Can no longer burn Video DVDs

[kdwin]

After 15 years of burning video DVDs on any of my iMacs, all of a sudden I can't anymore. I am updated to latest Big Sur. I've even gone to the length of erasing my hard drive and doing a fresh install with no luck. Every external DVD drive wont keep a blank DVD in..it ejects it. I repaired all my permissions, reset NVRam and SMC in desperation. Nothing!!! Finally got in touch with Apple and ultimately after chatting with a tech, one of their Techs in America actually called me from their main office and for an hour we tried everything with no luck. I had even purchased a new external DVD and now have an Apple Super drive and still nothing worked.
If anyone has any input on this, I certainly would appreciate it. The mac iI'm using in only 6 years old.
I might buy a new Mac, but how do I know it'll work burning Video DVDs..

 

[BrianBaughn]

You've been throught the ringer on this one! Details will help…maybe.

• Which model iMacs did you try?
• Which external DVD drives have you tried?
• What exact type of blank DVDs have you tried?

The ejecting is the weirdest part to me.

 

[kdwin]

Mac is from 2015 1.6ghz dual core i5
I've used several generic external DVD Drives and now an Apple USB Superdrive
I use Verbatim DVD-Rs
All these worked 2 weeks ago and for the last 10 years or so on this and on older iMacs which I gave gave away to friends or relatives.
Apparently this is a widespread problem. While looking for solutions on line, I saw many others with same problem but no solution.

 

[DeltaMac]

Stopped working within the last 2 weeks? Big Sur last update was to 11.5.1, then 11.5.2 in the last 2 weeks. Maybe there was a firmware update for the bootrom that inadvertently disabled the capability to burn DVDs. System updates frequently include firmware updates, that often have no mention at all in any information about those updates. Usually to add or change hardware support features, but it's not often something that is visible to the user.

Can you burn a DVD while booted to an external drive with an older macOS system?
Your 2015 iMac can boot from El Capitan, but maybe a good test system would be an install of High Sierra, or maybe Mojave.
If booting to an older macOS doesn't let you burn anything, then it's likely the result of a recent Big Sur update, and less likely that you can revert to an older firmware. Please don't misunderstand what I am saying: it is not likely a software issue, more likely a firmware update, which recently updated your bootrom. That's my guess.

 

[flowrider]

I use Toast 19 and have no issue burning DVDs.

Lou

 

[kdwin]

Stopped working within the last 2 weeks? Big Sur last update was to 11.5.1, then 11.5.2 in the last 2 weeks. Maybe there was a firmware update for the bootrom that inadvertently disabled the capability to burn DVDs. System updates frequently include firmware updates, that often have no mention at all in any information about those updates. Usually to add or change hardware support features, but it's not often something that is visible to the user.

Can you burn a DVD while booted to an external drive with an older macOS system?
Your 2015 iMac can boot from El Capitan, but maybe a good test system would be an install of High Sierra, or maybe Mojave.
If booting to an older macOS doesn't let you burn anything, then it's likely the result of a recent Big Sur update, and less likely that you can revert to an older firmware. Please don't misunderstand what I am saying: it is not likely a software issue, more likely a firmware update, which recently updated your bootrom. That's my guess.

I think you're right about the Big Sur update. I wonder if this problem would be the case on a new iMac.

 

[kdwin]

I don't think so, but is there any way to reset firmware on a Mac?

 

[kdwin]

I use Toast 19 and have no issue burning DVDs.

Lou

It's not a software problem. Apparently The Firmware on my Mac was changed after last Big Sur Update.

 

[Fishrrman]

"After 15 years of burning video DVDs on any of my iMacs, all of a sudden I can't anymore. I am updated to latest Big Sur."

Well, I reckon that the solution to your problem might be found in the sentence above.

What burning software do you use?
What brand of DVD (external) drive do you have?
What country are you in?