Hi!
I've just finished a neat little (and inexpensive) upgrade to my lil' mac mini.....
It all started when I discovered Matinée It's a pretty front-end to launch ripped DVD's (VIDEO_TS folders) with DVD Player. 'Cool!', I thought. So I began ripping my DVD collection to my firewire drive using MacTheRipper.
But I hit a snag: my Mac Mini's stock Matshita DVD burner refused to rip DVD's outside of its factory-set region (R2 - UK & Europe). I hadn't played any of my many Region 1 DVD's on the Mac yet, so I'd not hit this problem before. I thought MacTheRipper would be immune to this, since it can remove the region coding.
However, a little googling revealed that the Matshita's firmware is locked down to the point that it physically won't read an out-of-region DVD, whether you're trying to actually view the video from the disc, or just rip the files.
"Grrrr...", says I.
To top it off, there's no 'unlocked' firmware available from the drive either. Now, DVD region coding's basically been a joke here in the UK since at least 2001. Even brand-name standalone players are available from reputable high-street chains with 'Region Free!' proudly printed all over the box. My recently-bought Sony drive actually had as much printed, from the factory, on the retail packaging itself.
Besides... these were my DVDs, which I legally bought. So: a solution was needed!
I looked around and found out about the Pioneer DVD-KR05 drive. It's a drop-in replacement to the mini's Matshita. I'd already cracked open the mini to put 1GB of RAM in, so I had no qualms about the disassembly. 15 minutes of work (would've been less had I not kept dropping the screws!) and the Pioneer was installed perfectly in my Mac.
The Pioneer's still set to region 2. I've not flashed it with a hacked firmware or anything else. The key difference is the KR05 will happily read out-of-region DVD Video files, and so MacTheRipper could do its stuff and give me a nice VIDEO_TS folder to use with Matinée!
And as a bonus, the Pioneer can burn dual-layer discs, is faster than the stock drive, and seems quieter. The fit is perfect -- given the tight clearances inside the mini, I was worried about it aligning correctly with the case's slot, but it's turned out fine.
Definitely an upgrade I recommend if you feel like giving your Mac mini a treat!
I've just finished a neat little (and inexpensive) upgrade to my lil' mac mini.....
It all started when I discovered Matinée It's a pretty front-end to launch ripped DVD's (VIDEO_TS folders) with DVD Player. 'Cool!', I thought. So I began ripping my DVD collection to my firewire drive using MacTheRipper.
But I hit a snag: my Mac Mini's stock Matshita DVD burner refused to rip DVD's outside of its factory-set region (R2 - UK & Europe). I hadn't played any of my many Region 1 DVD's on the Mac yet, so I'd not hit this problem before. I thought MacTheRipper would be immune to this, since it can remove the region coding.
However, a little googling revealed that the Matshita's firmware is locked down to the point that it physically won't read an out-of-region DVD, whether you're trying to actually view the video from the disc, or just rip the files.
"Grrrr...", says I.
To top it off, there's no 'unlocked' firmware available from the drive either. Now, DVD region coding's basically been a joke here in the UK since at least 2001. Even brand-name standalone players are available from reputable high-street chains with 'Region Free!' proudly printed all over the box. My recently-bought Sony drive actually had as much printed, from the factory, on the retail packaging itself.
Besides... these were my DVDs, which I legally bought. So: a solution was needed!
I looked around and found out about the Pioneer DVD-KR05 drive. It's a drop-in replacement to the mini's Matshita. I'd already cracked open the mini to put 1GB of RAM in, so I had no qualms about the disassembly. 15 minutes of work (would've been less had I not kept dropping the screws!) and the Pioneer was installed perfectly in my Mac.
The Pioneer's still set to region 2. I've not flashed it with a hacked firmware or anything else. The key difference is the KR05 will happily read out-of-region DVD Video files, and so MacTheRipper could do its stuff and give me a nice VIDEO_TS folder to use with Matinée!
And as a bonus, the Pioneer can burn dual-layer discs, is faster than the stock drive, and seems quieter. The fit is perfect -- given the tight clearances inside the mini, I was worried about it aligning correctly with the case's slot, but it's turned out fine.
Definitely an upgrade I recommend if you feel like giving your Mac mini a treat!