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Dump Apple DVD player for VLC

Macademia

Macademia

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 1, 2001
4
0
I'm a big apple fan, but I have to say that all versions of Apple's DVD player seem a bit sub-standard and have caused me constant headaches. The player consistently craps out when playing slightly scratched DVDs, especially rentals. Even the latest version on Tiger gives up on about half of all rented DVDs I play. It seems to have almost no error recovery ability at all. Its extremely annoying to only be able to watch SOME of a movie.

I've discovered an alternative free media player called VLC available for download here:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/14738

VLC rules. It seems to be able to play any of the DVDs that Apple's own player cannot, no matter how scratched up they are.

To use it you just download it, install it, then shove the DVD in and choose file > open disk.
 
I'm a VLC fan, but I use Apple's DVD Player for DVDs for two reasons:

(1) I've never had any trouble with it...always plays my NetFlix discs (unlike the DVD Player connected to my TV).

(2) To my knowledge, VLC is not compatible with my IR remote...whereas I can use my remote with Apple DVD Player and it feels a bit more like a normal DVD experience.

Kudoes to VLC though...I only wish it supported wmv (or does it?).
 
VLC is a pretty popular app but I still prefer DVD player and Quicktime (with the relevant codecs installed). They both feel more polished to me and rarely give me any problems. Of course VLC is always there when I do run into any problems.

Another VLC alternative is MPlayer. They're both pretty similar, it's just a matter of preference.
 
I use VLC all the time because it doesn't recognise the region coding constraints of my DVD collection R1-R4, Apple Dvd Player only lets me watch R2 DVD's, also VLC lets you watch most media files that Quicktime baulks at.
 
Try cleaning your DVDs with windex and a paper towel. It works wonders on dirty/scratched cds/dvds.
 
I prefer Apple's DVD player because it now supports loops. I can jump right to my favorite scene too. It crapped out only once with a scratched DVD but I just had NetFlex replace it, no big deal. I am glad to see alternatives on the Mac anyways. The next time I get a scratched DVD that I can't resolve with cleaning then I'll use that player.
 
stevietheb said:
To my knowledge, VLC is not compatible with my IR remote...whereas I can use my remote with Apple DVD Player and it feels a bit more like a normal DVD experience.
Click to expand...
What do you use for a remote?
 
stevietheb said:
Kudoes to VLC though...I only wish it supported wmv (or does it?).
Click to expand...
Yes, it runs wmv. I just viewed one. VLC is a good extra app to have on hand. I still prefer DVD Player, though.
X
 
Although I use VLC for just about every movie file I watch on Mac, I'd have to go with the Apple DVD player for DVDs. It's much more elegant than VLC, even if it is more limited. For my PC, I use PowerDVD; it's also a pretty good program.
 
While I prefer the functionality of Apple's DVD player, I find its playback quality borderline horrible.VLC playback is far superior imho. :rolleyes:
 
vlc is my favorite movie player! But the .wmv compatibility is pretty lousy. Most of the .wmv i have only play with MediaPlayer. Let's blame Microsoft, because they don't share the knowledge about the coding.
 
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