Trying to boot from OS X install DVD makes DVD disappear in puff of smoke?

I'm trying to reinstall OS X on my MBP. I put in the DVD, restart the computer, hold C, but then the DVD ejects and then Macintosh HD loads instead. If I try holding the option key, then I see Macintosh HD and the DVD side-by-side as expected, but immediately, the DVD ejects and the DVD icon disappears in a puff of smoke (as if removing an item from the Dock).
Anyone know what's going on here? Is it a hardware problem with my DVD drive?
When I load the Mac OS X install DVD while logged into Macintosh HD, then double-click the installer from there and click "Restart", the computer restarts as expected, attempts to boot from the DVD, but fails and ejects the DVD, and shows me a folder icon with a question mark inside it, and then boots Macintosh HD instead.

Okay, so I reset the SMC, that seems to have fixed the problem. I was quite worried because when I ran Disk Utility, I used it to Repair Permissions, which it did, but then I also made it Verify Disk, and it found plenty of problems. I figure I wouldn't be able to solve them, though, if I can't get the DVD drive to work; fortunately, resetting the SMC did indeed fix the drive, so I can run Disk Utility now, and also install OS X. However, I think my DVD burner is toast, and has been for at least a year. I don't really burn that much, anyway, so it's not something that's very critical, thankfully.
My next step would have been to use Target Disk Mode to install OS X from another Mac I have. The problem would be that one computer uses FW 400 while the other uses FW 800, so I would need to buy an adapter, which around here costs $30 compared to the $5 or so I've seen elsewhere. Good thing I didn't have to resort to that... yet.

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