can be reproduced in DVD players

20:17 Jul 16, 2012 

I really fail to see the interpretation of reproduce as "visionner". I do admit, I learned something about the CD-ROM thing. It is actually very common to refer to CD-R (recordable) as CD-ROM because it's a much more popular term, so you are probably right about this.

But the reproduce thing still bugs me.

18:09 Jul 16, 2012 

Expressions avec visionner
visionner :
1 expressions contenant le mot visionner
Visionner un film = Sens Voir une œuvre cinématographique.

[http://www.linternaute.com/dictionnaire/fr/definition/vision...]

And the final clue is in the fact that "read-only" hardware is of no use for writing (i.e. copying a media file)

14:44 Jul 16, 2012 

Hmm. I don't know. If that was the correct translation of reproduce in this context, how would it mean "visionner"?

14:28 Jul 16, 2012 

"I don't see how "reproduce" doesn't mean copy."
True, but copy of what?
I'm pretty sure here it's not a "reproduction" of an existing computer/digital file, but rather a "reproduction" of reality (well, the virtual reality of a movie), the same way a photo is a "reproduction" of real life at it was at some specific point in space and time.

13:06 Jul 16, 2012 

Not enough space to write in my answer.

Drive is a vague term, see my wikipedia link. It does say "misnomer", but then again there is no other real term to name those devices (unless you go to some lengths and actually name the full device, i.e DVD player-burner), and the term drive itself can be tough to translate in French.

Also and most important, if the intended meaning for "drive" here was "player", then why use the word "drive" at all? The sentence talks about a DVD player and then refers to CD-ROM/DVD-ROM "drives", and calls them "drives" but not "players"? Why not call them players aswell if it is what they are, or why not just gather all three under the same "player" term?

There is clearly a distinction to be made between the two, otherwise there would be no reason for the word "drive" to even be mentioned here.

And lastly, I don't see how "reproduce" doesn't mean copy. What it literally means is you reproduce something, you produce it again and identically so. A painter making a reproduction of one of his paintings is the perfect example...