Question re Sony DVD burner with G4 Powerbook

Question

I had some dvds already ripped on my hard drive. Bought the best burner, Sony DRX 830ULT, but after burning a dvd (that was ripped using the Mac) it won't read on the Mac. Question: do I have to both RIP and BURN using the Sony in order for the movies to be played on my Mac?

Answer 1

No problem at all. Patience is one of my virtues.
The MEDIA you are burning to, the DISC, is a special kind of media that only your Sony drive can burn and most likely, read. It is called "DVD+R DL" or "DVD-R DL." This is the format of your disc and our PowerBooks, the 12-inchers, can't read these type of discs.
The last PowerBook G4s to roll off the line before the MacBook Pros took over, the 15" and 17" models, were bumped up to include support for DVD+R DL burning and reading. But not DVD-R DL burning.
The DVD discs you buy in the store that have content already on it, such as Harry Potter (for lack of a better example), are on a "double-sided" disc. Each side has a surface to write on. The "dual layer" discs have only one side that can be written on but have TWO layers.
It is confusing. It's confusing me now and I'm having to check the wording.
Basically, your problem is again what I explained before. To give an example, your Sony is burning oranges but your PowerBook's SuperDrive can only read apples.
What's even more confusing is the terms are intertwined. Some people confuse DUAL LAYER and DOUBLE LAYER and DOUBLE-SIDED altogether.
Double Layer DVD disc = "DVD+R DL" media that only has one side to burn to.
Dual Layer DVD disc = "DVD-R DL" media that only has one side to burn to.
Double-sided DVD disc = any "DVD±R" or "DVD±RW" media that has two sides you can burn to.
Here are my sources that I used to explain this all to you in-depth. (My original answer about the disc media not being able to be read by your 12-inch PowerBook was from my own knowledge):
http://news.sel.sony.com/en/pressroom/b2b/storagesolutions/release/9366.html
http://dvr.about.com/od/dvdrecordableformats/f/dvddlvsdouble.htm
Message was edited by: Pismo 900
I guess this other example would help paint the picture. Say you have a 15" PowerBook with the dual layer support. (Remember, not a double-sided disc which any G4 PowerBook can read as long as it has a SuperDrive). Since the 15" PowerBook--last model to roll off the line--supported burning and reading of DVD+R DL disc media, if your Sony burner only does DVD-R DL disc media, then your 15" PowerBook would not be able to read those discs burned by your Sony optical drive.
So that's why our 12-inchers can't read what you've burned recently with your Sony drive. Simply put. (I hope).