Interchangeability might work the only catch might be the firmware for the DVD drive...
I had a DVD recorder unit attached to my Cable box and the drive stopped working, opened it up and it was a standard DVD burner drive out of a PC same connectors and all. I tried plugging in a spare DVD burner I had but it would not recognize it even thou I knew it worked...

Your situation might be different since its just reading and the on board firmware may work with most DVD readers....

Opening up the DVD may also reveal the issue that might be fixable...or at least get your DVD back esp if its a rental

 

Opened up to one more level and saw a micro-switch that was not actuated by a little arm that almost touched it. The arm seemed to be linked to some of the gears so I nudged it slightly to actuate the switch. Will test it tomorrow.

BTW the problem w/ trying to bench test once the drive is out is that several connectors have been removed and w/o a schematic, it's really hard to do much.

 

Well that didn't help so back to CarMax to get it fixed under the extended warranty.

 

I'd be guessing that the Max fix will be replacing it rather then fixing it...so we may never know...

 

Well they told me they will send it off to a repair house in Chicago. Almost tempted to try to get the pinouts and look into an aftermarket unit.