iDVD not working as it once did

My primary video work is to copy tv shows for granddaughter (recorded at off times). I use iMovie to edit commercials, etc and share to files (mp3). She view the shows either on ipad or tv via Apple TV and occasionally from a burned dvd. I use verbatim dvd-r discs and have piles that were burned without a problem. Lately I am getting a message that the burning is done and disc has been ejected, but the whole process had not completed. The ejection occurs during the multiplexing. Any suggestions?

First thing to do is clean the drive with compressed air and then try again. Buy one of those cans of compressed air you can find at most chain stores such as Wal-Mart or Target and use it to blow several short blasts of air into the drive.

Try saving your iDVD Project as a Disc Image via the File menu. If that works, you can then use Disk Image to burn a dvd.

Still in the process of trying to solve the problem. Chscag, I tried the air blast, but nothing. MightyGem, I've done the save as image and burn from Finder but that is just one long extra step I never needed to do. I've search for info about idvd stopping during multiplexing, but nothing of real help. What i finally did was to do a n Apple Hardware Test. Took me some time to figure out what should have been simple directions. Problem was that during the 1st 2 tests, all I had was keyboard input, no mouse and the Apple info page tells me to do the extended test, but unnamable to check that box. On 3rd time, my mouse was working. Having the error codes did not help since again the Apple dirs were lacking. Thank goodness for CNET-they told me the errors related to internal fan of iMac. I then did a SMC reset and a reset of PRAM. Now to give iDVD another try--wish me luck

This has got to be one of the most frustrating problems I've encountered mainly because Apple is of NO help

Do you get the same results if you burn the file to a DVD-R rather than a DVD-RW? I've noticed that RWs are quite picky about being erased properly before they can be reused.

Just had my last DVD-R become a coaster. Created an .img of my video and attempted to burn to DVD-R using disk utility, but it spit it out with medium error. Tried again with DVD-RW that has worked in past, but same error. Next step is to run a lens cleaner through the superdrive. I am hoping this is the magic trick

Yeah, the problem appears to be with the DVD burner rather than iDVD, though I'm wondering how much free space you have left on your drive? Mastering DVDs takes a HUGE amount of reserve space (2-3 times the actual space of the movie file), and that could also be your issue. If you have less than 100GB of space free, I'd try doing some "spring cleaning" and see if that helps.

If it does turn out to be a fault in the DVD burner, a USB-based external one should cost you maybe $50.

Good suggestion chase_m. I didn't think about the huge amount of free space needed for the encoding and setup of that burn.

@OP If you haven't already done so I'd try that burn with as few other programs running as possible. It might not help but it's worth a try.

Chas_m , Slydude,
Thanks for help and suggestions. I ran the lens cleaner twice since I even had a cd-r kicked out, which never happened before. DVD-R still not happening. I have over 600 GB of free hdd space and I made sure that nothing was running other than the disk utility while trying my last dvd-r. Heading to the nearest apple store today, time to let the builder take a look.

Ruellasmith
So similar to my prob. Disc almost finished and then idvd spits it out with a minute or so till finished. My prob continued to worsen until my SuperDrive stopped burning DVDs all together. I'll let you know what the Genius Bar says at the apple store