A method and apparatus for recording data at specific locations on a DVD includes selectively detecting the occurrence of wobble sync during a window computed from previous occurrences of wobble sync and eight-to-fourteen modulation sync. The method and apparatus also uses a phase-locked loop to recover the wobble signal, including wobble sync, and computes phase drift between wobble sync and eight-to-fourteen modulation sync and applies a compensation profile, compatible with a read clock phase-locked loop, to the wobble phase-locked loop.