DVD playing issues.
 

Wasn't sure where to put this, but here goes:

I have a Monty Python DVD that plays fine on both my MBAs and my iMac. My 2007 MBP, however, thinks about it and spits it out.

Any ideas why?

TIA!

Does the MBP handle other DVDs? Data discs? Have you cleaned the disc?

Perhaps your Monty Python DVD has suffered a flesh wound. Have you inspected it for scratches?

By the way, which Monty Python movie was it?

DVD is clean and unscathed.

The MBP has handled other DVds and data discs OK recently, although I have an occasional issue inserting a (any) disk. The "gate" mechanism sometimes stays in the "disk inserted" position, even when the drive is empty.

New drive time perhaps? I wonder what that would cost and is it worth it on a nearly-4-year-old machine?

BTW, it was Life of Brian!

Maybe it's time to change a new DVD drive ;)

Ah, well, that's not a very good movie. I wouldn't play it either if I were your DVD player, and it could be that your MB Pro simply does not get British humor. Why don't you try watching a better movie instead?

Are you bored, perchance?

It may seem that I'm joking, and I am, but only partially. The point that I'm trying to make in post number 6 is that optical drives tend to be very temperamental, just like humans. I don't think it's wise to buy a new SuperDrive unless this is happening with every disc that you insert. You might end up buying a brand new one and having the same thing happen out of the box.

I don't have any tips for you other than to keep trying to insert the disc, and maybe use a lens cleaning kit. Alternatively, if you want some good workarounds for playing movies on your MB Pro, I can probably help you.

Have you seen the thread "The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media"?

Completely off topic, but are you two neighbors/relatives? Similar name, location, post count....

Eerie isn't it?

You forgot to mention that my signature is way better.

I turned sigs off ages ago.

Like this?

(Any chance I could get one of your catalogs sent out here?)

http://home.roadrunner.com/~tuco/looney/acme.html

Instant delivery only available in the midwest desert region.

Also:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJJW7EF5aVk

If you ever visit Canada, the Canadian Tire and Princess Auto catalogs from the 80's bear a startling resemblance.

Okay, thanks!

I'll have one of those bat-man suits. Same color as the coyote.

How much am I looking at with shipping?

Hey man (acme.mail.order), stop putting words into my mouth!

Thread hijack?

He's in Bangkok - I used to live there for nearly 17 years - with little better to do....

I am in the Deep South these days. A place called Songkhla, on the southern Gulf Coast, not too far from Malaysia. A tad remote, but that's the way it is for now. Clean, pretty and utterly boring. Great for a visit, but to live here? No!

Signatures? Someone's having a giraffe...

You weren't using it anyway.

Get updated software. Driver bugs are the biggest cause of playback problems, ranging from freezes to bogus error messages about regions. Go to the support section on the Web sites of your equipment manufacturers and make sure you have the latest drivers for your graphics adapter, audio card, and DVD decoder (if you have a hardware decoder). Also make sure you have the latest update of the player program.

_____________
Vlc Player Download

The official VLC page is here:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html
I don't know what site your signature is pointing to.

Anyway, welcome to the forums and thanks for your advice!

I might be mistaken, but I think that Apple generally supplies the necessary drivers for any given hardware configuration on the Mac's install discs, and then updates, if needed, are included in the OS updaters. Unless you swap hardware around yourself, there's generally no need to go looking around for updated drivers. Anybody care to contradict this notion?

Also, I would imagine that he's trying to watch the DVD via Apple's DVD Player application. That software will be up to date as long as the OS updaters have been applied, but I've never run into a problem where DVD Player wouldn't play a disc because it wasn't the newest version.

That notion is certainly true for parts that came with your computer with Apple, and even to a lesser extent is true with many common printers. But anything, like an external audio "card" for example, that is a bit more unusual and you added yourself, will need to have its drivers updated by you, manually. (Assuming that the audio card in question is not class compliant and therefore requires drivers not included in the OS. Very simple audio cards are often class compliant, but anything more advanced will require third party drivers.)

Trevor

Okay, thanks trevor. You have proven yourself to be the resident audio guru over the years, but I was trying to be as specific to the original topic as possible. The optical drive hardware / firmware seemed most relevant to his problem.

Yes, and you're right that the likelihood that the drivers are to blame for an optical drive that shipped with the computer is approaching nil.

Trevor