External DVD player refuses to read DVDs

I've searched high and low on the internet and I can't find any solutions to this problem or anyone with this exact same problem. Yesterday I bought a region 2 internal DVD player (LG GH22LP20) as well as a USB enclosure (my Macbook Pro is set to region 1). I thought it would be as simple as plug and play, but it's not.
In both OSX and Windows XP the drive was easily installed and seems to be in working order, but when I put a DVD two things happen: if I try to autoplay it with VLC Media Player, the system will hang until I turn off the DVD player, at which point everything returns immediately back to normal. Secondly, if I try to navigate to the DVD or the VIDEO_TS folder directly through VLC, VLC will flash a black screen (the screen gets big for a fraction of a second and then minimizes again) and nothing else will happen.
I've tried DVDs from different regions, looked for driver updates, scoured messageboards looking for help, and nothing works. Is there some software compatibility issue with the Macbook Pro and the player? Or is either the player or the external housing to blame?

failed when I really needed it at the meeting
Isn't that just typical!
Maybe a disk error, but equally likely is that the DVD needed a clean.
A single fingerprint is enough to stop it playing.
You should also consider having the free VLC Player from http://www.videolan.org/ in your armory, as this plays almost anything that DVD Player might not.

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Boot Camp - External DVD Reader (Mac Compatible)

To all,
I am not able to get Boot Camp to load vista from the external CD-ROM since the internal one is totaly disconnected. It does nothing. It spins the CD when it restarts then continues on to loading the login screen.
Bare with me - this is the fun part -
I got a 24" white iMac. CD-ROM was stuck and refused to take in new CD's. Took it to Apple, they replaced it. I bring it back home 2 days later and the screen is dented. They fix that in 4 days. Now I am finally able to start installing Vista.
Put the CD in - nothing happens - it kicks it out!!!! Well - its brand new - its even a different brand than what was in there before.
I take it back to apple, i give the lady all the **** in the world because this is not supposed to happen, etc.
They decide to give me a new iMac. While I am waiting, the manager approaches me and give me the 13 cents which were found in the cd-rom drive (thanks to my kids)
So I appologize - totaly ignored her wanting $450 to replace it, so I went and bought a Sony external DVD reader, burner.
-- Problem --
Boot Camp, Front Row + the DVD player software won't work off the external drive.
I took the mac appart - disconnected the dvd-drive from the motherboard thinking that if its not there, then boot camp will attempt to run off the external drive.
Put it back together - and rebooted - everything came up fine until using front row or the dvd player.
Boot Camp still won't read the external drive - no errors nothing - it attempts then quits and moves to the login screen.
Guys - I need help - i make my living off Windows so not having access to it - its killing me.
Please do not recommend parallels or anything else like it.
I am willing to try anything at this point. Before I go and spend $450 i will rather buy a new machine.
HELP!!! Anyone Please!!!!

I doubt there is any way to get the external to work with the Windows install. It's magic that the internal works! However, since you are not afraid to rip the iMac apart, a Google of 'imac internal dvd drive' shows that you can get a replacement for well under $450.

How do I burn a DVD on my new iMac to play on external DVD player

I have a new iMac at work (3.5 GHz Intel Core i7), running on OS X Yosemite, and I'm trying to figure out how to burn a DVD that can be played on an external DVD player. I have a disc burner connected, but just noticed that iDVD (the way I used to burn video files) is no longer part of my installed applications.
Thanks for any help.
JC

If iDVD was not preinstalled on your Mac you'll have to obtain it by purchasing a copy of the iLife 09 disk from a 3rd party retailier like Amazon.com: ilife 09: Softwareor eBay.com. Why, because iDVD (and iWeb) was discontinued by Apple over a year ago.
Why iLife 09 instead of 11?
If you have to purchase an iLife disc in order to obtain the iDVD application remember that the iLife 11 disc only provides themes from iDVD 5-7. The Software Update no longer installs the earlier themes when starting from the iLIfe 11 disk nor do any of the iDVD 7 updaters available from the Apple Downloads website contain them.
Currently the only sure fire way to get all themes is to start with the iLife 09 disc:
This shows the iDVD contents in the iLife 09 disc via Pacifist:
You then can upgrade from iDVD 7.0.3 to iDVD 7.1.2 via the updaters at the Apple Downloads webpage.
If you're creating a slideshow in iPhoto and want to add it to an iDVD project export the slideshow out of iPhoto as a QT movie file via the Export button in the lower toolbar. Select Size = Medium or Large.
Open iDVD, select a theme and drag the exported QT movie file into the open iDVD window being careful to avoid any drop zones.
Follow this workflow to help assure the best qualty video DVD:
Once you have the project as you want it save it as a disk image via the File ➙ Save as Disk Image menu option. This will separate the encoding process from the burn process.
To check the encoding mount the disk image, launch DVD Player and play it. If it plays OK with DVD Player the encoding is good.
Then burn to disk with Disk Utility or Toast at the slowest speed available (2x-4x) to assure the best burn quality. Always use top quality media: Verbatim, Maxell or Taiyo Yuden DVD-R are the most recommended in these forums.

How do I use iMac as monitor for external DVD player (HDMI to Mini DisplayPort)

iMac 27" (late 2009). Internal DVD is region locked. I would like to use an external DVD player to watch DVD's from other regions.
I can't use the new Apple SuperDrive because they say it's not compatible with iMac's before 2012. (Is it??)
My iMac doesn't have Thunderbolt. It has mini displayport.
I have resigned to getting a generic DVD player and plugging it into the screen.
I have found this in Apple support pages...
Can I use the iMac in TDM as a display for my gaming console, DVD player, or other device?
The Mini DisplayPort port on a supported iMac can receive DisplayPort compliant video and audio signals. Converters not made by Apple may provide options to convert other electrical, video, and audio protocols to Mini DisplayPort or Thunderbolt compliant signals.
( http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3924 )
What is DisplayPort compliant video and audio signals? Does HDMI fit into that signal type?
Is it possible to get an HDMI to Mini DisplayPort converter?
Will it work if I get a generic DVD player with HDMI output? (and connect it to the iMac through MiniDisplayPort)

First try VLC.
<http://www.videolan.org>
On many Macs, it will play DVDs even if the region codes don't match.
The Apple SuperDrive should work if you use the terminal (Utilities foldsr) command:
sudo nvram boot-args="mbasd=1"
There are also non-Apple USB or FireWire external DVD (and Blu-ray) drives, such as:
<http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/optical-drives/superdrives/>
Apple's DVD player may not work with external drives, but you can use VLC or Blu-ray™ Player
<http://www.macblurayplayer.com>
There is a converter to connect HDMI to the iMac via TDM
<http://www.kanexlive.com/xd>
but it will run at 720p (1280 x 720) and may have problems with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) on HDMI from Blu-ray or DVD players.

HP Pavilion HDX9000 Connect to External DVD Player

Our older HP Pavilion HDX9000 DVD died and we wanted to use an external DVD player to drive the monitor on the HDX9000. It does not seem possible to do this despite the HDMI and many other ports. The PC is running Vista. Any suggestions?

Hi,
What is your external DVD player ? There are many USB DVD players for under $50 and you can use it as internal DVD player. You can't use DVD player from your home Hi Fi system because no available port on your computer to plug it in.
Regards.
BH
**Click the KUDOS thumb up on the left to say 'Thanks'**
Make it easier for other people to find solutions by marking a Reply 'Accept as Solution' if it solves your problem.

Need to get an external DVD player for Imac, which one?

Hey (again),
I've had a terrible time getting my imac up and running properly since I got it back from its HD replacement yesterday.
It's gotten to the point where I'm going to wipe the system and then do a time machine reinstall.
My problem is that my imacs dvd player doesn't play DVD's anymore, it just spits out the install DVD. Could I use any cheap external DVD (usb) drive and wipe and install my OS from there or does it need to be in the internal one? I found a couple of really cheap ones that I'm wondering would do the trick or does it need to be a specific brand?
Or do I need to have my imac which is out of warranty serviced and have the original dvd player replaced?
Any input on this is greatly appreciated.

In my experience just about any external DVD drive works. I've found them way cheaper at a big technology store like "Fry's".

Apple's DVD Player: audio in-sync. External DVD Player: audio out of sync

I exported my Sequence from FCP to QT, used compressor to make m2v and ac3 (Dolby) files, then used DVD SP to burn a DVD.
When I play the DVD on my Mac Pro using Apple's DVD Player, MPEG Streamclip or VLC, the audio is in sync with respect to the images, FCP's Canvas and FCP's QT export.
But when I play the DVD using any of three different external DVD players, the audio momentarily drifts out of sync by 30 to 40 frames, near the end of my 30-minute program, but is back in sync after about a minute, when the shot at hand ends and the next shot begins.
More specifically, it's as if the video lags by about 30 to 40 frames, but there is no stuttering or other obvious visual sign that this is happening.
Why would Apple's DVD Player, MPEG Streamclip or VLC play the audio in sync while these external DVD Players play it out of sync?
I should add that in order to verify that the TVs to which the external DVD players are attached are not the source of the problem, I monitored the audio using headphones connected directly to the audio outputs of the DVD Players as well as connected to the headphone jacks of the TVs, and there was no difference, i.e. in both cases, the audio drifts out of sync momentarily, as I describe above.
I can only think that DVD SP is muxing the m2v and ac3 file in such a way that software DVD players can demux it without difficulty, but hardware DVD players cannot.
Does anyone know how to fix this problem?
Thanks.

Please tell us what was wrong.

Need External DVD Player that Works on Mac

My G4 fell (ouch) and the right corner bent and the DVD player doesn't work anymore. At Best Buy I bought a LG DVD player and burner, but my G4 wouldn't recognize it. Then I bought a Pioneer DVD player and burner, but it wouldn't recognize that either (this one has a place to plug in a cord to power it from the wall, but it didn't help).
Does anyone know of an external DVD player and burner that will work with a Mac G4? They seem to all be well under $100, a lot cheaper than having a Mac repair person open up my G4 and try to fix the internal player and also replace the shell.
BTW, I guess I could get by without a burner, so if you know of just a player that would work with my G4, I would consider it. Also the LG player says on the box it works with Mac, but then I noticed it needs OS X 10.5 . I suppose it costs over $100 to upgrade, so I don't think it's worth it.

All PowerBooks starting the G3 "Pismo" dating to Feb 2000 have Firewire Ports. On the 17" G4, the FireWire 400 port is the only labeled "2" in this image of the right edge of the computer:
!http://km.support.apple.com/library/APPLE/APPLECAREALLGEOS/HT2369/862835.gif!
FireWire is an Apple trademark for the IEEE 1394 interface. Other companies will usually use the IEEE designator to avoid mentioning Apple.

External DVD player/burner region free?

Hi there,
This kind of question has been posted before but the latest thread is from 2006 so I just wanted some up to date information.
My optical drive has been through its 5 changes and has settled on region 2. I want to watch and back up a region 1 dvd. If I were to buy an external DVD player would my mac force it to read only region 2 or would it be region free?
If it is region free does anyone have any recommendations on a good external DVD drive?
Thanks very much.

As I understand it, it is ultimately the DVD drive's firmware that determines that drive's region setting, not the Mac itself (although it's the Mac that initially lets you change the region stored in that firmware, up to five times). When you first connect an external DVD drive, its region encoding will be whatever the manufacturer set it to be.
If you want true region-free playback, you'll have to find a DVD drive whose firmware can be updated to make the drive region free. This process always used to be much easier on a PC than a Mac; I don't know if that's still the case.

Hooking up external dvd player

I am trying to use an external dvd player ( memorex ) I have tried playing two dvd windows based games ( quake 2 and rage from 1998 ) my laptop only shows it as a music cd. IS there settings i can change to be able to play games?

@mjg6300 ,
Hello and thank you for posting on the HP support forums. This is a good question you are posing. In most cases when you put your cd in this dvd player can you go and open the cd up in file mode so you can see all the files.
If you can then your issue is with the formatting. There are formatting changes that may not be seen from back then. The file structure on the cd may be FAT 16 or FAT 32 and with the NTFS file structure in the newer version of windows may not be able to see this.
Have you tried it on other systems. If you have what Operating System. If you can read the disk at all on your computer it is not your external or your computer.
Please post back with any information you can. Try other computers. Try different Operating systems from back then. Windows 95 and windows 98 where strong back then and this disk may not play on any thing higher than Windows XP.
Here is a link that may help you.
Run an old program on a new PC
Thank you again for posting and have a great day.
Please click the "Thumbs Up" on the bottom right of this post to say thank you if you appreciate the support I provide!
Also be sure to mark my post as “Accept as Solution" if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others who face the same challenge find the same solution.
D5GR
I work on behalf of HP

What external DVD player plays commercial movies with a 2008 iMac?

What external DVD player plays commercial movies with a 2008 iMac?
I have a Samsung external player/writer but it will not play movies.
Only shows data in it's finder window!

Mr Pixel wrote:
What are the ones that did play commercial movies then?
Toshiba & LaCie.
I must have spent ten hours researching this.
What did the manufacturer tell you?
but even VLC wouldn't play it.
VLC plays anything you throw at it. At least 99.999999%. What type of file (suffix) is this movie file? Where did you get the movie from?
iMac 2008, OS 10.9.1
External Samsung DVD/CD writer player
You need to determine from the vendor if the player is compatible w/Maverick. Have you done this yet? If not, why not?

Watch DVD Movie From External Dvd Player

Hello! I hope someone can help me. I've been wondering if i can connect an external dvd player (not dvd drive) in my powerbook to watch movies. There are some disc that my PB superdrive couldn't read but when using my external dvd player it works. Is it possible to do so??? Thanks....

You will not be able to connect the external DVD player directly to the PowerBook. However, with the aid of a device like Elgato's eyeTV you can then connect the DVD player to the eyeTV, which is connected to the PB.
A relatively complicated way to watch a DVD on the PB, but the eyeTV does provide more options as well.
15" 1.25GHz/12" 1GHz PBs, 2xPPC Mac minis, 12" iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.6) Cube, 2xTAMs, iPods 2G/4G, iPs, AEBS, AX

Play movies from commercial DVD disks using an external DVD player?

Is it possible to play movies from commercial DVD disks using an external DVD player on Mac OS X 10.5.6? Thanks.

You might not need to install Tiger. If you pop in the installer DVD there might be the DVD Player under Additional Software/Applications. Then you can install that and watch DVDs.

TA44597 I'm trying to put playlist onto cd. My computer has built in cd rom/dvd player that doesn't work, I purchased an external dvd rom which plugs into my computer via usb. iTunes recognises when I have inserted a cd to play but will not burn to it.

I'm trying to put playlist onto cd. My computer has built in cd rom/dvd player that doesn't work, I purchased an external dvd rom which plugs into my computer via usb. iTunes recognises when I have inserted a cd to play but will not burn to it. help!

Portsian wrote:
I'm trying to put playlist onto cd. My computer has built in cd rom/dvd player that doesn't work, I purchased an external dvd rom which plugs into my computer via usb.
Is it also a CD/DVD burner? Or is it kjust a CD/DVD player?

External dvd reader/burner doesn't show in Finder

Hi and thanks in advance for your help -
I've just purchased an external dvd burner because the pre-super drive dvd reader in my macbook is getting a little tires. It doesn't appear in the finder, but when I check with the System Profiler or Disk Utility application, it is listed there. It's a no-brand dvd burner (from the Fnac chain in France) which appears as a "Slimtype DVD A DS8A3S", am I missing something here?
Thanks

That was the next question I was going to ask.
If your external DVD player has its own power supply, you should definitely use it. If it came with 2 USB cables, it's in your best interest to use both of them with DVD player. One will be responsible for transferring data from the DVD player to the computer, along with supplying some power. The second cable will provide the rest of the power for the drive
~Lyssa

External DVD player refuses to read DVDs

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