When it comes to DVD, Macintosh computer users feel locked out.

For years, DVD fans who also happen to be hardcore Mac users have complained they can’t access the interactive DVD-ROM features on the Apple-made systems that their PC brethren have long enjoyed. These features are accessible using proprietary technology such as the PC-friendly software developed by San Jose, Calif.-based InterActual Technologies Inc.

Mac users can watch DVD movies on their ROM drives. But they can’t read the screenplay while simultaneously watching the movie, download a director’s commentary or access other ROM features that comprise one of the format’s selling points.

This frustrates them to no end. This includes even Mac users who admit that few ROM features truly interest them. “If you’re going to make stuff on there, make it useful for everybody, because everybody pays the same for the discs,” says Mac user and Home Theater Forum member Jeff Ulmer.

Even users of Windows-based computers say they’d rather run DVD-ROM features on their Macs. It would all just look better on a Mac, says Matt Gordon, another Home Theater Forum member.

“(I have) a 17-inch flat LCD and it’s incredibly sharp,” Gordon says. “The color saturation is incredible. Some of the pictures I’ve taken on my digital camera look almost 3D on it. I would prefer watching them on a Mac platform, if possible.”

In an e-mail to Video Store Magazine, Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple says its Mac OS X version 10.1 was designed to provide the same unified programming architecture for controlling DVD playback as Windows-based computers. This functionality is made possible through proprietary tools such InterActual’s, which seamlessly combine DVD-Video with HTML content.

“In the past, the Macintosh (and its DVD player software) has not had this type of architecture,” the e-mail says. “With the introduction of the Mac OS X version 10.1, Apple introduced a new DVD player architecture which was designed with this in mind.”

An Apple spokesperson says the company will not elaborate further.

But InterActual president and c.e.o Todd Collart says these DVD-ROM features don’t run on any Mac operating system. He says it is not possible to embed DVD-Video within an HTML page on the Mac platform, or interface the DVD-Video from an external application like InterActual’s software.

“Unfortunately, the underlying technologies required on the Macintosh platform to do this seamless integration do not exist,” Collart notes. “It’s not a limitation of InterActual software. It’s actually a limitation of the Apple platform.”

He also says that Mac users comprise a very small universe within the DVD-ROM using public. According to Collart, less than 5% of DVD-ROM drives are installed in Macintosh computers.

Thus, there’s a “practical side” right alongside the technical issue. “Ultimately someone has to pay for this content,” Collart says. “How much do you want to pay for this sub-5% segment?”

But studios say they want to bring Mac users into the fold. Jim Wuthrich, v.p. of Internet marketing for Warner Home Video, says the studio has been “struggling with this issue” for three years. As it is, the Mac architecture doesn’t have the video callouts allowing Mac users to reference the DVD video files on a disc, he says.

Apple is working on a solution to bring ROM interactivity to Mac users, he says, adding he expects it some time next year. The Apple spokesperson says the company does not comment on upcoming technologies.

“There’s a rabid fan base that would love to access this stuff,” Wuthrich says. “We just want to include as many people as possible that can enjoy this stuff.”