Difficulty in Reading DVD-R discs, HELP!!

[micrococcus]

Guys, I need to know what's wrong with my DELL notebook's Toshiba DVD-ROM drive. At first, it's able to read all the DVD-R discs (movies that I backed up) smoothly, but lately, it has difficulty reading them and hangs many times (i.e. picture pause). However, it can read all the original DVDs without any problem.

Does that mean my DVD drive is deteriorating in reading DVD-R discs? Or is it that the DVD-R discs are deteriorating as a result of the fatal laser beams imposed by the DVD drive? (these DVD-R discs are all from the same source, i.e. same supplier, and, the discs are all burnt from a same desktop computer)

[Katatonia]

What brand are these DVD-R discs? Certain blank disc media seem to degrade over time it seems like.

[rxfiend]

try cleaning your dvd-rom drive. that may help it.

[wizzer]

What brand are these DVD-R discs? Certain blank disc media seem to degrade over time it seems like.

you've actually had dvd-rs quit working on you? i've used a bunch of different types of media and i have yet to see a disc stop working for no reason. what type of media went bad on you like that?

[eric_angelus]

One thing I have noticed is that discs that I have applied labels too have stopped working properly... I always used to test them first then label them...the tests always worked and recently I have gone back to a few of them and they have been screwed...luckily all are things that have been gotten legit releases lately.

[Katatonia]

you've actually had dvd-rs quit working on you? i've used a bunch of different types of media and i have yet to see a disc stop working for no reason. what type of media went bad on you like that?

Just one and it was a Maxell brand. It used to play perfectly in my Sony player, but now won't play in it at all for some reason. The disc has no visible flaws (dirt, scratches, prints) on it. It will still plays in my DVD-ROM drive, so whether or not it's faulty media I don't know....but it's damn weird.

[micrococcus]

The blank DVD-R discs I obtained are brandless. I bought them from somebody who sold me cheap.