Am unable to burn DVD to a Disc

[GLabbe]

I'm using VS 9 and have for the past three years or more successfully burnt DVD's on my computer. Now I get an error message shortly after the burning process begins. Usually 3-4 minutes into it. Msg reads as follows: Failed to record to the disc. [Code: DVDRAM-SPTI-2A-02-03-0C-00]. I tried burning from an image file, and using a rewritable disc to avoid ruining more disc. Any ideas?

[Ken Berry]

To eliminate the most obvious things first, suites like Roxio and Nero, for instance, both contain units for packet-writing (i.e. dragging and dropping files which will then burn to a disc). These are notorious for highjacking a computer's burner and not allowing other programs, and in this case, specifically Video Studio and/or MF, access to it. Roxio allows you to internally disable that module, but in the case of Nero, you have to totally uninstall the offending module, which is called InCD. I once had this problem with InCD and got a very similar message to the one you received. Once I removed InCD, the problem went away and has never returned.

I might add, as far as Nero is concerned, if you have a version older than 7, then it is almost certain that you have InCD installed as part of it, even if you have never noticed it, much less used it. Look at all the modules in the suite. If it is there, it should also be separately listed in Control Panel > Add/Remove Software. If so, Remove it.

FYI, the problem with InCD is long-standing and well known, including to Nero. They sensibly decided to make Nero 7 only install InCD if you consciously make a decision to do so, by doing a Custom install. With earlier versions, the converse was true. InCD was installed by default unless you did a Custom install and consciously unchecked its installation.

All that being said, can you burn your VS image .iso files on third party programs (including Nero!)?