14 replies to this topic

[tzetze]

This might sound like a stupid question, but I simply can not understand why Apple computers can not play PC games, but can play most DVDs and Audio CDs. Can someone explain why this is so.  tzetze

[ToonmaN]

Ok, the Macintosh and PC are completely different platforms, different hardware and different operating systems, hence, different programs are required to run on each platform.  Kinnda like how you can't play a playstation game in an xbox, even though they're both DVD's, they're writen differently.  DVD's and CD's on the other hand is just content, it lets the program in the DVD player/ computer/ console / whatever to figure out whats in it and to decode and play it back, there isn't any actually program in them.  And yes, this was a very stupid question, and you'll probably get flamed to hell because of it.

-dc

[deckels]

Not a stupid question, just noobish.  I hope no one flames an honest question.

[tzetze]

Cool, thanks for your reply... to a stupid question. so its like the actual program inside the CD/DVD. Thats cool u live in Alaska, my aunt lives there. Where in Alaska do you live?

[ToonmaN]

Sitka, and last I checked there was a 64x64 pixel limit to avatars in this forum.  Better shrink that sucker down before it gets deleted.

[Wookie]

Quote

This might sound like a stupid question, but I simply can not understand why Apple computers can not play PC games, but can play most DVDs and Audio CDs. Can someone explain why this is so.  tzetze

It boils down to hardware and OS.  Windows machines run x86/7 compliant processors (Intel, AMD) and Macs use PowerPC which both work very differently and use a different set of instructions (language if you will) to operate.  Both also handle some of their instructions differently than the other.  So a program running on a P4 will have to use the P4's instruction set.  Running the same program on a G4 won't work because the G4 doesn't understand instructions meant for a P4.  (This is actually more complicated and expands past processors)

The biggest part is the differences in the OSs; the environment the program must run in.  Programs rely on the OS for many things including display access, memory allocation, file access, ect.  Windows and MacOS do things very differently from each other and thus a program must work in a way that works with the current OS.

Not even CDs and DVDs are exempt from this.  These discs are just storage devices.  However, the data on them can be in many different formats (HFS, UFS, ISO9660, UDF, ect), some that Windows and/or MacOS cannot read.  But this is not the same as program differences.  Reading media is a matter of interpreting the format of the data while running programs is a matter of interacting within an environment.

[rod]

this forum might be a good comparison.
we all communicate together in english, even though there a quit alot of non native speakers in here.

so we could say english is kind of a standard we set here and it seems to work... if I'd speak to you in my native language (swiss german) you wouldn't understand a word.

the mpeg2-codec is simply a standard some people agreed upon once, as is the dvd-stadard. because it is a relativly new standard and because companies want to be competitive, the standard was from beginning built to work on different platforms (as opposed to the directX standard for example...).

the ppc-platform and the x86 platform are both standards as well, but they are - unfortanetly - not compatible.

the ppc-processor simply cannot understand and execute the x86 commands. which is sad, but oh well... (there are other problems like (little and big endian, but that doesn't quite fit into my comparison;-)

hope that helped (or at least made sense;-)

[yellow#5]

Just for the record, I see in the first post that it was specified that Macs can play MOST DVDs, which is true. Often, DVDs will have extra content that won't work on a Mac, since that extra content is actually a program running from the DVD, not just a video_ts file (which is the basic DVD file that DVD Player reads).

Anyway, I just wanted to add that, even though most everyone is probably already aware of it.

[deckels]

I didn't know that, Yellow.  I've never noticed anything on a DVD on my mac that wouldn't run.  What kind of stuff would that be and do these programs on some DVDs run on a windows machine and a DVD player?

[RefinedSugar]

Some dvd-rom based extras will only run in Windows based systems. Programs that link you to websites and extras for the movie. Heck there's even some discs that have extras and you can only access them if you have a particular brand of DVD player.

[nod]

Anything that ends with .exe ;)

[Waylander13]

the reason you cant see the extra stuff that won't run is because the dvd thinks its in a dvd player when its in a mac so it won't even show the programs.

[Maveric56]

Quote

This might sound like a stupid question, but I simply can not understand why Apple computers can not play PC games, but can play most DVDs and Audio CDs. Can someone explain why this is so.  tzetze

I blame the British.

[Sir Fartzalot]

Quote

Quote

This might sound like a stupid question, but I simply can not understand why Apple computers can not play PC games, but can play most DVDs and Audio CDs. Can someone explain why this is so.  tzetze

I blame the British.

We all know it's Texas' fault!

[Atticus]

In before the lock!

Atticus