I edited a bunch of old video footage into 59 minutes worth using FCP, exported using Compressor and burned to a DVD using DVP Studio Pro 3 on a Dual G5. The DVD plays fine over about the first half (30 minutes), starts to show dropouts between 30 and 45 minutes and gets progressively worse towards the end to the point where the player (Panasonic) says to check the disk for dirt or scratches and stops playing. I get the same sort of problems with a Sony DVD player. So I reburned the disk on a G4 Power book. Much better past 30 minutes but eventually (last 5 minutes) the reader (Sony) was, again, not able to play the disk. Disks that the readers cannot process are fine when played back on either of the computers. I've been using this equipment happily for over a year to make DVDs but I don't think I have ever gone beyond a half hour's worth of material on any disk.

Has anyone else ever seen this? Does the typical DVD player have trouble with computer generated disks? Why only towards the outer edge of the disk? Have I got a bad batch of media?

I use the encoder within DVD SP instead of using Compressor.

Hadn't had much trouble with it yet.

Have you tried using a different brand of media? It might be that. As far as using Compressor, both methods use Compressor, they just handle the file a little differently so I wouldn't suspect your method was bad.