Apple Ostrasizing TiBook Owners?

[New Guy]

I am looking to purchase a DVD burner so that I can send iMovies of my daughter to my family. Unless I buy an internal burner from MCE I cannot use any Apple software for burning. DVDSP 2.0 requires a "Macintosh computer with a 733 MHz or faster PowerPC processor (G4 minimum) and AGP graphics card" and iDVD won't work with an external burner.

Does anyone else feel like Apple has completely ostracized the non-Superdrive Titanium PowerBook owners?

I'm not feelin' much love from Apple these days. Hmmph!

 

[baby duck monge]

check xlr8yourmac.com

i think that there are some external dvd burners that either work with, or can be made to work with, iDVD

 

[LimeLite]

That's not ostracizing at all. It's not like they sat down and said "how can we screw the TiBook owners? Hmmm..."
iDVD won't work with ANY third party drive, it's not just a limitation with the portables.

DVDSP might not work, but I imagine there are third party programs that would work. Use Toast when you're ready to burn, you just need a program to convert the iMovie file into Mpeg2, which you can do in QuickTime with the right codec. Do some research, there are solutions.

 

[Makosuke]

Yes, this has nothing to do specifically with TiBook owners. Apple stated a while ago that the licencing for the MPEG2 codec (and maybe other DVD tech) is included in their bundled superdrives, NOT with iDVD. Therefore, iDVD has never worked, and probably will never work, with any 3rd party DVD burners, at least not officially.

People have had some success putting in internal DVD-R drives that match the ones Apple uses; the system thinks they're an Apple-supplied drive and lets you burn to them. Not an option with laptops, of course, which is why I've heard many people recommend getting the BTO superdrive if you have any intention of using one.

Toast is of course an option for external dries, as are some other 3rd party pieces of software, and you can always get DVD Studio Pro if you can afford it. Otherwise, it's Apple Superdrive or hacks (which are also possible).

 

[yamabushi]

If you get an external burner you will likely get a bunch of DVD software that should work okay. I got a bunch of software for both Windows and OSX with mine.

 

[New Guy]

I know there are solutions out there I am just finding fault with Apple's decision not to allow TiBook owners an option to use Apple's own software for DVD burning.

If buying an external DVD burner and DVDSP were an option then I could understand not allowing the use of iDVD. But the system requirements are too high for DVDSP and I am still locked out of using iDVD with an external burner.

It just doen't make sense to me that they couldn't charge whatever they needed to cover the licensing fees for iDVD and sell it as an option for those with machines incapable of running DVDSP.

Obviously there are many people like myself willing to spend the money for either DVDSP or iDVD if it would work with our machines. Forcing us to purchase Toast or another DVD burning app doesn't help Apple's bottom line at all. They are simply missing an opportunity and fostering frustration among some loyal customers.

 

[primalman]

They really are not ostrasizing TiBook owners, the superdrive was available in the last rev of the tiBook, and iDVD can be used with it. So, there was an option to have it available.

Makosuke has it right about the liscensing, it is unrelated to the software, that is why they will not allow it to be used on 'other' DVD-R drives.

Shoulda bought the TiBook with the SD in it.

 

[cubist]

Originally posted by primalman
Makosuke has it right about the liscensing, it is unrelated to the software, that is why they will not allow it to be used on 'other' DVD-R drives.

If you want to complain, complain to the US Patent Office that has been issuing patents to software algorithms in blatant violation of patent law.

The MPEG royalty is close to $200, and as other respondents have mentioned, Apple is bundling the charge with the drive.

The stupid US patent system seems to be spreading to other countries as well.

 

[primalman]

Originally posted by cubist
If you want to complain, complain to the US Patent Office that has been issuing patents to software algorithms in blatant violation of patent law.

I'm not complaining, I think it actually makes sense, since the DVD is not created until the disc is burned, not when it exsists in software.

Aside - I agree with you on the over-used patent, it tends to stiffle usefulness.