DVDs that I burn don't work in DVD player sometimes

Question

Level 1

5 points

DVDs that I burn don't work in DVD player sometimes

I have a Mac Pro from early 2008, and it came with a DVD drive (OPTIARC DVD RW AD-7170A). I have been able to burn DVDs with it using Toast in the past.

But lately, half of the DVDs I burn won't play in my consumer DVD player. I get a "Disc Error" message when I try to play them, and they won't load. It's an odd problem, since some of them work and some don't. I can't tell where the problem is.

Is there a way to test the DVD drive? Should I just replace it?

Mac Pro (Early 2008)

Posted on Apr 25, 2016 9:20 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Apr 25, 2016 9:39 AM in response to evanpetty

Many brands of blank DVDs give very spotty results when burning. If you are using a store brand or generic blanks, that may be the problem.

Reply

Answer 2

evanpetty Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 25, 2016 10:36 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I bought Memorex blank DVDs for the latest show I was trying to burn. I had to try 6 DVDs to get 2 that worked. I know the blanks might be bad, but it seems unlikely that only a third of them would be usable.

Reply

Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Apr 25, 2016 12:48 PM in response to evanpetty

Also try cleaning the disk optics with a cleaning disk

Reply

Answer 4

evanpetty Author

Level 1

5 points

May 3, 2016 1:31 PM in response to lllaass

I tried using a cleaner disc on the drive, but I'm still having problems. I had to burn 4 DVDs to get one that would work in my consumer DVD player (but they all work in the computer's DVD drive - the one that I used to burn them).

Any other ideas?

Reply

Answer 5

May 3, 2016 1:42 PM in response to evanpetty

? Clean the consumer DVD Player optics?

? get a better consumer DVD Player?

Reply

Answer 6

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

May 3, 2016 2:07 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

A CD/DVD cleaning disk has little brushes that clean, or try to clean, the lenses in an optical drive.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

? Clean the consumer DVD Player optics?

? get a better consumer DVD Player?

Reply

Answer 7

evanpetty Author

Level 1

5 points

May 3, 2016 3:03 PM in response to lllaass

I don't think the Toshiba DVD player that I'm testing the DVDs I burn in is the problem, since it's always played every other DVD I put into it without any issues. I'm sending these DVDs to relatives, so I want to be sure that they will play on an average consumer DVD deck.

I've tried using the Cleaning disc on the Optiarc DVD drive, but that hasn't cleared up the problem. Maybe I should just replace it? It's odd that It'll play the DVDs after I burn them just fine, but then I can't get them to load on the Toshiba deck.

Reply

Answer 8

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

May 3, 2016 3:07 PM in response to evanpetty

Could be an alignment issue since that would not effect playing back on the same drive in which it was burned.

Reply

Answer 9

May 3, 2016 3:16 PM in response to evanpetty

Try Verbatim or JVC Taiyo Yuden blank media for best results, according to this site:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/reviews/dvd-media.htm

the author claims Memorex just subcontracts their blanks to the lowest bidder.

You may have to cut and paste off-apple-site links to a new browser window,

... or select the link text, then right click and select Go to Address.

Reply

Answer 10

May 4, 2016 10:30 AM in response to evanpetty

I would agree Memorex are nearer the bottom of the league in terms of quality and Verbatim at the top.

Cleaning both the Mac DVD drive and your player would be worth while.

The Optiarc is I believe a Sony brand of DVD drive and not the best, Panasonic are or were more highly rated. However I would not replace it unless it is completely useless.

Another tip is to burn at a slower speed. While a disc may be officially rated at say 8x speed either the Mac may not be able to keep up with that speed or the discs may be despite their label not up to burning at that speed either. Therefore try a slower speed, this is an option nearly all burning software provides.

What software are you using to burn? What version? It maybe if your using an older version of Toast it is not fully suited to El Capitan.

According to this http://forums.support.roxio.com/topic/120454-toast-11-and-os-x-el-capitan/ it looks like Toast 11 mostly works in El Capitan. Updaters are available here. http://www.roxio.com/eng/support/software_updates/default.html

Reply

Answer 11

evanpetty Author

Level 1

5 points

May 4, 2016 2:24 PM in response to John Lockwood

Thanks John. I took both of your suggestions, and it seems to have worked. I updated the software to the latest version of Toast (14), and then I used a lower speed (4X) when burning the DVDs. I burned 2 today and they both worked perfectly.

Thanks again.

Reply