back for an update.

i ran the on-line scans. nothing shows up.

a point i forgot to mention ... i have both a dvd/cd combo burner AND a dvd/cd player. the burner exhibits this opening business. the player does not.

additionally, the burner is a dual layer burner. the last 2 dual layer dvds i burned were not readable (one was data, the other a movie). all those burned previous have been okay.

so ...

with only one of the disc drives showing this problem, scans showing nothing and dual layer not burning correctly .. maybe it is a problem in the drive itself.

gives me an excuse to go to best buy and microcenter ... ahhhhh labor day sales!