Maptech charts - Now on DVD....

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BlueSkyNick

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..... which doesnt run on an old laptop with a CDonly drive.

Yes I know this is bleedin' obvious but it has taken me about 2 hours of swapping disks, laptops, etc and finally a phone call to Maptech !!

I have used Maptech for over 3 years, including on Navigator Pro, and bought a collection of the disks. The one I was missing was for the UK WestCountry which I tried to buy at the boat show - previously £80 each.

Now they give you the whole UK for £95 which seems like a bargain ..... I just overlooked this minor technical difference.

Just thought other Maptech users might like to be aware.

Now bidding on Ebay for an external DVD drive to go into my (old) laptop for the boat. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
On my old lappie, I swapped out an internal slow CD read only drive for an internal CD/DVD writer. The only problem was that the new drive had a cover on the outside that was not the same shape as the rest of the lappie, and I was unable to swap the old cover over as the position of the door opening switch was in a different position.

Technically, the swap was not that difficult, and saves on having to lug yet another piece of equipment that also needs desk space. It also was cheaper than buying an external drive.
 
hi
very informative post and I am interested in UK Maptech charts at £95 but cannot find any retail reference to this - can you advise where these can be sourced?
 
Direct from Maptech, there website is very out of date and only shows the old products. They were available at Excel last week direct from the distributors.
 
Sorry to hijack the thread but I am currently looking at ordering charts for a Raymarine E series and was looking what other people would reccomend?
The new Navionics Platinum look great but they are very pricey.
What does everyone else use with Raymarine?
Thanks
Adaero
 
The new charts are encrypted and you need to register/activate them by internet with Maptech before they can be used - even if just copied to another laptop. If you try to repeat the activation process on another machine the maptech server will reject the registration. (I tried to setup a copy of my charts on the home pc for winter planning but gave up on the idea because of this problem)
This doesnt apply to the earlier editions of the charts.
 
yep I thought so. I registered my previous ones on 3 different laptops by calling the Tech SUpport number, no problem.

I was kind of expecting that the online registration system will struggle with it - I havent managed to copy the charts across yet - too many other things to do on such a lovely winter's day !
 
Are we really saying that maptech are now selling all UK charts for a total of £95 ?????????. I have spent a small fortune over the last 2 years amassing maptech charts and have spent a lot more than that. I wonder if they will be offering such loyal customers a masssive discount ????? No, I dont think so either.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Are we really saying that maptech are now selling all UK charts for a total of £95 ?????????.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, you've got it.

You and I are in the same boat, if you'll pardon the pun.

They havent much choice given that CMap and Navionics have been battling to put more coverage into their discs for a number of years.
 
Copying the files across your network from one pc to another may or may not work, it depends on how well Maptech have protected their software from duplication - which may well be illicit, depending on what you actually bought.
The RYA plotter protects it's product by requiring that the DVD be in the PC at the time of running and you cannot .copy the DVD
 
[ QUOTE ]
You cannot copy the DVD

[/ QUOTE ]
My son, whose opinion I defer to in all matters of software piracy , says that "DVD Shrink" will copy almost all protected DVDs.
 
you dont need to copy the DVD or do anything illicit.

In the past, I have registered the same set of charts on 3 different PC's all with Maptech's consent.

There is a unique product code per disc, plus a unique installation code per PC, then Maptech tell you the corresponding activation code - no worries. This has to be done over the phone though.

So all I am planning to do - when I get time to get the network sorted - is transfer the chartware onto the boat laptop then phone Maptech for an activation code, as above.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You cannot copy the DVD

[/ QUOTE ]
My son, whose opinion I defer to in all matters of software piracy , says that "DVD Shrink" will copy almost all protected DVDs.

[/ QUOTE ]
Indeed, it would probably copy it, but you will still be stuck with a 4+ Gb DVD or file which you can't run from an ordinary CD. If you dump it to the HD, it will probably not run.
One avenue is making an ISO copy (i.e. with NERO ) and run "Daemon tools lite" on the PC. It will make one or two virtual DVD drives (hope you have a bit of RAM...) which will happily run your ISO file from your hard drive (much more reliable than from a DVD drive). Think of it that it sort of fools the DVD that it is running from a real DVD drive. DVD's which will not run under this scheme are quite rare.
 
Tried hard to locate a supplier of whole UK @ £95 o DVD - with total failure. All suppliers/distributors disclaim all knowledge of the DVD, £95 or whole uk as one packge.

Quite excited at this prospect...if something sounds too good to be true.....Any idea what is happening - was this perhaps a "boat show one off"?
 
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