Jaiman, thanks for the info about the discs. I tend to just buy whatever I see first, I've been told by sales reps that brands don't matter. On the other hand, I've been given far worse advice by sales reps before... maybe its time I just stopped talking to them altogether. I'll experiment with the firmaware too, though I think I updated mine when I first bought my laptop.

Speaking of disc deterioration, is it possible to happen in a matter of months? I burned ADM's Hannibal edit a while back when it first came out on MySpleen, and burned it soon thereafter. I never actually watched the whole thing through, but checked several scenes throughout the movie and not a single problem. I played it back in full last night (well, almost in full) and 45 minutes in I got tons of errors and pixelization. I tried playing back on my computer, and it ran fine for a bit, then just locked up entirely. Copying didn't work because apparantly the disc data is in error. Rather annoying, especially since it's no longer up on MySpleen (and if it was, there probably would be hardly any seeders). I've heard of DVD Rescue programs, would those work in this situation, or will I have to trouble someone into providing a copy for me? (hint, hint

).

MeBeJedi, I've been told (on this forum actually) that writing speed really doesn't matter, and that a slower speed will just mean that my information will get to the disc slower :/. Though since I'm usually out to lunch when I start a burn, I'll give this method a try and see what happens.

Great advice guys, I'll definetely look into this and see what I get.

And one more thing, do disc labels affect playback at all? I can't remember faulty playback on a disc with a label on it, though I've played others that have labels with nary a problem. Any ideas? Thanks!