[slammy99]

As per a previous post, popcorn 2 when used with the macbook pro's internal dvd drive, recognizes DL dvd blanks as "blank cd-r" only. Media used (and recognized by the Finder correctly) is memorex dl-dvd.

I would LOVE to have someone file a bug on this, but roxio appears to want to charge 35 dollars for me to call and have someone file a bug on this glaring defect.

Can SOMEONE at roxio please file a bug on this and get back to me? Without charging me 35 dollars to report an obvious problem thats verifiable in 30 seconds from any macbook pro?

The application is completely useless to me (and 100% of macbook pro users) like this.

[John at Roxio]

I read of some issues on the Apple discussion forums of the drive being recognized improperly if data was transferred over firewire from an older system. Does this situation apply to you? Apparently zapping the P-RAM fixed this issue, so give that a try.
I am looking into the issue further though.

This post has been edited by frenchtoastwithjam: 01 June 2006 - 07:45 AM

[slammy99]

Nope.. this is all using the builtin macbook pro drive.. the "base case" if you will.

[freshburn]

Firmware bug. Apple drives are very very bad and have modified firmware that does not work correctly. If the Finder see it, it's because Apple has hardcoded a workaround for the firmware.

If you have a Matsushita drive, you are always going to have problems burning.

Apple released a firmware update for some Superdrives in G4. Maybe they will release one to fix your drive, but I doubt it.

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/sup...eupdatev20.html

[slammy99]

freshburn, on Jun 1 2006, 11:05 AM, said:

Firmware bug. Apple drives are very very bad and have modified firmware that does not work correctly. If the Finder see it, it's because Apple has hardcoded a workaround for the firmware.

If you have a Matsushita drive, you are always going to have problems burning.

Apple released a firmware update for some Superdrives in G4. Maybe they will release one to fix your drive, but I doubt it.

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/sup...eupdatev20.html

doesnt sound like a tough bug to workaround for roxio. "if cd-r and size >4gig, then dl-dvd"

[gaper1]

firmware is usually provided by the manufacturer of the hardware, not the software company

[freshburn]

This is not an Toast or Popcorn problem. It is a problem with your drive. I suggest complaining to Apple, or buying a better drive for Macbook. You will have nothing but problems with Apple firmware

[slammy99]

freshburn, on Jun 1 2006, 02:20 PM, said:

This is not an Toast or Popcorn problem. It is a problem with your drive. I suggest complaining to Apple, or buying a better drive for Macbook. You will have nothing but problems with Apple firmware

Guess you guys don't work in hardware. This kind of problem ALWAYS happens. Software always has to be written to work around small (and sometimes large) bugs in hardware and firmware. Apparently, apple was able to do it in finder.

Popcorn reports (incorrectly, possibly due to the firmware) that the blank disk is a CD-R, yet at the same time, popcorn also reports the size as that of a dual layer dvd-r. It is a matter of THREE LINES OF CODE to work around this issue in popcorn, thus making popcorn actually WORK with the builtin drives of all macbook pros sold. Wouldnt that be nice? Wouldnt that be in the interest of roxio?

Or is noone from Roxio actually reading this, and Im just catharticly wasting my time talking to a bunch of people who have zero idea what they are talking about??

Roxio folks, please respond (directly). Clueless apologiststic sycophants, please ignore this message.

[freshburn]

Honestly, the only choice you have is to hope Apple fixes the bug, or buy a better drive. One that can have the firmware updated. I suggest a Pioneer since there are Mac firmware updates for most of them.

Apple doesn't care if the drive has a bug, and they don't test their drives well. All they care about is that their software works with the internal drive. May Apple drives don't even support CD-TEXT or subcode writing correctly, for example. I had an Apple drive so bad that it would only write to one brand of media.

Apple has even releases beta firmware on drives. These drives had such bad firmware they couldn't be updated with the released firmware because there were actually hardware problems.

Apple modifies firmware to remove features and drive speeds they don't want to support. Apple will block drive speeds they don't want, for example many early superdrives supported 4x burning, but Apple locked the firmware a 2x.

They also turn off DVD-RAM and DVD-R DL support. This can cause lots of problems. Since Apple doesn't support either format, they just block it from working.

Also, since Apple does not have firmware updates many many brands and speeds of media will just not work. Firmware is to fix bugs in the drive. Software can't and shouldn't fix this issues. Firmware updates are required to add support for new media types and speeds, software can not add this support.

Toast and Popcorn will never work around a firmware bug.

I suggest inserting the DVD+R DL in the drive with no applications launched. Don't allow the Finder to use the disc, just press ignore. Then launch Toast and see if the media is detected correctly. Most drives with this firmware bug will see the media correctly if the media is inserted before launching the application.

If it doesn't work, your only choice is to hope Apple fixes the firmware (but chances are it will not happen, because they really don't care).

[slammy99]

Guess you aren't listening, and neither is roxio.
You cannot advertise a product as "for osx intel" when it DOES NOT WORK ON ANY OSX INTEL PLATFORM.
Saying "buy another dvd burner" is a pretty big caveat, that should be plastered all over the product.
This is moot, however, as it is TRIVIAL to work around this. The software can SEE the disc size, but reports it as CD-R (incorrectly). This is a three line code change. No hemming and hawing and whining about apple will make it otherwise.


My "only hope" is for Roxio support to FILE A BUG and FIX THIS. This about 3 minutes of work, and will make their product ACTUALLY WORK ON OSX INTEL. AS ADVERTISED. That would be great eh?

Your assetion that they will "never workaround a firmware bug" is ridiculous. Im sure they have, MANY times. Please stop posting, you are wasting my time.

freshburn, on Jun 1 2006, 09:16 PM, said:

Honestly, the only choice you have is to hope Apple fixes the bug, or buy a better drive. One that can have the firmware updated. I suggest a Pioneer since there are Mac firmware updates for most of them.

Apple doesn't care if the drive has a bug, and they don't test their drives well. All they care about is that their software works with the internal drive. May Apple drives don't even support CD-TEXT or subcode writing correctly, for example. I had an Apple drive so bad that it would only write to one brand of media.

Apple has even releases beta firmware on drives. These drives had such bad firmware they couldn't be updated with the released firmware because there were actually hardware problems.

Apple modifies firmware to remove features and drive speeds they don't want to support. Apple will block drive speeds they don't want, for example many early superdrives supported 4x burning, but Apple locked the firmware a 2x.

They also turn off DVD-RAM and DVD-R DL support. This can cause lots of problems. Since Apple doesn't support either format, they just block it from working.

Also, since Apple does not have firmware updates many many brands and speeds of media will just not work. Firmware is to fix bugs in the drive. Software can't and shouldn't fix this issues. Firmware updates are required to add support for new media types and speeds, software can not add this support.

Toast and Popcorn will never work around a firmware bug.

I suggest inserting the DVD+R DL in the drive with no applications launched. Don't allow the Finder to use the disc, just press ignore. Then launch Toast and see if the media is detected correctly. Most drives with this firmware bug will see the media correctly if the media is inserted before launching the application.

If it doesn't work, your only choice is to hope Apple fixes the firmware (but chances are it will not happen, because they really don't care).

[freshburn]

Toast hasn't worked around a firmware bug since Toast 4 when support for every drive was manually hardcoded. When the number of drive could be counted on your fingers, this was not a problem.

As things became standardized and all drives began supporting MMC1 and now MMC3, individual drive support went a way. The drive detects the media. If it's telling you it's a CD-R, Toast can't make it work.

Toast works perfectly fine on the PPC and Intel Macs. The problem you have is your drive, not Toast. Even if it was a trivial change (which it is not), it still not going to work correctly because the drive has a problem.

Trust me, you are going to have lots of issues with that drive because it has problems.

Also, Memorex media is about the worst media you can buy. That alone could be the problem. Most drives will only support Verbatim DVD+R DL. Again, the firmware determines this, not Toast.

And how do you know the Finder sees it OK? Because it mounts a 8GB virtual image on the desktop? I really doubt the Finder is seeing the media correctly either.

[gaper1]

slammy99, on Jun 1 2006, 08:51 PM, said:

You cannot advertise a product as "for osx intel" when it DOES NOT WORK ON ANY OSX INTEL PLATFORM.

I have Popcorn 2 on an Intel Mac with 10.4.6 and it is working... It is REALLY odd... since Popcorn 2 dosn't work on your Intel Mac, it shouldn't work on mine either! There must be something wrong with my Mac...

[patatrox]

Short answer, this isn't a Popcorn problem.

The 15" Macbook Pro doesn't support dual layer media, you can view the specs at the Apple Store:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebO...nclm=MacBookPro

The 15" models list "4x SuperDrive" where the 17" list "8x double-layer SuperDrive".

On the 15" macbook pro, dual layer is not listed as a supported media type in system profiler or in Toast when viewing recorder information.

Upon insertion of dual-layer media (DVD+R DL), the drive attempts to mount the disc (since it does support READING from DVD+R DL) and incorrectly reports the disc as being a CD-R, which while annoying isn't a serious problem since dual layer recording isn't supported on those drives.