Latest OS for DVD Studio Pro?

Hey there guys,
I hope that this post finds you all in excellent spirits, and that you are having a great weekend.

We use DVD Studio Pro to create DVDs from material edited in FCP X and exported via Compressor. We run DVD Studio Pro ('DVDSP') on one MacBook Pro (15” Retina, mid-2012) and house FCP X and Compressor on another one (15” Retina, 2016).

The 2012 MacBook Pro with DVDSP on it is running OS X 10.8.5. We have kept it this way for reasons of compatibility. However, a couple of other apps that are very important to us no longer support this operating system, and have stopped working. We are therefore thinking of updating the OS on this machine.

So my two-part question is as follows:

1. What is the latest version of OS X or macOS that DVD Studio Pro successfully runs on?

2. Is it possible to install the latest version of macOS on a separate external hard drive, and boot this OS on the 2012 MacBook Pro, while leaving the original OS on Macintosh HD intact - effectively, switching between the two where necessary?

Any guidance, tips, ideas etc. are sincerely appreciated.

Thank you very much indeed for reading this!

You can indeed install a current version of macOS on a secondary drive, and leave the internal drive on the legacy version of OS X. When you boot, you'll hold the Option key when restarting, then select which drive to boot from.
support.apple.com/en-us/HT202796

FCPX.guru wrote: You can indeed install a current version of macOS on a secondary drive, and leave the internal drive on the legacy version of OS X. When you boot, you'll hold the Option key when restarting, then select which drive to boot from.
support.apple.com/en-us/HT202796

Thank you so much for your kind and informative reply!

Can the external HD contain anything else aside from Mac OS X/macOS? For example, does it have its own 'Macintosh HD' to which you can save documents, etc?

Machintosh HD is the default name given to your internal hard drive. The external bootable drive would be simply another "Macintosh HD" drive. They're both just system drives. So, "yes".

It might be easiest to keep the apps that require the older OS installed into the Applications folder of the drive that the old OS is on (in your case, the external drive). It's not necessary but basically booting from the external drive will show you a different desktop than the internal drive. So they are both their own self-contained systems and have all the capabilities it would if it was internal. Just be sure to get an external drive with sufficient speed and space. Also make sure your computer can run the older OS. I think some Macs have a limit on how far back they can go.

FCPX.guru wrote: Machintosh HD is the default name given to your internal hard drive. The external bootable drive would be simply another "Macintosh HD" drive. They're both just system drives. So, "yes".

Brilliant! So I guess that I can use Time Machine to back up the system on the 10.8.5 computer, install the latest macOS on the external drive and then just transfer the data across to the new external HD.

Redifer wrote: It might be easiest to keep the apps that require the older OS installed into the Applications folder of the drive that the old OS is on (in your case, the external drive). It's not necessary but basically booting from the external drive will show you a different desktop than the internal drive. So they are both their own self-contained systems and have all the capabilities it would if it was internal. Just be sure to get an external drive with sufficient speed and space. Also make sure your computer can run the older OS. I think some Macs have a limit on how far back they can go.

Thank you very much indeed for your kind and detailed response! We will probably end up installing the new macOS iteration on an external SSD drive, and booting from there.

Hi, I know this thread is old, but I am at the end of my rope here and am hoping that someone can help me. When I import m2v/ac3 files into DVDSP on my old G5, everything goes fine but suddenly, when I try to simulate the track or even see the track in the viewer, I only get white. I can see the tumbnail image fine, I can even browse the track using the inspector. The Chapter marks are there; the ac3 is there. It is just the image. I even went back and opened previous successful projects (one only a month old) and they now have the same issue. Also, DVDSP is crashing intermittently when I try to apply a menu,

So, maybe it is the computer? Who knows? Disk utility says all is good, but it is old! Anyway, I thought I might try to make a bootable disk with an older OS and see if I could boot that up on my newer iMac using Mojave, as the thread above says, but I don't see any instructions for how to do so. Also, Am I getting it right? I can create a bootable disk with, say, Tiger, and choose that option to boot into (on the external drive) then run DVDSP?

By the way, I also installed Pro Applications Update which, supposedly, would allow me to run this on an intel computer, but ran into the same circle logic of "this computer does not need the upgrade (even though it does). Ugh.

Any help would be supremely appreciated.
Debbie

The problem with Pro Application Updates is it frequently removes elderly codecs for presumably new & improved codecs whic will cause things to wonk out, much like you're experiencing here.

Used to run into this all the time so much so I always kept a backup of previous codecs. Haven't thought much about this lately because things over here have been fairly stable codec wise. The stumbling block was once you determined just what thing you are missing it's impossible to find it by itself opn Apples site or anywhere in the known universe.

If you can tell me which OS you're running DVD Studio Pro on I can dig through the codec backups and find those that worked with that particular OS. I have DVD SP installed on one of the mothballed geriatric computers here and it will take a bit of digging.

As a thought there are a mess of custom things that can be done with Roxio Toast and are ways to get beyond that juvenile menu system they have. Just how complicated is menu structure that you need DVD SP to create a disc?

Thank you, so much!

I am using 10.4.11. I am having a rash of problems, including a sudden inability to see anything on the monitor. I had been using screen share which worked well, but suddenly that has stopped working, too. I mean, this G5 is probably 20 years old. So I was hoping I could Transfer everything to a old OS, bootable external drive.

Many thanks, again, for your kind offer. If you are able to find them, that would be wonderfuk, but please don't exhaust yourself on it,

Best,
Debbie

By the way, our menus are not very complicated. We basically have chapters, and maybe a return to last menu if we can script it (sometimes that worked, sometimes not). I have always wondered about Roxio, but always heard (and understood) that DVDSP was the best. I was willing to keep our old computer for that purpose alone, but of course, if the computer goes, not sure I would want the hassle of buying and maintaining another for that purpose (although I really do like the program). I will check out Roxio, thank you again.

I kept an old Mac running 10.6.8 just for DVD Studio Pro jobs.

Spent the day with Roxio Toast. What a POS!! Well, at least compared to DVDSP. The menu customization is awful, you cannot create buttons, and they require you to break up your movie into other movies, instead of chapters, so of course they do not recognize chapter markers exported from FCP. I am at a loss. What to do? I am back to my old original question, then...how do I use an external drive with old operating system to use DVDSP? Can anyone point to a set of instructions? And if it will work? Thanks in advance. Depressed.

Unless you are willing to mess around with older versions of Paralells, you will need to do as I suggested - get an older Mac that runs OS 10.6.8. I got one recently very cheaply from eBay.

thanks, Beat Girl. Would you mind my asking which one you got? Was is a Power PC G5? And what configurations? It's been such a long time since I had to figure this one out!
Thanks in advance,
Debbie

Rather than try to keep an ancient Mac alive I installed VirtualBox on an oder iMac and then installed a Snow Leopard virtual machine. I recall it took me a while to install correctly and boot. Then I was able to install DVDSP from the installer discs. It's a little slow but it did work for the handful of DVDs we needed to complete. These were relatively complex with many motion menus and branches. The only issue I ran into was periodically it would crash when trying to output a disc image. The VirtualBox/Snow Leopard install might be geekier than you want to attempt.

Thanks, Terry. I am not afraid of geeking out. That's sort of me, anyway. Not familiar with Virtual Box but I will check it out. Much appreciated.

This could've been one of the threads I used for reference. It might get you started. Good luck! forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=81836

Thanks, Terry!

I keep an old machine around but it makes me crazy that someone hasn't come out with a DDSP replacement... All the current options are all total crap.

The only thing I can find are the professional software packages for DVD creation and their pricing has been nuts.