in Final Cut Express format including any markers (e.g. Chapter markers), but uncheck the box that makes the file self-contained. Open iDVD and create your project file; when the status indicator shows that encoding is complete, save the project file and quit iDVD. Right-click on the DVD project file and select Show Package Contents. Navigate throught the folders Contents and Resources to locate the MPEG folder. Option-drag the MPEG folder to another location (e.g. your Desktop) to make a copy. Download HexEdit and use it to open in turn each file within the copied MPEG folder. Use HexEdit's Find and Replace option to find every instance of "2D 02 40 23" (describing 720 x 576 PAL in 4:3 ratio at 25 fps) and replace it with "2D 02 40 33" (describing 720 x 404 PAL in 16:9 ratio at 25 fps), saving each file. For more information about the changing the MPEG header, click here. Delete the original (4:3) MPEG files from within the Package, and replace them with the new (16:9) files you have just saved. You can view the effect this change has by opening each file in QuickTime if you have purchased the QuickTime 6 MPEG-2 Playback component (you might need to give the file ...