DVD Burner Bad but not sure, need advice.

[franksia20]

I have been having major problems viewing burned dvd movies I created using imovie to idvd. The dvd burns, sometimes takes 12 hours, but when I play them back the movie freezes and sometimes stops. When I start it again it freezes at a different stop. I have tried many dvd players, some will not even read the dvd while others get through most of the movie and freeze only seldom. All burned movies play fine on my imac. Why is that?

This has been going on since I purchased my imac G4 in April of 2002. I contacted Apple and they installed a new burner. Everything was fine for about a year then the same problem again. Contacted apple again and they were no help. I then took my burned dvd's to a professional video/dvd company to copy. When I played their copy, made from my bad original, everything was fine. This went on for about a year. Just resently I sent 3 movies I burned to this company and they called and said that an error occured on all 3 dvd's when they were trying to copy them. They don't know why but suggested I upgrade my computer.

After reading some posts I am assuming my burner is bad. It is a Pioneer DVR-RW-104. I use blank apple dvd's but I have tried other brands. I always update my software, maybe this is a problem.

Any suggestions with this problem? I am totally frustrated with trying to figure out what is happening. I don't know if it's a hardware problem or something else.

Thank you in advance!

Frank

 

[blodwyn]

I have been having major problems viewing burned dvd movies I created using imovie to idvd. The dvd burns, sometimes takes 12 hours, but when I play them back the movie freezes and sometimes stops. When I start it again it freezes at a different stop. I have tried many dvd players, some will not even read the dvd while others get through most of the movie and freeze only seldom. All burned movies play fine on my imac. Why is that?

This has been going on since I purchased my imac G4 in April of 2002. I contacted Apple and they installed a new burner. Everything was fine for about a year then the same problem again. Contacted apple again and they were no help. I then took my burned dvd's to a professional video/dvd company to copy. When I played their copy, made from my bad original, everything was fine. This went on for about a year. Just resently I sent 3 movies I burned to this company and they called and said that an error occured on all 3 dvd's when they were trying to copy them. They don't know why but suggested I upgrade my computer.

After reading some posts I am assuming my burner is bad. It is a Pioneer DVR-RW-104. I use blank apple dvd's but I have tried other brands. I always update my software, maybe this is a problem.

Any suggestions with this problem? I am totally frustrated with trying to figure out what is happening. I don't know if it's a hardware problem or something else.

Thank you in advance!

Frank

Sounds like your DVD burner is playing up. You could try borrowing an external DVD burner from someone and try using that. If your troubles disappear you will know it's not a software problem. I don't know how easy it is to replace the DVD in a G4 iMac, but an external burner might be a permanent solution to your problem.

 

[Artful Dodger]

Sounds like your DVD burner is playing up. You could try borrowing an external DVD burner from someone and try using that. If your troubles disappear you will know it's not a software problem. I don't know how easy it is to replace the DVD in a G4 iMac, but an external burner might be a permanent solution to your problem.

I agree and also try different media such as TDK, Ritek, Fuji, Verbatum or an RW so you don't make more coasters. It sounds like it's time for a new one but also sounds like a media problem. I would try replacing the drive as this helped in the past for you. Look around for a NEC or get another Pioneer like a 109/110. What ver. of OSX are you running? How are you burning your dvds meaning do you use Toast at all to burn? Does it do this with Toast or not?
What iMovie/iDVD are you using as well?
Let us know

 

[franksia20]

I am running OS X10.4.6, iMovie 6.0.2 and idvd 6.0.2. I burn the dvd directly from idvd. I will try burning from Toast.

 

[Makosuke]

I don't know how easy it is to replace the DVD in a G4 iMac, but an external burner might be a permanent solution to your problem.

It's a massive pain in the butt. I've done it, but you wouldn't want to unless you were comfortable with tearing your computer apart (and have some thermal paste--it's necessary to put the iMac back together for the heat pipe).

Replacement drives are cheap, though--$40 give or take for a very nice pioneer--so even with the added $30 for an external case, you're still not looking at a big expense.

...and I'll add that the reason I ended up replacing the drive in a G4 iMac was from similar symptoms--it SORT of worked, but was very flakey. I think that range of Pioneer drives just don't have a very long lifespan--I've seen three of them die within the past few months. Trying different media is a cheap test (and you can still use them even if the drive is bad--maybe use Verbatim, since they're reasonably reliable), so you might as well do that first.

 

[franksia20]

I think I am going to try to burn the dvd from Toast first and see if that works. I currently have Toast 6 but I am going to upgrade to 7. Then, if that works or not, for only around $70 I am going to purchase a dvd burner with a case. This makes good sense. Any suggestions where to puchase the burner? What do you think about the Pioneer DVR-111D?

 

[Makosuke]

Any suggestions where to puchase the burner? What do you think about the Pioneer DVR-111D?

I have a 110D, and it's a very solid drive, totally supported in OSX with no additional drivers. I'm not 100% sure the 111D is, but if not it will be soon, and I'm sure it'll work one in the mean time (you MIGHT have to use PatchBurn or some such to make it work in the interim). Generally speaking I go with Pioneer drives--they're cheap, relatively reliable, and well-supported by Apple. Unless you need LightScribe (even the new Pioneers don't support it... do they?), they're a nice safe bet, and worth the maybe $5 or $10 more you MIGH pay vs another brand.

As for where, NewEgg is usually a safe bet to get Pioneer drives at VERY low prices. The Mac-centric OWC (MacSales) also carries them, and while they cost a bit more they do have a number of software bundles that you might be interested in.

 

[franksia20]

Good News!! I purchased the Pioneer DVR-111D 16X External burner from Other World Computing, plugged it in (Firewire or USB) and burned my last 3 movies. All movies play fine, on all my dvd players, with not problems. I burned from iDVD. Also I did not need Patchburn because I am using OS 10.4.7.

Thank you all for your help and look forward to furture posts.

 

[Artful Dodger]

Good News!! I purchased the Pioneer DVR-111D 16X External burner from Other World Computing, plugged it in (Firewire or USB) and burned my last 3 movies. All movies play fine, on all my dvd players, with not problems. I burned from iDVD. Also I did not need Patchburn because I am using OS 10.4.7.

Thank you all for your help and look forward to furture posts.

Glad to see your burning once again and it's nice to burn without having to add extra programs/drivers (even though I have drivers from my LaCie to use the iapps.) Enjoy your many dvds to come

 

[yojitani]

Has anyone installed a 111D internal drive in a G5 tower? I just bought one from New Egg and am hoping all will be fine. On the apple forums, the reports have been that the drives work, but not with idvd because they are not yet supported by apple. However, those comments were pre-10.4.7. Are they now supported in the latest update?

Also, has anyone had trouble with the drive door with these drives?

yt

 

[Makosuke]

If it works exterally, I can't imagine that it doesn't also work interally. Of course, I could be wrong, but it's not THAT hard to try if you already have it in hand.

And what do you mean by "trouble"? I don't know if the 111D is different from the 110D, but I certainly didn't have any trouble with it. So long as you take off the big front flange (and, better yet, replace it with the small cover that's on the drive that came with your G5--just pull it off one and snap it on the other) it should work fine.

I also pulled the front cover off my drive and removed the button like the stock drive, but I don't think that's necessary.

 

[yojitani]

It hasn't arrived yet and I won't have time to scour and ask in the forums when it does get here (I could WAIT, but I'm just not patient enough).

I'd heard with the 110D that some trays would get stuck. I was just wondering if anyone had experienced similar problems. Also, support? Last check 111D was unsupported (i.e. in the system profile burn support reads 'unsupported'), but that could have changed with 10.4.7. Need to know since I have been waiting a bit before downloading the latest update (not patient, but can't afford the time to piddle around with dud updates). Not too bothered about supported/unsupported so long as it works.

yt

 

[yojitani]

So I installed the drive (111D) last week and I thought I would file a short report .

There is a minor size problem in my PoweMac G5. When the tray comes out, there is a slight knock on the top of the drive bay. It's not a problem - the tray comes out ok - but it is audible.

It is still unsupported in 10.4.7 and I have not been able to get the full x16 out of it yet. Toast and iTunes reach for x12. I think there is a patchburn for this, but frankly I'd rather wait for a proper apple supported driver.

It can be extraordinarily loud! I have not worked out what causes this as it seems to happen in certain situations. For example, it often happens if I play a quicktime file from a DVD disk, or if I'm transferring a large file from disk to HD. The noise is irritating when you are trying to check a QT clip.

The main reason I bought this is that my earlier drive would burn CD's that no other player on the planet could read. It also burned +R media but didn't read it, which was a bummer of a discovery after 50+GB burned and then erased off the HD forever! For both these, the 111D has been fantastic. Burns perfect CD's and reads all dvd media.I have not tried it's dual layer capability yet.

If anyone is planning to buy one and has any questions, PM me or ask here.

yt