Burning errors
 

I've been getting a lot of errors recently when I burn a dvd using my G5 Power Mac in DVD Studio Pro.

I've been told that the error its reporting is when it burns a tiny test data file, it then reads it back to tell if the media is suitable before continuing on. Its here where its failing.

The strange thing is that it only happens when I use Printable DVDs (ProDisc brand). The standard silver DVDs work fine. The other thing that's even weirder is the same disc that wouldn't burn, will work without a problem in my PC.

So, where does the fault lie? The printable media, DVD drive, or the software that's too picky about the media?

One other thing if I buy a new DVD drive does it have to be a special brand to work in a mac? Most hardware seem to have to be special for the mac or it doesn't work.

It's probably the drive not liking the media. Try a different brand.

I have 200 discs still left so I'm going to buy a new drive and hope that works. In the future, I'll go with a more expensive brand media. BTW, I learned that Pioneer is the the only dvd burner that is compatible with mac, but thankfully the don't charge a premium.

Well, that's not quite accurate. What you are referring to is that many of the SuperDrives, were largely Apple branded Pioneer drives, and for some apps, Apple had locked them into only working with what the Mac saw as an official SuperDrive (although I don't think any current versions of Apple apps utilize this requirement) . In many cases, folks were installing or changing out their drives and installing a certain limited range of Pioneer drives when they needed a SuperDrive to accomodate those applications. As far as I know, I don't think the pro-level applications (like DVDSP) was ever locked into using only a SuperDrive.

Regardless, you can save yourself some effort by simply getting an external DVD burner that connects via firewire.

A few years back, I burned ALOT of discs from my internal SuperDrive, and I have generally used the best quality media I could find. Eventually, I began to experience a series of errors, and when I eventually tracked it down to possibly wearing out my SuperDrive, I began using external burners. (Specifically the LaCie D2 DVD burner - because they fit well into available slots in my LaCie drive racks) and those error problems went away.

I just replaced one of my external burners a few weeks ago because I finally burned it out just from so much constant use, but when working I have not longer had error problems with the media compatibilty.

An added bonus with using these externals, in many cases, you will likely find that it will be more compatible with a wider range of media than your internal SuperDrive (although you should still use good quality media) and they often have the option to burn at faster burn speeds than your SuperDrive - (although I prefer to burn at slower speeds anyway to ensure a more stable burn.)

Hope this helps.
-Jon