iMac DVD player not playing certain DVDs?

My built in DVD rom combo won't play many DVD movies, only certain ones.

My iMac is a 700 MHz G4 model, below are details that I cut/paste from the System Profiler.

Can anyone tell me if I need a firmware update or anything else that could help and where I go to get one, also I don't know how to do these things so I hope any site you point me to has instructions?

Oh yes, I did an 10.3.7 combo update and repaired all permissions etc, but the DVD player had difficulty reading certain main-stream movies before this.

HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4120B:

Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
**Model: HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4120B
**Revision: 2.11
**Serial Number:
**Drive Type: CD-RW/DVD-ROM
**Disc Burning: Apple Supported/Shipped
**Removable Media: Yes
**Detachable Drive: No
**Protocol: ATAPI
**Unit Number: 1
**Socket Type: Internal

does it only play movies from certain regions, or only some dvds whether the same region or not? have you tried cleaning your lens?

Like macman, I am leaning toward a region problem. But more information about the DVDs are needed.

iMac DVD will read DVDs but will not write

I have a question about my iMac playing, watching DVDs but won't burn.
Here's my specs:


OS 10.4.11
700 MHz PowerPC G4

here is my info on DVD drive:

HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4120B:

Firmware Revision: 2.11
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw
Media:
Media Type: CD-ROM
Blank: No
Erasable: No
Overwritable: No
Appendable: No

I went to burn a DVD+RW 4.7g, but is spits it back out. So am I to believe it will only Read DVD, and just write a CD -R, -RW, even though it read at top, 'Burn Support yes' or does it have something to do with -RW and what I bought, the DVD +RW??

Until i round up cash to buy new Mac, would it be better to buy external LG DVD drive? and if so does the - and + have something to do as well?

take any suggestion, knowledge. thx

Congrats, you have resurrected a six-year-old thread.

To answer your question: your spec report (thanks for providing that) make it clear that you have a "combo drive" not a "superdrive." Combo drives read DVDs but can't write to them. The key line in the report is "write strategies" IOW "what I can write to."

You could buy an external DVD burner, certainly, and with the aid of Patchburn it will work with pretty much any brand. I would personally suggest you purchase a "bare" DVD burner and then a firewire case and put the two together -- you will get MUCH better performance and speed from a FW connection than a USB2 connection.

Chas is correct. Here is a pic of my drive in my iMac that is a Super Drive and burns both +R -R and Dual Layer. Yours for sure is just a CD Burner with a DVD reader.

Hey thanks for both replies. Guess I'll google what a bare drive is, i'm thinking no software, generic.....