Inconsistent DVD accessibility

[MR ZenWiz]

On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 8:59 AM, Ralf Mardorf <silver.bullet at zoho.com> wrote:
:
>
> Did you try mounting by command line?
>
:
> Video DVD:
> ==========
>
> [rocketmouse at archlinux ~]$ sudo mount -t auto /dev/cdrom /media/optical
> mount: /dev/sr0 is write-protected, mounting read-only

admar at marbase:~ $ sudo mount -t auto /dev/cdrom /media/optical
mount: mount point /media/optical does not exist

admar at marbase:~ $ sudo mount -t auto /dev/cdrom /media/admar/optical
mount: mount point /media/admar/optical does not exist

admar at marbase:~ $ sudo mount -t auto /dev/cdrom /mnt
mount: no medium found on /dev/sr0

admar at marbase:~ $ sudo mount -t auto /dev/sr1 /mnt
mount: no medium found on /dev/sr1

There does not appear to be a medium in the drive, even though there
is a DVD in the drive that the laptop recognizes and plays just fine.

Same thing happens in /dev/sr1.  fdisk -l fails on both.

I did notice that the drive tries to read the disk 3 or 4 times before
it gives up.

I can easily believe that this is a DRM issue, but there must be a way
around it - the DVDs sold commercially in the US are designed to be
playable.  If it can play in one computer, it should be playable in
any.  I'd hate to think that I have two defective optical burners when
they work to read and burn every other DVD I have.