Watch DVDs on Your Mac

While most of this chapter about working with movies deals with creation—creating movies with iMovie and creating DVDs with iDVD—the other way you can work with movies on your Mac is by using its built-in DVD player (if your Mac has one) to view DVDs on screen. While it’s not the best way to watch a movie, it’s great if you have an iBook or PowerBook and want to watch a movie while traveling.

When you insert a DVD in your Mac, the DVD Player application should open. (You can set this in the CDs & DVDs preference pane of the System Preferences. See Chapter 9.) This application displays a small controller, like a remote control, and shows the video of the DVD in either a window or in full-screen view.

You can change views by selecting the Video menu: you can choose from Half Size (z-1), Normal Size (z-2), or Maximum Size (z-3). You can also enter Full Screen mode by pressing z-0. (If you’re already in Full Screen mode, you can return to window mode by pressing z-0.)

Use the DVD controller the same as you use a remote control with a DVD player at home. If you’re in full screen mode, it goes away after a few seconds, but if you need to use it again, just move your mouse or drag your finger on your trackpad to bring it back. If you’re in window mode, press z-SHIFT-C to show or hide the controller.

If you stop watching a movie at any time, eject the DVD or quit DVD Player and the program will remember where you were in the disc. When you click the Play button on the DVD controller, a dialog asks whether you want to start at the beginning or continue from the location where you stopped watching before. (Select DVD Player | Preferences and click Player to adjust settings for this and other default actions.)

Did you Know? Prolonging Battery Life on an iBook or PowerBook

If you watch a DVD in an iBook or PowerBook, make sure your battery is fully charged before you start watching, if possible. You'll be disappointed if your battery runs out just before the end of the movie. Watching a DVD uses a lot of battery power, so if you plan to use a portable to do this often, you should try watching a long DVD at home to see how much battery time you get, so you know how long a movie you can watch.

One way to save battery power is to go to the Energy Saver preference pane in the System Preferences and click the Options tab. Select Battery Power from the Settings For pop-up menu, and then select Reduced from the Processor Performance pop-up menu. This tells your Mac to use a slower processor speed when it's running on battery power, and extends your battery life a bit.