I have a new DVD burner (LG GSA-4040B with firmware update), my first ever, running on a new computer under Win XP Pro. I bought it to archive my kids movies (sick of replacing them when little fingers total the originals).

Right out of the gate, I archived Finding Nemo onto a Memorex DVD-RW using an DVDxCopy (incidentally, that was before I knew to remove drag-to-disk software from my computer, turn everything not necessary off, stop screensaver, disable anti-virus, etc...and it worked...and played in my home theatre DVD player)...it was a no-brainer...I thought to myself \'this program is awesome\', it was so simple, my kids could have done it...DVD in DVD-ROM drive, blank DVD-RW in burner, click start and walk away!!!

Now I\'m trying to archive \'Happy Gilmore\'...been trying for 4 days...writing error every single time. I full-erase the disk (which, in itself, takes quite a while) and try again. I have also tried to re-burn \'Nemo\' with DVDxCopy, to see if it is the DVD I\'m attempting to copy that is the problem, but Nemo won\'t burn now either (even when I full-erased the disk it was first burned to and tried to burn it on there again).

I have tried DVD Decryptor-->DVDshrink-->Nero to burn, as well as DVDfab, and with these, they do burn, but I must be missing something, as it will not play on home DVD player...there are the audio and video folders (with contents) on the disk, but it will not play as a DVD.

I went out last night and bought Maxell DVD-RW\'s (LG recommended Maxell and TDK, which I couldn\'t find anywhere), assuming my troubles might in fact be crappy media (I have since come to learn that I\'m not the only one who has had trouble with Memorex). I tried DVDxCopy (as well as DVDfab), just burning the movie files, and not the extras (my kids don\'t need these), and they seem to burn ok this time, but my JVC XV-E100 got an error message after trying to read the disks. I don\'t know if it\'s the fact that I didn\'t copy the whole disk that the JVC doesn\'t like or whether it\'s just tempermental reading DVD-RW\'s, and maybe it would be ok with DVD-R\'s (I just hate to waste my money before testing). I was however able to get a disk to burn with CloneDVD and then play on my JVC (sometimes I got an error message on my JVC with this disk too, but most of the times, it would eventually play...I think, because this player takes so long to read the disk, that it may sometimes time-out), but that software copies the entire disk, in which case quality is lost to fit it on (and, like I said, my kids don\'t need all that extra stuff). At least I know now that it\'s not the burner.

I went to the JVC site and looked at the pdf manual for this player, but it said that it\'s not compatible with DVD-R/DVD-RW\'s, and it didn\'t mention DVD+RW/DVD+R at all, either way...I think it may be because the player is a couple of years old and burning DVD\'s was new back then. I have emailed JVC to ask them what disks are recommended, but I would hazzard to guess that, because this unit is a couple of years old, it will not have been tested with the +\'s. Again, I hate to have to buy a whole box of DVD+RW/DVD+R\'s just to try one.

Would it make any difference if I chose to copy the entire disk or just the movie with DVDxCopy (although that\'s not really what I want), or if I used DVD-/+R\'s and burned just the movie (still not wanting to buy a whole pack just to try 1)? Is there another all-in-one program that is easy to use that does not forfeit quality to get \'just the movie\' onto one disk?

I am just about ready to through in the towel!!! Please help me!!! I\'m looking for any advice.  :?

I had already looked up my LG GSA-4040B DVD burner (many very positive ratings), my JVC XV-E100 home player (very, very little written about it, but most comments stated that most media tried had worked), and the media types (Maxell, as recommended by LG, rated well with my burner) on http://www.dvdrhelp.com, as well as talking to LG and looking at JVC\'s manual (As mentioned in my original post, the manual for this player said that it\'s not compatible with DVD-R/DVD-RW\'s, and it didn\'t mention DVD+RW/DVD+R at all, either way.  I have emailed JVC to ask them what disks are recommended, but I haven\'t heard anything back yet, but I would hazzard to guess that, because this unit is a couple of years old, it will not have been tested with the +\'s.).

What makes no sense is that the disk I burned with CloneDVD is the exact same make/type as the other 2 burned the other 2 ways, yet they wouldn\'t play on my home system.

If there were incompatibility issues with the burner/media/player, none of the disks would have burned and played, would they?  Am I just not doing something right when I chose \'just the movie\' to burn?  Am I missing some step or something that sets the disk/movie up to be read without the other stuff on it?  I have NO clue!!!

I just called JVC, as they had not emailed me back, and I was told that only -R/RW\'s are supported in their current players (although at the time that my player was manufactured, none were supported).  So, I don\'t see much point in trying +\'s.  Believe it or not, I cannot find any Maxell or TDK DVD-R\'s (as recommended by LG for my burner) available in town.  I have just ordered some online.  I am hoping that my player will have better luck reading DVD-R\'s.

What about the end of my last post...do you think I\'m doing something wrong with DVDxCopy, DVDfab, or DVD Decryptor-->DVDshrink-->Nero, when I chose just the movie to burn?  Am I missing something essential on the disk by doing it this way that my player needs in order to be able to read it?