DVD Player says skipping over damaged area, disk is fine

We had the DVD drive replaced again (our 3rd for this machine) and we had the drive cables replaced as well. We tested the DVD player in the store for approximately fifteen minutes and all went well.

Brought it home, popped in a DVD and it started skipping again and continued to do so on 5 of the 5 movies we tested. What is most frustrating is that the computer skips inconsistently on where it skips? Sometimes just skipping towards the end or through out the entire movie. Bummer... Packing this up for the fifth time and taking it into Apple to have it replaced. I don't feel comfortable keeping a machine that has had this much work and still doesn't function correctly.

Before we packed it up and brought it back I had an extensive conversation with two of the employees on the Genius bar about a "What if" scenario. They said bring it back and talk to manager about replacement but couldn't guarantee that it would be replaced but after $3k on a 90 day problem I'm hoping for the best. Will keep posted - my suggestion is to have the same discussion on your end the next time you are in there.

...and we agree with you, it is crap... good luck.

Hi
I have the same problem with my iMac, in which resides a different drive model than yours:
"*PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K06A*:
+Firmware Revision: Q631+
+Interconnect: ATAPI+
+Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)+
+Cache: 2000 KB+
+Reads DVD: Yes+
+CD-Write: -R, -RW+
+DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, RW
+Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO+
+Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds+"

If you search in Google my drive's model you will find much more problems though …
So, it might be a relief to you what I'm saying, since you (lucky ones!) are just … skipping a "damaged area" of your DVDs and likely, the next moment you continue to watch you movies!

Klavaris, the reality that your Apple computer has the same problem as other apple computers is in no way a relief. The reality is it is an apple problem and essentially supported by the notion you bring up that your drive is different from that identified earlier in the post, and yet the same problem exists on your computer.

My MBP (early 2008 model) also has the same error message when nothing is wrong with the disk and then skips ahead by about 10 minutes. I'll eject and visually inspect to find myself working for my $2000 computer whereas I'd like to just watch a movie like I could with a cheap knock off DVD player.

Does anyone know what might be wrong if this error message occurs regularly for no appropriate reason?

If so, I'd very much like to learn how to fix the issue, thank you.

Yes, same.
Interestingly if you rip the DVD there are no read errors during the rip and the TS folder plays just fine. This is very annoying and something that you're not going to want to do every time you want to watch a DVD and of course there are legal issues depending on the disc. It is unclear to me whether it is poor tolerances within the software player for errors (though my MBP 17 was fine) or something to do with the drive - HL-DT-ST DVDRW GA11N (an LG drive). The fact that rips are fine gives me hope that a firmware or software fix should be possible.

I've been having exactly this problem with my new (this weekend!) iMac. Quite a number of DVDs, some very new, give 'skipping over damaged area' for a while, it freezes the picture, but then carries on without missing anything.

Has anybody a solution?

It seems to me that if there was a way of increasing the streaming buffer then the problem might go away, I can't find anything in DVD Player that allows me to do this. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Same issue. Interesting when I play the SAME dvd with VLC media player I do not get the same problem. WHen use Apple DVD it gives error - freezes picture and then starts - usually with no discernible part of the movie skipped - very annoying since it seems to magically know to do this at most exciting part of a film.

We have had the same problem ever since we bought our machine 60 days ago... Here's where we are: DVDs, even brand new ones, skip - "skipping over damaged area" on our iMac while our MBP and MB play them flawlessly. There is no loss in the movie, only the pause in play.

Our software is up to date, we took it into Apple over three trips: 1.) had them clean our dvd drive, 2.) problem persisted so we replaced the dvd drive, 3.) problem persisted so we wiped out our entire hard drive and did a software re-install and update... and problem still persists! We are are packing it up for a fourth time and will take it into Apple to have them replace the machine or all the parts...

We're bummed, it's our 3rd Apple computer and the 'biggest' and yet it cannot do the simple things? We'll keep you posted as to what happens.

Bought a new iMac in late April. Didn't start using the DVD player until just recently but I have discovered it has some sort of problem with it. It keeps freezing up and emitting a message that states it's skipping over a damaged area. Then it usually just locks up. The last time it froze up so bad it had to be shut down and then it wouldn't log back on. Had to power down and then remove the power cord. I have also been getting the error message "69902". It doesn't seem to matter if they are brand new DVDs or recorded ones. I have a $1500 computer that won't do what a $49 DVD player will....play a movie This is my first experience with Macs. Always been a PC user. Starting to wonder about the soundness of the choice I made. Never had an issue with a PC DVD player.

Does anyone know a fix for this or have suggestions as to what to do? It's very frustrating

Bob

Just wanted to post here saying I'm having the same problem.

Brand new DVD's, fairly new(~6months) $1400 computer. Like others have said, I don't think it's actually skipping over parts of the movie(not all the time at least), but while it says "skipping over damaged area", I cannot fast forward, rewind or even PAUSE the movie, which is incredibly frustrating, not to mention the "skipping" text is annoying.

I'm going to try booting up windows media player on XP(on the same computer) to see if it's the disk drive or just OSX.

I am having the same problem with my 17" MBP. Considering that I spent close to $3k on this machine, I would expect such basic problems not occur. All software is upto date. I wonder if this is something they do not know how to correct.

Are any of you still having problems with your DVD drive on Mac Minis? Mine seems to give me a "Skipping over damaged area" message about an hour into a movie. My guess is it's overheating or something, but would love some feedback. Thanks, SHC

Picture this...I created a very professional looking video of a performance for an elementary school. ALL 700 students (grades 1-8) are gathering in the gym to see the video. I am so proud and excited to show them my work, when I gaze up to the screen and see this message "Skipping over damaged area!" Luckily, I was able to use my memory stick to show them the video...BUT I have never felt so panicked!!

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THIS?? I used IDVD and I have the current software...Leopard too.

Can anyone please help me?

I never want that to happen again!

Thanks in advance!
J Lee

I have the same problem even with purchased DVDs. Generally it doesn't cause a major problem. However, this morning I had to force quit the computer in order to get the DVD player to stop hanging.