DVD's won't burn

[Crayons15]

I have been having issues burning DVD's lately and i'm not really sure what else to do to try to fix the problem, so i'm hoping someone here can help. I made a DVD in iDVD and am trying to burn it to a DVD but it gets to the end of the burn stage and says 'done' but the computer acts like it's still burning - the lil yellow and black disc is still spinning and it gives me the option to cancel like it's still burning, but the disc will be ejected. when i put the disc back into my computer it says its blank. (i always do this overnight because it takes so long so i'm not really sure at what point in the process its messing up at) I tried also burning a DVD with toast titanium and i get a medium drive error as soon as it's done encoding everything. if i burn a CD using Finder it works fine, so that leads me to think it's not the drive itself, but i'm unsure of how to figure out what it really is.

What I am trying to burn is concert videos for a friend for christmas. I have 75 free GB on my computer and i've had issues before with Finder not even burning CD's because i had very little space on my computer but I would think 75 is enough, right? Finder works now so it solved that problem. Anyways, the DVD i am trying to burn has 57 mins of movie on it.

all my software is up to date.

I'm just really frustrated with this and hope someone can help! thank you in advance

 

[JediMeister]

Try burning the project as a disk image from the File menu. If it creates a disk image successfully, try burning the image with Disk Utility and see if that fails for whatever reason. If it will not create a disk image you may have a damaged iDVD project and you'll want to try to create a new project with files from Apple's Quicktime sample files page (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1425) and again try to save as disk image. If you can't save either project as a disk image, archive the project and transfer over to another user account on the system. If the test project "burns" you'll have to recreate your iDVD project from scratch. If it STILL will not burn physically or virtually its time to look at a bigger picture. Anything other than the AppleIntermediateCodec.component and the AppleMPEG2Codec.component in Macintosh HD/Library/QuickTime should be removed and the computer restarted. Try burning again. If still no-go its time to uninstall and reinstall iDVD from your software discs.

 

[Crayons15]

i successfully saved the disc image, but when i try to burn it in disc utility i get a medium drive error

 

[JediMeister]

Ok, sounds like a hardware issue at that point then. See if the drive has difficulty burning from Finder or from iTunes as an audio disc. If it'll burn cds but not dvds it could be just simply the laser not calibrating correctly. If it won't burn ANYTHING...time to set up a Genius Bar appointment at your nearest retail store or see if you have an Apple-authorized service provider nearer your location by searching your zip code on http://www.apple.com/buy/locator/service/

 

[Crayons15]

i can burn cd's fine in Finder and iTunes. i've burned back up disks with all these video files and photos but anytime i try to burn an actual dvd for a dvd player it errors.

do i still need to get an apt. if the laser isn't calibrating right or is that something that can be fixed without having to do that? i am a designer and unfort. can't send my computer out for repair right now because of projects i am working on currently. and the nearest apple store is about 2 hours from me.

is this something that could be fixed if i get a better brand of DVDs? i've heard that sometimes they are touchy with diff brands. thanks!

 

[JediMeister]

For laser calibration errors and other things that could cause that issue its probably not something fixable without bringing the computer in or shipping it out to an Apple repair depot. By all means try another brand of disc, but if it fails on that as well there's not much else to do.

 

[logana]

It sounds more like a dvd media problem - what brand are you using ?

Safest bet with Apple superdrives are Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden.....

 

[rpaloalto]

DVD burners do wear out. One of the best things you could ever do is buy a external fire wire burner, for your imac or macbook. Use that instead of the internal one. Replacing a dvd burner in a imac or macbook is very expensive if out of warranty. Unless your wiling to do it your self. I have been using external burners for years on my imac. I only use the internal one for software installations.

You can pick up a nice pioneer from OWC for $70
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/VLFWU2D116/
Then when that wears out you can just replace the burner inside the enclosure.

 

[Crayons15]

I will get some Verbatim disks and see if they work. I have been using Maxell and Memorex. I have burned successfully in iDVD with Memorex before so i was thinking that wasn't the issue but maybe i just got lucky!

if that doesn't work i'll have to wait til i can get it out for repair when i'm not working on projects. My computer is still under warranty, so i'm good there. I can't imagine the DVD burner being worn out since i haven't used it THAT much and i got the computer for christmas last year, but it's possible I suppose!

my mom talked about getting me an external dvd burner for christmas since i've been having issues with this one..maybe i will do that anyway.

thanks for the help everyone! and thanks for the recommendation rpaloalto!

 

[Crayons15]

i just tried burning the disk image from iDVD through the video_ts file in Toast Titanium and it worked! the first time i got a hardware error when it was almost done using the Memorex disc so i tried the Maxell for the heck of it and it worked! so guess i'll just have to export all my iDVD stuff as disk images and do it through Toast...fine by me cause its a million times faster! thanks for all the help everyone

 

[rpaloalto]

Glad to here your able to get it to do something, for you.
It would still be wise to pick up a external burner. just to save any wear and tear on the internal.

 

[Crayons15]

i think i will have my mom get me one for christmas since she still is looking for stuff to get me...thanks!

 

[hellchicken]

You're not the only one having this issue

Good to hear that I'm not the only one having this issue... I guess.

I'm having the same issue of burning from iDVD. My project is about 6GB in size and I'm having to burn to a DL DVD. Same issue... gets toward the end of the burning process and the DVD ejects while iDVD still thinks it is burning the disk. I took my MacBook Pro to the Apple store and they said it was my superdrive. They replaced it, got home and still having the same problem. So, now I'm back to square one. I was able to successfully burn an image file as well. I will look into getting a copy of Toast and try the method that you were able to get it to work.

BTW, are you able to burn from both Maxwell and Memorex now? Or you think there is still a media issue. I've tried Memorex and Ritek DVD+R DL disks.

Thanks! This thread has inspired some hope.

 

[hellchicken]

ok.. I think I have fixed my issue. I think it was mainly due to media. I bought Verbatims 2.4X disks and they work great. I was having the same issue where the disk would eject before the project was complete. Now I was able to burn three consecutive projects with DVD+R DL with the new disks. Give it a try and see if it helps you.