DVD player acting odd

vindunn

Registered
Hi,
I've got an old (350mhz, 640 MB memory) G4 and I've got a problem reading DVDs. Strangely, it will play a commercial DVD from Netflix just fine, but it won't read a data DVD that I've burned on my Powerbook's superdrive (using Toast Titanium). Also it won't play a DVD that I've created with my new Panasonic DVD recorder. (The powerbook plays them.) Does anyone have an idea what gives? I thought maybe the problem had to do with my system software getting quirky on me, but when I upgraded from 10.2.8 to 10.3.9 the problem remained.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Vin
 
Suspect the discs, Vin.

The combo drive in the older G4s doesn't play well with some brands.

I have a stack of 1-2X that I've labelled "Don't give to anyone with
a Mac." It should have said "Combo Drive."

Try good-quality DVD-R discs from a reputable vendor.
 
The DVD-R is the key hint here. Your older DVD drive is not likely to read a DVD+R, and a newer Powerbook G4 usually will. Check those burned DVDs, you will probably find they are DVD+R, which may not work. DVD-R is what you need in that case.
 
Or you might replace the G4's DVD drive with something newer. Older DVD-writers can be found quite cheaply, nowadays.
 
Thanks to those who've made suggestions. The thing is, though, that these are all DVD-R disks that I burned myself and all are name brand disks (Imation, Memorex). So there's got to be something else that I'm not getting or that's gone wrong with my G4.
 
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