Use an external DVD drive with DVD Player in 10.3.3

Apr 05, '04 09:51:00AM

Contributed by: Anonymous

Originally in Panther, the DVD Player program didn't require you to have an internal DVD drive to use it. That was sweet. I installed the 10.3.3 update, though, and the problem returned -- DVD Player wouldn't work with an external drive. However, after digging around a little in Apple's discussion forums, I found a way to restore its functionality. Here's how:

  1. Download and install Pacifist.
  2. Insert your Panther Install CD (it has to be before 10.3.3, of course), search for something called DVDplayback.framework in Pacifist.
  3. Install it. You will be asked to enter your password. Allow the program to overwrite whatever needs to be overwritten. You shouldn't have to install the DVD Player program again.
Yay! It should now work. I'm not sure if you have to do this after each new update or not (that would be annoying), and I'm not sure if Apple did this on purpose or not. There was a rumor that there was some legality regarding it, but that was just a rumor, so I don't know if it is true. Good luck! This worked with my FW DVD burner.

[robg adds: I did some research on this one before deciding to publish it, for a couple of reasons. First, I have no idea if this works, as our machines have internal DVD drives. Based on what I could find with Google, it seems that this hack should work. Second, I wasn't sure about the legality of it, and after some research, I'm still not sure about it! Apple's official stance is covered in their Apple DVD Player requires an internal DVD drive document. However, Panther shipped with a DVD Player app that was capable of working with external drives, and this hint merely explains how to revert back to that version. If Apple asks me to pull this, I will, but a very similar how-to is still posted on their own discussion boards, so I think it's OK.

Please note that Pacifist is shareware -- if you find it useful, please support CharlesSoft by registering.

Caution: I always recommend against reverting system components, as you really can't tell what else has been changed and what might or might not break with future updates. In this case, a DVD player seems relatively benign, but still, make sure you have a good backup as a matter of practice.]

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