Panther DVD Software Preview

[MacRumors]

AppleInsider provides some screenshots and a review of new features in the upcoming DVD player in Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther).

Features include: S/PDIF Output, Bookmarking, Closed Captioning, Multiple Displays and iChat triggered muting/pausing.

 

[J@ffa]

w00t!

About time too... I experimented with the Bookmarking feature in early builds and it was l33t. You just pulled up the "Bookmark" window, gave it a name, then it appeared in the Bookmark menu automatically for different DVDs!

I can't wait for Panther...

 

[tpjunkie]

Finally! Now apple can call it a "digital hub" with some conviction

 

[arn]

MultiMonitor support is always nice.

arn

 

[Docrjm]

Ever closer to complete home integration

These features will take a Mac closer to complete home integration. Does anyone know if it is possible to get YBR video out or is the best we can expect svideo?

 

[evilbert420]

Or even better, does anybody know whether you can really take a DVI output from a Mac and run it into the DVI input on a Sony XBR HDTV?

I know that Sony says the DVI is not for computers.. but I've never had it explained to me if it's just the same connection but a different "protocol"... if you catch my drift.

 

[MGnards]

Macs + Sony DVI

I've used my powerbook DVI out with a Sony HDTV, and it worked fine-I'd assume it'll work with the G5 as well... I'll let you know when mine gets here.

 

[Foxer]

Looks very cool. I might use the DVD-player a bit more if the functionality improves.

 

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by arn
MultiMonitor support is always nice.

arn

yeah, it really annoyed me that i had to put my laptop in mirrored mode to put a DVD out to an external screen. quite an inconvenience. it's good to see they're finally putting some more than basic features into this app.

 

[mymemory]

I do not see any "looping" function.

 

[1adonis1]

Yawn....what's the big deal.

 

[e2chris]

I really wish they would put a track bar (That what its called?) so you can FF the movie to a spot easier. Every player has this except apple's dvd player which is why I use VLC.

 

[DeusOmnis]

does it support surround sound yet? i remember something about it not doing that before.....

 

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by DeusOmnis
does it support surround sound yet? i remember something about it not doing that before.....

i don't think that macs have supported surround sound until the G5 Powermac, unless you count 3rd party stuff... right?

 

[fpnc]

However, unfortunately, there is still no support for software-based de-interlacing. This means that for most users and on many DVDs you will see pretty bad interlacing (horizontal combing) on any DVD that originated from a video source. This makes many DVDs very "difficult" to watch when using Apple's DVD player. Thus you can forget about quality playback of most music videos or music concerts, TV series released on DVD, PBS documentaries, and even some movie titles. The sad thing is that I can get very high-quality DVD deinterlacing on my PC when running even Windows 98.

Right now the only way to get good quality de-interlacing on a Mac is to use the VideoLan Client (VLC) player. However, VLC is a bit unstable and won't play all DVDs (but it's free and it does support software-based de-interlacing so the image quality can be significantly better than with Apple's player).

 

[bankshot]

Originally posted by shadowfax
i don't think that macs have supported surround sound until the G5 Powermac, unless you count 3rd party stuff... right?

That was my impression too. Of course the inclusion of digital out on the G5 was a dead giveaway that they'd need to support it in DVD Player. My question is, if you have a 3rd party sound card with S/PDIF out, will DVD Player use it? That would be quite nice, but would Apple care enough to do this, or do enough people even have this to care? Most people with 3rd party digital sound are probably musicians and probably don't care much about watching DVDs per se.

 

[FriarTuck]

I'm happy to hear this news. I show DVD's through my PB and a projector as part of a weekly presentation, and I will make good use of the more precise controls. Should make things look more polished & professional, and therefore consistent with the great impression Keynote makes on audiences.

 

[bankshot]

Originally posted by fpnc
However, unfortunately, there is still no support for software-based de-interlacing.

Submit feedback! Though I have a feeling this may be one of those nitpicky quality issues that most users don't care about or even notice. Apple may realize this and just blow it off. Kind of like my pet peeve with the iPod, gaps between tracks. Heck, let's all submit feedback for both of those issues and see what happens...

 

[fpnc]

Originally posted by DeusOmnis
does it support surround sound yet? i remember something about it not doing that before.....

Panther's DVD Player supports digital audio optical output that can be decoded by external hardware (e.g. your 5.1 receiver). This should just work on the new G5s, but I don't know whether they will support output from third-party devices. However, there is no surround sound decoding in the DVD player itself (the latter wouldn't make much sense anyway as there is no built-in hardware for multi-channel analog output).

 

[greenstork]

Re: Ever closer to complete home integration

Originally posted by doc_mac
These features will take a Mac closer to complete home integration. Does anyone know if it is possible to get YBR video out or is the best we can expect svideo?

The ultimate for me would be for Apple to come out with it's own Tivo device that wirelessly hooks up to a desktop or laptop on the airport network. Throw in a video ipod that connects to this system and doubles as a touch screen remote control and I will be thrilled. Now that's a digital hub! We're long overdue for the next big thing type gadget from Apple and this would be awesome.

Here's hoping

 

[Powerbook G5]

Oooo...and I remember rumors of an Apple widescreen 30" display...imagine dual 30" HD screens and 5.1 surround sound. I can definitely imagine one sweet PowerMac setup with that.

 

[fpnc]

About the lack of software-based de-interlacing on Apple's DVD player:

Originally posted by bankshot
Submit feedback! ...let's all submit feedback for both of those issues and see what happens...

I have submitted feedback directly to Apple via the DVD Player product pages (many months ago, I even gave them a list of popular DVD titles that suffer from this problem). Apple definitely knows about this issue, since for the last several years there have been multiple threads on the Apple forums concerning this issue.

Originally posted by bankshot
Though I have a feeling this may be one of those nitpicky quality issues that most users don't care about or even notice. Apple may realize this and just blow it off...

If you are really serious about watching DVDs on a Cinema display (or any computer display, forget about "...dual 30" HD screens and 5.1 surround sound...") then you can hardly ignore this issue. Some DVDs show such bad image combing that I immediately get a sad, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when I try to watch them on my Mac. This is made even worse when I view the same DVD on my PC and get literally perfect image quality.

 

[greenstork]

Question for everyone

Do you all actually watch DVD's on your desktop computer? Call me naiive, but I just don't get it. I definitely see the desire to watch DVD's on a laptop when traveling or otherwise but I don't understand why anyone would want to sit in front of their desktop computer to watch a DVD aside from creating your own movies and DVD's. I'd much rather be in front of my big TV, kicking back on a couch but I would be interested to hear other people's preferences.

 

[1adonis1]

Re: Question for everyone

I watch movies on my desktop while the game is on. I'm a multi-tasker!

Originally posted by greenstork
Do you all actually watch DVD's on your desktop computer? Call me naiive, but I just don't get it. I definitely see the desire to watch DVD's on a laptop when traveling or otherwise but I don't understand why anyone would want to sit in front of their desktop computer to watch a DVD aside from creating your own movies and DVD's. I'd much rather be in front of my big TV, kicking back on a couch but I would be interested to hear other people's preferences.

 

[fpnc]

Re: Question for everyone

Originally posted by greenstork
Do you all actually watch DVD's on your desktop computer? ... I'd much rather be in front of my big TV, kicking back on a couch but I would be interested to hear other people's preferences.

I tend to agree with greenstork. I think the problem is the distance between the display and the viewer. On a computer display the video (motion) can appear to be uncomfortably close unless you can sit back several times your "normal" working distance. But at those distances you'd be better off with a good quality, large screen, progressive DVD/TV combination.

However, a properly de-interlaced and scaled DVD image on a good LCD computer display is definitely a wonder to behold (provides an amazingly stable and well defined image).