DVD pauses on DVD player

Latest update...

1) I burned another copy of the disk from the disk image using Apple Disk Utility.
2) I copied the disk image from the iMac onto a PC and burned a disk using Imgburn set to a maximum of 4x burn speed.

Both disks were Verbatim DVD-R from the same batch.

This mornig I have played both disks on a Cambridge Audio DVD player. The results...

1) The disk burned on the iMac using Disk Utility pauses briefly at about the 15 minute mark for approx 5 seconds then continues. At the 26 minute mark, it pauses for about 15 seconds, advances a couple of frames then pauses again for about 10 seconds, jumps ahead about 3 seconds then pauses again, then plays about one frame every second for a couple of seconds before pausing for an extended period. I tried to zoom, but it didn't respond. Eventually I hit the menu button, which allowed me to return to the main menu.

2) The disk burned on the Windows PC plays without any problems so far. (I'm at 35 minutes and still going strong.)

So to reiterate:
- captured footage from original Mini DVcam tapes.
- edited footage using Final Cut Express
- Applied chapter markers in FCE and exported as Quicktime movie
- imported Quicktime movie into iDVD, created menus, including scene selection based on chapter markers
- burned DVD directly from iDVD - Result - defective disk that pauses and restarts at approx 11 minute intervals
- exported disk image from iDVD to hard drive
- burned disk image to DVD using Apple Disk Utility - Result - defective disk that pauses and restarts at approx 11 minute intervals
- copied .img file to Windows Vista PC and burned DVD from .img file using Imgburn - Result - Perfect disk that pays without problems.

My conclusion is that the Apple software is flawed, whether burning directly from iDVD to DVD or using a disk image created by iDVD and burned to DVD by Disk Utility. However, taking the same disk image created by iDVD and burning this on a PC worked fine. So it appears that it is not necessarily iDVD that is at fault, but the underlying software component which writes to the DVD. This would seem to be validated by the fact that other people with the same problem were able to achieve a workaround by using Roxio Toast. I don't have that piece of software, so cannot validate this directly.

I would be interested to know if Apple actually monitor these forums discussions and take note of end users' problems. If so, do they carry out their own investigations to find the root cause of these issues, especially when the evidence seems to point to this being an issue with their code.

Thanks SDMacUser, I have copied the content of my posts and sent this as feedback to Apple. It's a pity, as iDVD is a simple and intuitive application... it would be great if it actually did what it's meant to - create DVDs!

Hi Bengt, thanks for your response.

You will note in my OP that I stated that I am using Verbatim DVD-R single layer disks. I may not have mentioned it, but I limit my burn speed to x4 and I currently have over 400Gb free space on my start up HDD.

My concern is that the same disk image created in iDVD burns fine from a PC, but not from the Mac. Other people have stated that they experience problems when burning from iDVD, but do not have the same problem when burning the same image with Toast. That would seem to imply that the problem is not with any of the factors you mention, but with an underlying problem with the software code that Apple uses when writing to disk.

Best wishes,
Iain

Hi Bengt,

Thanks again for your comments. Once again, I refer to my OP where I state that the DVD has been tested on two separate DVD players with exactly the same results. Just for clarification - I have burned 3 copies and all three exhibit the same problem on the client's DVD player, the client's mother's DVD player and my set top DVD player. A DVD burned using a Windows PC from the EXACT same disk image does not exhibit any problems on any of these machines. I am not rendering different versions of the movie - I am simply copying the .img disk image from the Mac to the PC and burning it with different software. I fail to see how using a lens cleaner is going to have any impact whatsoever. If you read through the thread, you will see that I am not alone in experiencing the problem.