Mac: Burning Software and a certain type of file? (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

My Mac Pro is going through its third revision. I keep
adding things to it so the shipping is delayed a few days....

....but I am getting close.

Question...

I know that OS X comes with a lot of really cool FREE utils.

Does it come with basic software to burn CDs and DVDs?

Eventually I'll get ROXIO toast as I hear that's a good program.

Also...

What is a .dmg file? Is that a file that needs to be burned
to DVD first and then installed for Mac?

 

[MarkHastings]

Ron, DMG files are Disk Image files. They can live on your hard drive. Just double click them and they'll launch the image file so that you can install whatever is on there (i.e. most DMG files are created for installers).

And as far as basic burning...When you put a blank disc into the drive, if you don't have any burning software installed, the OS will load it as a blank image file. Then you can copy files into the disc and once you eject the disc, it will burn it.

As for DVD video, OSX comes with iDVD which is pretty good for generic videos.

So you should be all set for the time being.


p.s. Toast is a GREAT application for the Mac.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Does the .dmg have to be burned to a DVD before installing
or can I just copy it from a Windows download to a Mac folder
and launch it that way?

 

[Thomas Newton]

Yes. The Finder will burn data CDs and DVDs. Disk Utility (the program that understands .DMG disk image files) can deal with them, too.

For audio CDs, there's iTunes. For DVD-Video discs, there's iDVD.

If you create a DVD in iDVD, and make an image file of it, you can use Disk Utility to make more copies (no need to wait for iDVD to encode MPEG-2...).

 

[MarkHastings]

RE: DMG Files - I've never had to copy one from a PC to a Mac, but I am like 99.9% positive you can copy from a PC to a Mac and then launch it (i.e. no burning to CD or DVD).

I say 99.9% because DMG files are what you download from Apple's OSX Download site. The DMG gets downloaded to your computer, then you open the DMG file and it will load a disc image on your desktop. From there you can install the software. Once you're done, just drag the disc image into the trash to unmount it (i.e. it goes away) and the DMG file will still reside on your HD.

So as long as the file doesn't get damaged with the conversion from PC to Mac, you should be good to go as is.

 

[Thomas Newton]

You can install straight from an opened .DMG, unless the program in question is going to restart the system in the *middle* of the installation and then try to keep reading the (virtual) disk afterwards. That's not typical.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Welcome to the Mac World!

I would definitely get Toast. It adds flexibility to CD and DVD burning not available in the iApps that are bundled with Mac OS X. And feel free to PM me for information on another couple of utilities you will probably find very useful...

Congrats on the new (super) computer!

- Steve

 

[Ken Chan]

iDVD is part of iLife, which is preinstalled on the Mac, but it is not part of the OS. When you buy an upgrade copy of Leopard, it will not upgrade iDVD. Contrast this with Movie Maker, which is part of Windows, and improved in Vista.

 

[Thomas Newton]

True, when you buy Leopard, you won't get iDVD. But when you buy iLife, you will get new versions of (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, Garageband). So many people will buy both Leopard and the next iLife.

 

[Joseph S]

So buy a new Mini and get both updates and new machine for a few hundred more.

 

[JohnRice]

Ron, a couple suggestions for free software to download at versiontracker.com. If you like to use iTunes, get SizzlingKeys, which is a slick little system app which lets you operate iTunes with key combinations without actually going to iTunes. It also shows the name and cover art of each song as it starts playing. Very nice.

Also, if you want to be able to see .wmv video files, the Mac version of Windows Media Player essentially doesn't work (big surprise there) but Flip4Mac WMV is a free add-on which plays WMV files in Quicktime.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

John,

Funny you mention this.

Last night I wanted to play a .wmv video and I tried
downloading Windows Media Player for mac and it would not install.

I think a lot of problems are happening with the Intel macs
because it's fairly new and software has to be rewritten for it.

That, of course, is my unprofessional guess.

 

[MarkHastings]

and even if you do get WMP to install on the Mac, the only thing you can do is play from the start. On my system, it seems that if I stop the video, pause, or just scroll through, the video stops playing. It's quite buggy.

 

[JohnRice]

Well, yeah, there is a certain amount of transition to the Intel Macs, but the Window Media Player for Mac simply doesn't work right. Period.

 

[Christian Behrens]

And it never will, that's why Microsoft is now offering Flip4Mac to download, which allows Quicktime to playback WMV files, even HD files (but no DRMed ones).

-Christian

 

[MarkHastings]

Christian, thanks for that link! I just installed it and it works AWESOME!

I like how I can now use my QT-pro to export various files from my WMV files. Sweet! And I can also now stop, pause, etc. without losing the video.

Thanks again!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Having a problem with Flip4Mac. I installed it but when
launching a .wmv file it tries to open with Quicktime and
I get an invalid response.

Would appreciate any help you can provide.

 

[Christian Behrens]

With Flip4Mac, they are supposed to open in Quicktime. Can you play any WMV Files, e.g. the ones on their trailer site? Like the trailer for Super Speedway (just unpack on a command line with "unzip SuperSpeedway_720.exe")?

-Christian

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Quicktime files off of trailer sites play fine.

Trying to play downloaded .WMV files off my hard drive
have errors. These were files downloaded from Windows and
transferred to mac hard drive.

 

[MarkHastings]

Ron, what kind of WMV's are they? Flip4Mac doesn't support WMV10 codecs.