laptop not reading dvd

tjc28

Hi,
I've been transfering tv progs and films from my upc recorder onto dvd recently but my laptop isn't reading them. Its as if the dvd is blank but when I put the dvd back into my dvd recorder it plays back fine.
Can anyone help me on this one?
I've got quite a bit of stuff I plan to watch back and was hoping to transfer from the dvd onto an external hardrive. I use iSkysoft iMedia Converter for this and it works fine but again it doesn't recognize anything from the dvd.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

JonathanAnon

How old is the laptop and what Operating System is it using? And also what type of DVDs are you using.. ?

tjc28

the laptop isnt even a year old and I'm using phillips dvd rw

smokiebeverage

How are you getting from the UPC recorder to the DVD, are the DVDs finalized?

ricman

try a dvd lens cleaner 2 euro in the 2euro shop,.

tjc28

smokiebeverage wrote: »

How are you getting from the UPC recorder to the DVD, are the DVDs finalized?

I just scart from the upc to the line in on the dvd recorder and it comes up on the external channel setting.
It does a short thing after i stop the recording, cant remember if it says finalizing

smokiebeverage

tjc28 wrote: »

I just scart from the upc to the line in on the dvd recorder and it comes up on the external channel setting

I assume the laptop reads a standard DVD, if so, as above give the lens a clean, make sure the DVD type you are using are supported by the laptop drive and make sure the DVDs are finalized by the DVD recorder

tjc28

ricman wrote: »

try a dvd lens cleaner 2 euro in the 2euro shop,.

thanks but they're brand new dvd rw and they work in a dvd player just not on the laptop.

tjc28

smokiebeverage wrote: »

I assume the laptop reads a standard DVD, if so, as above give the lens a clean, make sure the DVD type you are using are supported by the laptop drive and make sure the DVDs are finalized by the DVD recorder

I'll double check the finalization process in the manual. How do i check if the dvd type (phillips) are supported by my drive?

smokiebeverage

tjc28 wrote: »

How do i check if the dvd type (phillips) are supported by my drive?

Can be tricky but the details are either on the bezel of the drive or have a look at the specs on the web. Actually one easy way to check is to try to burn something on one of them from the laptop

ricman

dvd r disks should work in any drive ,leave 70meg free,dont fill up the whole disc,
i burned ten dvds then discovered the cant be read, as i filled up the whole disc with files.they just show up as discs with no files ,
windows needs x amount of space free to read dvd r s, or dvdrw.
see here ,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-RAM
i just use dvdr ,100 discs around 12 euros in maplins.

ricman

a tiny bit of dust will stop the lens,reading or writing discs, theres no harm in cleaning the dvd lens,just use a tiny amount of cleaning fluid ,leave the drive door open for ten minutes so it can evaporate from the lens after cleaning.i,ve never found a dvdr disk i could nt use, i use write speed =4x on dvds.
if the laptop lens is not clean,then no dvdrs will work,or it wont write to dvdrs .ie there will be write errors,or it wont write at all.can it write to cdrs .or play music cds.or dvd movies.

tjc28

ricman wrote: »

a tiny bit of dust will stop the lens,reading or writing discs, theres no harm in cleaning the dvd lens,just use a tiny amount of cleaning fluid ,leave the drive door open for ten minutes so it can evaporate from the lens after cleaning.i,ve never found a dvdr disk i could nt use, i use write speed =4x on dvds.
if the laptop lens is not clean,then no dvdrs will work,or it wont write to dvdrs .ie there will be write errors,or it wont write at all.can it write to cdrs .or play music cds.or dvd movies.

I'm at a wedding now for the weekend but I'll pick up some cleaner when I get back. Thanks for very much

Plazaman

Try using DVDR+ as the a lot of the newer reader software have problems reading the DVDR- ones. Also check that your player has the right Codec for reading file type (avi, wmv etc)