| DVD Player has the following windows (see Figure 25.1): Viewer This is the window in which you watch the DVD content. Controller This window provides the controls for movie playback. Navigator This window provides information about the disc you are playing and enables you to move around in it. Bookmarks/Video Clips This window enables you to set bookmarks and work with video clips.
Figure 25.1. With DVD Player, you can enjoy all the amazing content available on DVD, such as complete seasons of your favorite TV shows. 
NOTE If you try to capture screenshots of a DVD using the Mac's built-in tools, such as the Grab application, you won't be allowed to or all you will get is a black screen. To capture DVD content in a screenshot, you need to use the excellent Snapz X Pro on a Mac equipped with an NVIDIA graphics card.
The Viewer window is straightforward. The DVD's content appears in this window; you can choose various sizes for the window from Half Size to Full Screen. In Full Screen mode, the Mac OS interface disappears and you can see only the DVD content and the DVD windows you choose to display. NOTE One aspect of the Mac that has lagged behind Windows computers (whereas in most cases the Mac has led all other computers) is the availability of digital 5.1 sound capabilities. Currently, the Power Mac G5 is the only Mac that supports 5.1 sound out of the box. That's too bad because part of the greatness of DVDs is their amazing sound. If you watch DVDs using the basic stereo sound that is part of all other Macs, you are missing a lot. There are ways to add 5.1 sound to most Macs; if watching DVDs is important to you, consider adding such capability to your Mac.
 To learn how to add 5.1 digital sound to your Mac, p. 869.
The Controller window contains the controls you use to watch movies. It has two orientations, which are vertical and horizontal. It is in the horizontal mode by default (see Figure 25.2). You can change the orientation to vertical by selecting Controls, Use Vertical Controller. To change the Controller back to the horizontal orientation, select Controls, Use Horizontal Controller. Figure 25.2. The Controller does just what you think: It enables you to control DVD playback. 
The Controller has additional controls in the Control Drawer, which you can close or open (see Figure 25.3). To open or close the Control Drawer, select Controls, Open Control Drawer or Controls, Close Control Drawer. You can also open or close the Drawer by dragging its resize handle. Figure 25.3. The Control Drawer contains controls you aren't likely to use as often as those on the main Controller. 
If you have used a standard DVD player or VCR, the DVD Player controls will be easy to understand. To play and control a movie, use the following steps: 1. | Insert the DVD into your Mac's DVD drive. After a moment, the DVD is mounted on the machine. By default, DVD Player opens and begins to play the DVD. Depending on the DVD, the disc's main menu might appear or you might be prompted to select a soundtrack or other features.
 | If you see a message about the DVD's region code, see "When I Play a Movie, I See a Message About the Region Code Needing to Be Set" in the "Troubleshooting" section at the end of this chapter. |
TIP To configure what action your Mac takes when you insert a DVD, use the CDs & DVDs pane of the System Preferences application. | 2. | Select the menu option you want, such as Play Movie, by clicking it. You can also use the arrow keys to move among the menu options and then press Return to select an option. The movie begins to play in the Viewer window. When you activate a control, the upper-left corner of the Viewer window briefly displays text describing the control you used most recently (such as Play).
TIP Click in the Disc information section on the Controller to cycle through the available data, such as chapter, remaining time, and so on. Click the Title or Chapter text to change the display to the related information. | 3. | Use the commands on the Video menu to control the size of the Viewer. If you select Full Screen, the image becomes as large as possible and the Mac OS interface is hidden. After a designated time passes, the Controller disappears, too.
| 4. | To bring the Controller back, move the pointer, press a key, or press Option- -C.
NOTE If you're running a fairly powerful Mac and you minimize the Viewer, it moves into the Dock and the movie continues to play. | 5. | To see information about the DVD you are watching or move around in it, select Window, Navigator. The Navigator window will appear and you can see where you are in the movie and the features that are being used, including subtitles, the angle being shown, and so on (see Figure 25.4).
Figure 25.4. The Navigator provides information about a movie you are watching; you can also use its controls to move around the DVD. 
| If you see the NOT PERMITTED message when you use a control, see "An Action I Try Isn't Permitted" in the "Troubleshooting" section at the end of this chapter. If you see a green screen when you attempt to view a disc, see "When I View a DVD, I See a Green Screen" in the "Troubleshooting" section at the end of this chapter. |
| 6. | Use any of the controls on the Navigator to move around the DVD. For example, use the Chapter pop-up menu to jump to specific chapters. You can also select specific features with the other menus, such as using the Subtitle pop-up menu to configure subtitles.
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TIP You can also control a movie by selecting onscreen controls with the mouse.
Following are some other DVD playback notes: DVD menus All DVD movies include a menu that provides access to the content of the disc and its special features. You can highlight and select commands on these menus using the keyboard's arrow buttons, using the mouse to point to them, or using the mouse to point to them on the Controller. You can move back to the most recent menu you viewed by clicking the menu button on the Controller; selecting Go, DVD Menu; or pressing  -'. Depending on how the DVD is structured, clicking the title button might take you to the same place or it might move you to the DVD's main menu. TIP When you move to a menu and then back to the DVD, you will move back to same spot at which you were viewing the DVD when you selected the menu command.
Use the controls in the Control Drawer or Navigator to quickly change the movie's settings For example, you can control subtitles using the Subtitles button or menu. Scan forward or backward When you scan forward or backward, you can control the rate of the scan by selecting Controls, Scan Rate, and then the rate at which you want to scan (such as 8x speed). DVD Player supports scan rates up to 32x, which is really flying. The scan rate you select controls both forward and backward scanning. Go menu Many commands are available on this menu that you can use to quickly access various areas on the DVD, including the DVD menu, the beginning of the disc, the content you were viewing the last time you played the disc, bookmarks, titles, chapters, and so on. Bookmarks You can use this feature to mark specific areas of a DVD so you can quickly return to them. When viewing content to which you want to add a bookmark, select Controls, New Bookmark. In the New Bookmark sheet, name the bookmark (the current time is the default name) and click Add. You can return to that bookmark by selecting Go, Bookmarks, Bookmarkname, where Bookmarkname is the name of a bookmark you have created. You can also jump to a bookmark by selecting it on the Bookmark pop-up menu on the Navigator or by using the Bookmarks window. (You learn more about bookmarks later in this chapter.) Keyboard commands work best As you watch movies, you will find that the best way to control them is using the keyboard. Most of the major functions in the player have keyboard shortcuts. For the best DVD experience, learn to use these shortcuts.
To learn about bookmarks, p. 752.
To learn the many keyboard shortcuts for playback and configuration DVD Player offers, p. 758.
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