DVD Player (Mac OS)
 | |
| Stable release | 5.6 (July 25, 2012) [±] |
|---|---|
| Preview release | Non [±] |
| Operating system | OS X, Mac OS 8, 9 |
| Type | Digital DVD player |
| License | Proprietary |
DVD Player (formerly Apple DVD Player) is the default DVD player in OS X. It supports all the standard DVD features such as multiple audio, video & subtitle tracks as well as Dolby Digital 5.1 passthrough, DVD access URLs and closed captions. In some instances, users can choose which VOB file to open. DVD Player will only install if there is a DVD drive attached to the computer at the time of the OS install (i.e., a bootable disk image made on a computer with a CD-ROM instead of a DVD-ROM drive will not have DVD playback libraries installed). DVD Player is also fully compatible with DVDs authored by DVD Studio Pro and iDVD, including HD DVDs by DVD Studio Pro.[1]
Limitations
DVD Player complies with most copyright laws, and will thus enforce most restrictive measures of DVD technology, such as region-restrictive encodings and user-inhibited operations ("disabled actions"). It does this even when using an all-region DVD drive, leading users to use alternative software. It will even force Apple's Grab (screen-grabbing) program to cease functioning through the Finder interface until the DVD Player application is quit, effectively preventing the user from taking screen captures of visual DVD content.
The software does not contain a DTS decoder, so DTS tracks cannot be played through the Mac's built in speakers or analog output. However, DTS tracks can be output to devices that have their own decoder, so playback is supported through outputs such as S/PDIF, DisplayPort and HDMI