Can't burn DVD+R's on a Mac

May 25, 2008 7:35 AM

For the life of me, I can't seem to burn a dual-layer DVD+R on a Mac.

I've been downloading large movie files lately, and burning them to DVD.
My MacBook's internal optical drive was handy for burning them onto 4.7 GB DVD's.
The problem started when I downloaded larger files that wouldn't fit on a DVD. The optical drive on my MacBook (running OS 10.5) is supposed to support the burning of 8 GB DVD+R discs, but every time I tried burning, I got an error; either when starting the burn or in the middle of it. I don't remember the exact error message, but it had to do with the drive failing to calibrate the laser.
I assumed it was a problem with the drive, so I now tried burning from another machine: an Intel iMac running OS 10.4 with an external FireWire Pioneer drive. I tried burning 4 discs, and every time, at exactly 50%, I got an error; "unknown error" in the finder and "buffer underrun" from Toast 8.0. Reducing the burn speed to 6X didn't help.
To date I have been unable to burn a DVD+R successfully.
Perhaps, like with everything else, "The Media is to blame"?

posted by Silky Slim to computers & internet (10 comments total)

(make that "are to blame"...)
posted by Silky Slim at 7:40 AM on May 25, 2008

Well, what media are you using? Genuine Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemicals disks should have a media code of MKM 001 for 2.4x/4x, or MKM 003 for 8x. If you're using anything else, then the media is to blame. And yes, there's a lot of fake discs with those media codes on the market so if you didn't buy a branded Verbatim spindle you could have fake media - only the codes on the center ring of the disc could tell.
posted by reptile at 8:08 AM on May 25, 2008

Um, please excuse me if this is off base, but if the failure occurs at 50%, is it possible you're using single-layer media?
posted by lothar at 8:27 AM on May 25, 2008

Reptile - the brand on the media I was using is Silver Line... It's a very popular brand here in Israel but not necessarily the highest quality. I checked the codes on the center ring, but didn't see anything resembling MKM or 00-anything.
I'm now in search of higher quality media.
posted by Silky Slim at 9:10 AM on May 25, 2008

Would single-layer media fail at 50%?
The media I used was marked as DVD+R DL 8.5 GB.
posted by Silky Slim at 9:12 AM on May 25, 2008

Assuming the drive supports it, you could try a DVD-R DL disk, perhaps the trouble is only with the +R disks.
posted by jjb at 9:43 AM on May 25, 2008

Well Toast 8 is a little old. Are you sure it has the correct drivers for the DL drives you are using? Instead of burning a video try burning 8Gb of Finder data (files, apps etc) and see if it will complete the burn. If so I'd update Toast.
posted by Gungho at 9:58 AM on May 25, 2008

Use DVD Media Inspector to look at the actual blanks you're using.

And then compare it to this list from digitalFAQ.
posted by filmgeek at 1:50 PM on May 25, 2008

I had the same problem, I made an appointment at the Genius Bar and they replaced the DVD burner under warranty. I had to leave my computer there for a half day.
posted by popechunk at 6:51 PM on May 25, 2008

To anyone following this: I went to the store and saw Verbatim DL media, which was rated as 2X. So I tried using my Silver Line media at 2X, and voilà! Burned perfectly.
Problem solved, thanks!
posted by Silky Slim at 3:03 AM on June 2, 2008