My DVDs behave unpredictably

[timleach]

I wonder if you can help me.

Since I "switched" to an iMac last year, I have been making a lot of DVDs.

At first everything was great, but over time, my DVDs have become increasingly unreliable.

They seem to burn successfully, but these days they are often unreadable.

I don't think that this is a problem with my DVD player, because it can read all of my earlier discs, and even the iMac has difficulty reading the problem discs sometimes.

I've tried a variety of different makes of DVD-Rs, but without any difference.

It may be my imagination, but my problems seems to have got worse since I upgraded to the iLife suite.

Has anyone else had a similar experience ?

Could this be a hardware problem (hard disk too fragmented ? damaged Superdrive ?, etc).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, because as a Switcher, I am beginning to feel very disillusioned.

Many thanks in advance !

 

[LethalWolfe]

What brands of DVD-Rs have you tried and how do you label/what do you use to write on your DVD's?


Lethal

 

[timleach]

I've tried several unknown, cheap brands recently (due to the large number that I end up throwing away), but I've also tried TDK, Packard Bell and Apple.

I use CD Stomper labels, but I always check to see if the discs work before I put the labels on.

 

[LethalWolfe]

And your Apple brand DVD-R's have become unusable as well? What I'm getting at is that cheap DVD media will live a short life before the dye degrades making the DVD unreadable. And are CD stomper labels sticker type labels? That could create a problem too because the heat and spinning of the DVD could weaken the glue allowing the label to shift around thus unbalancing the DVD and making it unreadable (also if that label is not exactly centered when applied it could create this problem too). Most people do not recommend stick type labels for these reasons. And sometimes the label can come completely off the DVD while it's in the player and that could easily killer yer DVD player.


Lethal

 

[hvfsl]

Try burning the disks at the lowest setting. If that does not work it may be you need to take the superdrive back to Apple.

 

[Nermal]

Could be a dirty lens in your SuperDrive.

 

[timleach]

Thank you all for your suggestions !

Lethal, yes, I have this problem with the Apple DVD-Rs as well. I take your point about the stickers, but I'm having this problem before I even put the stickers on (ie. immediately after I've burned them).

HVFSL, iDVD doesn't seem to have any options for burning at a slower speed. How do I do this ?

Nermal, do you know of any way to clean the lens ? Is there a product out there that you would recommend ? (I'm a bit nervous about dismantling my iMac, or going anywhere near it with any kind of cleaning fluid !)