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A very Happy Christmas to all. I have recently become a Microsoft free zone and bought  a previously enjoyed Macbook to go with my Mac Mini. I assumed I could playback DEVA DVD RAM disks in the Macbook, as I used to in my trusty Thinkpad and can in the Mac Mini,but I can't. Is this a hardware or a software issue?

Regards

Roger Slater AMPS

MALVERN UK

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A very Happy Christmas to all. I have recently become a Microsoft free zone and bought  a previously enjoyed Macbook to go with my Mac Mini. I assumed I could playback DEVA DVD RAM disks in the Macbook, as I used to in my trusty Thinkpad and can in the Mac Mini,but I can't. Is this a hardware or a software issue?

Regards

Roger Slater AMPS

MALVERN UK

I am afraid it is a hardware issue. Apple never officially supported DVD-RAM discs in the optical drive (referred to at times as a 'Super-Drive" --- how super is that) which gave them the flexibility of putting several different drives in the various Mac models. Many of the laptops (and desktops) did have optical drives that would mount DVD-RAM (as read only) but many did not --- one would never know until you actually had the computer and a DVD-RAM disc and tried it. The solution is to replace the optical drive with one that DOES support DVD-RAM. I do not have model numbers in front of me (someone may chime in with that info) so you will have to search for that. The other option would be if you have or could obtain easily and external optical drive (there are several) that supports DVD-RAM.

-  Jeff Wexler

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I've had two otherwise identical mac laptops--one played DVDRAMs and the other does not.  It seems to be the luck of the draw on which drive Apple put in the computer the day it was assembled.  (When I bought my last MacBook, I explained this issue to the genius and brought a DVDRAM which I tried in the computer I was buying before I left the store.)  For the laptop that will not play DVDRAMs I got an outboard Plextor DVD burner that will read/write everything, and much faster than the one in the computer.  This has been very useful for adding extra files to DVDRAMs created in the Sound Devices burner after the fact, files I wanted to go to telecine but that weren't recorded on that system originally.  Or, as Jeff said, you can swap out the internal drive yourself.

Philip Perkins

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This has been very useful for adding extra files to DVDRAMs created in the Sound Devices burner after the fact, files I wanted to go to telecine but that weren't recorded on that system originally.  Or, as Jeff said, you can swap out the internal drive yourself.

Wow, that's a very clever idea. I'm so lame, if I miss a take on one machine, I just make the editorial people take 2 disks! It didn't occur to me that I could use a computer to just add the missing files to the first disk. Doh!

I had a situation on my last shoot where we had a very crowded car interior with no room for me, so I just wired up the actor and left the SD 744t on the floor while they drove around the block. (It was only two lines of dialog, just a quick cell conversation, shot on the Red camera.) My cart has the Deva 5.8, and I figured for this one shot, we could just use the 744t and dump that off to a disk later.

It worked fine, but I did have to create two disks. Next time, I'll haul out the laptop and just copy the files over. Great tip!

I have to say, many times in post, we've received two sound disks: one that had 98% of the takes, and then another labeled "Use for Scene 28A" or something like that. So this is definitely a situation that comes up now and then.

BTW, for the record, I've had no luck getting my Macs to write to DVD-RAM. No problem reading them, however. If I have to write a standalone DVD-RAM disk, I use my little EeePC and an external drive. (That is, if I can't use the Sound Devices drive or the Deva drive.)

--Marc W.

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