Mac laptops : Superdrive freezing DVDs, not reading menus, in Macbook Pro

Superdrive freezing DVDs, not reading menus, in Macbook Pro

I've rented 3 dvds from Netflix and tried to watch them in my MBP, thinking there was a problem with the dvd, but they all have the same issues. The video will suddenly freeze but the audio keeps going. The only way I can get out of this frozen screen is to use the remote that came w/ my MBP to eject the dvd. Also, the dvd menus are no longer functional. I can only press play but I can not navigate the menus with my remote, or with the mouse (the mouse cursor disappears now when I put a dvd in the drive). When I press play, it will play for about 10 minutes and then freeze. It seems like each time it's freezing about halfway into a track/chapter. I can eject the dvd, go back to the beginning, skip forward to the next track, and rewind to just after the point where it freezes, but I have to do this with EVERY track/chapter. And I have to eject it every time or it won't play at all.

This is a dvd-burning Superdrive. Has anyone else had similar problems? I have no idea how I would go about replacing the drive if it's broken, as it's built into the laptop with no way that I can see to access it. The laptop is just barely out of warranty.

Thanks for any help. I don't know what I would do without CNET forums. Here's another Mac oddity: when I log into Apple's own forums, the option to post a new thread in any of their forums is gone. It's not at the top of the page where it used to be, nor is it anywhere on any of the pages that I've visited. I'm talking about when I go to the main discussions page, and then click on the link for Macbook Pro or iPod, there's nothing there for posting. If I click on a specific thread in those forums, I can *reply*, but this is not a topic I could find. I've only posted maybe 3 threads in the past year, and have answered a few - is there some sort of limit? Or can you only post new topics if you're under warranty?? It's really aggravating.