Hmmm, quickk one for any dvd burning types out there.... I have just got a decent laptop with a dvd writer in it, it reads all software, watches DVD's everything with no problems. I bought some blank dvd's from PC world (only place open) the are +r disks which are correct for the burner I have. i have burned using nero 6, selecting dvd copy and also by dragging files in the traditional manner. the disks have finsihed burning with no errors, then laptop is not able to read them, they gurgle in the drive for a while but are never read. If I take the dvd I just burned and stick it in my dvd drive on my pc at work it reads it fine! WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY ????
i have not tried an cdr in it yet but this makes no sense, it sould either work every where or no where but to not be readable o the pc i burned them on is just plain daft! why do the disks record with no errors then not be readable on the same drive??? any ideas please let me know. the laptop is brand new model, the firmwae and xp are up to date, the disks should be ok as it recognises the blanks and will write to them??? Argh!!!! me being a support engineer should not have these problems, I have rang the h/w support number to see if this is a known issue and it's not as far as i can tell.... any ideas??

Often, a bit of messing about is necessary before you'll find a brand of blank DVD that works properly everywhere.

I've had some that burn fine, but then won't play in the PC, or on a PS2, and some that just won't burn at all. After messing about for a bit, have found a couple of cheap brands that work fine.

Go to somewhere like Discs Direct (next to Staples) and ask them if they'll give you a selection of blank DVDs of different brands (get a couple of each) so you can find a good brand without having to waste money on loads of discs.

Failing that, it's worth searching on forums like mediaforums.net for disc recommendations for your particular drive.

You'll probably be fine with CD-Rs as I've never had any problems at all with these.

The only DVD's to buy are the ones with Rytek dye on the underside!

They are always dark purple coloured.

But the best way to find out, is to look at the number in the middle of the disc.

It wants to look something like this: xx-xL19xxxxxxxxxxxx (L19: the code for Rytek dye)
(The X's can be any sequence of numbers/letters, but it should always have the L19 in that position)

The DVDs you use make a lot of difference. Also make sure that you use verification. I tend to burm with Toast on the Mac and it has a verification phase. Often lower quality discs won't report an error during burning, but in verification.

I have noticed on the PC side that many burning apps run their test before burning rather than checking what you actually recorded after. That doesn't give any useful guide to success. Find an app which checks after then try different discs. I would agree about the dye.