Thanks for all your replies. I have burnt another disc and getting the same symptoms. Tried the discs in all the players and it pauses in the same place on all devices. My laptop is a Toshiba Equium A60. pentium 4 40gb hd 256mb upgraded to 704mb. The external hd and rewriter are connected via usb i have no firewire. I didn't upgrade the firmware on the drive because it came with the most recent version, 1.01. I have some Maxell -r discs i will try but i thought the verbatim were strongly recommended? The dvd players used are sony DVP-NS30 and a pye PDV560VR and my laptop drive is a pioneer dvr k13a.
I 12:27:37 ImgBurn Version 2.1.0.0 started!
I 12:27:37 Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600 : Service Pack 2)
I 12:27:37 Initialising SPTI...
I 12:27:37 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...
I 12:27:38 Found 1 DVD-RW and 1 DVD?RW/RAM!
I 12:29:29 Operation Started!
I 12:29:29 Source File: C:\DVDRIP.ISO
I 12:29:29 Source File Sectors: 2,285,846 (MODE1/2048)
I 12:29:29 Source File Size: 4,681,412,608 bytes
I 12:29:29 Source File Volume Identifier: DISC_1
I 12:29:29 Source File Implementation Identifier: DVD Shrink
I 12:29:29 Source File File System(s): ISO9660, UDF (1.02)
I 12:29:29 Destination Device: [0:0:0] HL-DT-ST DVDRRW GSA-2164D 1.01 (E:) (USB)
I 12:29:29 Destination Media Type: DVD-R (Disc ID: MCC 03RG20) (Speeds: 4x, 8x, 12x, 16x)
I 12:29:29 Destination Media Sectors: 2,297,888
I 12:29:29 Write Mode: DVD
I 12:29:29 Write Type: DAO
I 12:29:29 Write Speed: 4x
I 12:29:29 Link Size: Auto
I 12:29:29 Test Mode: No
I 12:29:29 BURN-Proof: Enabled
I 12:29:30 Filling Buffer...
I 12:29:31 Writing LeadIn...
I 12:29:50 Writing Image...
I 12:43:56 Synchronising Cache...
I 12:44:27 Image MD5: 4c36673a19b4d1cee6eb4dbb437a3db4
I 12:44:27 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:14:57
I 12:44:27 Average Write Rate: 5,410 KB/s (3.9x) - Maximum Write Rate: 5,618 KB/s (4.1x)
I 12:44:27 Cycling Tray before Verify...
W 12:44:37 Waiting for device to become ready...
I 12:44:53 Device Ready!
I 12:44:53 Operation Started!
I 12:44:53 Source Device: [0:0:0] HL-DT-ST DVDRRW GSA-2164D 1.01 (E:) (USB)
I 12:44:53 Source Media Type: DVD-R (Book Type: DVD-R) (Disc ID: MCC 03RG20) (Speeds: 4x, 8x, 12x, 16x)
I 12:44:53 Image File: C:\DVDRIP.ISO
I 12:44:53 Image File Sectors: 2,285,846 (MODE1/2048)
I 12:44:53 Image File Size: 4,681,412,608 bytes
I 12:44:53 Image File Volume Identifier: MISSION_IMPOSSIBLE_3
I 12:44:53 Image File Implementation Identifier: DVD Shrink
I 12:44:53 Image File File System(s): ISO9660, UDF (1.02)
I 12:44:53 Verifying Sectors...
I 12:54:37 Device MD5: 4c36673a19b4d1cee6eb4dbb437a3db4
I 12:54:37 Image MD5: 4c36673a19b4d1cee6eb4dbb437a3db4
I 12:54:37 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:09:44
I 12:54:37 Average Verify Rate: 7,828 KB/s (5.7x) - Maximum Verify Rate: 11,364 KB/s (8.2x)
I 12:55:23 Close Request Acknowledged
I 12:55:23 Closing Down...
I 12:55:23 Shutting down SPTI...
I 12:55:23 ImgBurn closed!