Using your PowerBook as a DVD player on an external monitor or TV

If your PowerBook has a DVD-capable optical drive, you can use your PowerBook as a DVD player to watch movies on an external monitor or television.
Basic Steps

  1. Shut down the PowerBook and turn off the external monitor or TV.
  2. Connect a video cable from the video output port on your PowerBook to the video input port on the monitor or TV. You'll have to find the right combination of ports on the computer and monitor or TV. For example, if your computer has an S-video output port and your TV has an S-video input, you could use that connection for the picture, then connect an audio cable from the sound output port on your computer to the sound input port on the TV.
  3. Turn on the monitor or TV, then start up your PowerBook. You'll probably also have to switch to the video input on your TV once it's on.
  4. Make sure you can see the computer's desktop and menu bar on the monitor or TV. If not, check settings in Displays preferences (Mac OS X) or the Monitors control panel (Mac OS 8 and 9). Depending on your PowerBook model, you might have to reduce the number of colors on the screen to give enough memory to the DVD Player. Choose Thousands instead of Millions of colors.
  5. Deselect the Video Mirroring if it's selected. You can't watch a DVD on the built-in display and an external display or TV at the same time.
  6. Open DVD Player and insert a DVD-Video disc.


Troubleshooting playback on an external monitor

  1. Make sure all the connections and cabling are correct and that you can see the Macintosh desktop and menu bar on the external monitor.
  2. Make sure the Video Mirroring option is deselected. You can't watch a DVD on the built-in display and an external display or TV at the same time.
  3. Make the external monitor the primary display by dragging the menu bar to it in Displays preferences (Mac OS X) or the Monitors control panel (Mac OS 8 and 9), as shown here.



  4. If you see the error message, "The Apple DVD Player does not support the video card or settings of the main screen.", shown here, make sure that both the internal and the external video settings are set at thousands of colors and 1024 x 768.



Troubleshooting playback on a TV

  1. Follow the steps for troubleshooting an external monitor above.
  2. Because the quality of the picture on a TV is not as sharp as on the PowerBook's built-in display, it might be pretty hard to see small Mac OS interface items on the TV. It can help to set the TV's resolution to 640 x 480 (NTSC) or 640 x 480 (PAL) in Displays preferences (Mac OS X) or the Monitors control panel (Mac OS 8 and 9).

    Tip: Only NTSC and PAL video output formats are available. If you have a SECAM TV, chances are the PAL signal will work just fine. Most modern TVs that work with SECAM also work with PAL. If your TV only accepts a SECAM signal, select PAL as the output and put a PAL to SECAM converter between the connection from the PowerBook to the TV.

  3. You may wish to do your setup tasks using the PowerBook's built-in display as the one with the menu bar, then drag the menu bar to the TV in Displays preferences (Mac OS X) or the Monitors control panel (Mac OS 8 and 9) just before you plan to watch the movie.
  4. You can use the following keyboard shortcuts to close windows and watch the movie:
    • Command-W to close the Display preferences or Monitors control panel window.
    • Command-Option-P to Present Video in Viewer (Mac OS 9) or Command-0 (zero) in Mac OS X.
    • Spacebar to start and pause the movie.
    • The Controller hides itself a few minutes into the movie.
    • Press F3 and F4 to increase and decrease the volume.
    • Command-Q to quit Apple DVD Player when you are finished watching the movie.

For more help with DVD Player, choose DVD Player Help from the Help menu.

Related documents

31020: DVD: Causes of Skipping/Stuttering
61330: Mac OS X: How to Set up Multiple Displays to Show the Same Image (Mirroring)
13074: Video Definitions: NTSC, PAL, SECAM
Published Date: Feb 20, 2012