News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

December 11, 2007

tips

Leopard (or Tiger, hey!): Watch ripped DVDs with ease

Posted Dec. 11, ’07, 9:39 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Tips

VIDEO_TS docWe’re not shy about our love for our siblings over at Mac OS X Hints. Under the firm but even-handed rule of Rob “Hintiana Jones” Griffiths, their massive communal knowledge base brings to light all of those tips and tricks that you didn’t even know you needed.

Take for example one of the latest contributions from a reader who realized that Leopard’s version of DVD Player not only plays back discs but also handles VIDEO_TS folders, which is what you get when you rip a DVD (for your personal use, of course). The trick? You have to drag the folder and drop it onto the DVD Player app. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just double click and everything would work all peachy?

You can, with this simple trick: just add “.dvdmedia” to the end of the file name. Voilà, it’ll now be automatically associated with DVD Player and it’ll even get a shiny nice icon. You can use the “.bundle” suffix f you prefer, but you’ll have to go through a couple of extra steps to get everything working hunky-dory and no shiny picture, so why bother? You can also follow the comments at the end of the Hints post to get the skinny on making the VIDEO_TS folder play nice with Front Row too.

Update: As several readers pointed out, this apparently works in Tiger as well. Hurrah!


4 Comments

lawrence said:

Um, the old DVD player did the same thing. I have been watching videos via a video_ts folder for years...

Not a very new or exciting discovery

December 11, 2007 9:56 AM
Anonymous said:

Been doing that in tiger forever...

December 11, 2007 10:03 AM
Mark said:

*musing* Does this tidbit do anything to make the Apple TV more useful? I'm guessing not.

I won an Apple TV and I'm struggling to find any benefit from owning it. If the iTunes store would start renting movies for a buck or two, it would be exceedingly useful to me. Otherwise, eh. Without a cheap source of quality content, it's sort of useless.

December 11, 2007 11:06 AM
egarcia Author Profile Page said:

vidoe_ts folders also played in panther. i did it for years under panther and now tiger.

December 11, 2007 9:36 PM

Leave a comment

 



Visit other IDG sites: