I've only watched the video once as it's very late here, but it seemed as though Brasero was working. Am I correct?

When you did something like:

Code:
sudo if=/dev/cdrom0 of=~/file.iso
It quickly errored. But when you did:

Code:
sudo if=/dev/cdrom0 of=file.iso
You got an ISO in your home folder. Was it OK? Because if so, it seems that the tilda (~) is upsetting dd.

Just a thought. I must log off in a few minutes and I'll come back to this thread in the morning (UK time).