uncleporry: most dvd/cd drives can be frigged open in the power down state by sticking a needle or end of a paper clip in the tiny hole in the front of the dvd/cd drawer. That should allow you to at least get the discc out without restarting.
does your DVD drive support the disk you are using (DVD-R, DVD+R, etc.) Do you have enough memory left for the file to use when writing. An AVI file sucks a lot of memory space for use when writing to disk.
thanks bionicle, will try it. mad dog, yes, dvd drive is + & - compat, if by memory you mean hard drive space , then yes, i have 11 gigs spare. roxio has a drive compatability section and my drive is supported and it lists it as working properly etc.. i think maybe roxio is corrupted, will re-install and try again. thanks all for the help.
great. Good luck. Roxio has never given me much problem and the one time I contacted them their response was fast and on the money. May want to try that as well. Tell us what you find.