Chapter 7: Turning Your Mac into a DVD Theater
In This Chapter
Understanding what you need to watch DVDs on your Macintosh
Using the DVD Player software
Unearthing the mysteries of the hidden controls
All the creative capabilities of the OS X digital hub are a lot of fun, but at some point, you’ll want to take a break from work. Because of the now-familiar DVD, the idea of an honest-to-goodness theater in your home is now within the grasp of mere mortals (with, coincidentally, merely average budgets). OS X has everything that you’ll need to enjoy a night at the movies without ever leaving home. In fact, I highly recommend the 27" iMac or the 17" MacBook Pro for those widescreen classics.
Getting the Right DVD Hardware
Before you watch one second of video, get your setup in order. Playing DVDs requires a bit of hardware; fortunately, virtually all recent Macintosh computers come equipped with the stuff that’s necessary to watch DVDs.
To play DVD movies, you need either an internal DVD-compatible drive in your Macintosh or an external DVD drive with a FireWire, Thunderbolt, or USB connection. DVD-ROM drives can only play discs; others, such as the SuperDrive, can both play and record ...
