Problems viewing DVD+R from recorder on player

[dvd_to_canada]

I recorded a movie from cable TV onto my new Philips DVDR-3400 recorder on a DVD+R disc. I edited the titles, added chapters, and set the commercials as hidden chapters, then finalized the disc. The movie plays fine on the recorder itself (not surprising), but when I try to play it on either my portable DVD player or on my laptop (Windows Media Player), the title screen appears, but I can't actually view the movie. Pressing play just causes the screen to flicker on my portable, and nothing happens on my laptop. Is the DVD+R the problem? Should I try DVD-R or +/-RW? Or is it because of the chapters, hidden chapters, etc.? Any suggestions?

BJ
Toronto, Canada

[VirtualDoobMon]

You should try with DVD-R and post results. For DVD+R the unit may not be changing the book type to DVD-ROM. Run your DVD through Nero's cd-dvd speed tool and check.

[Krispy Kritter]

It could be related to either disc type or the formatting (hidden chapters and such). Sounds like time for a experiment. I would first start with burning onto a different disc type (-R or RW). If it still doesn't work, then it is most likely related to how your recorder is creating the disc.

[dvd_to_canada]

I haven't had a chance to try burning to a DVD-R yet, but I checked the booktype of the disc (don't have Nero, so I used DVDinfo that someone suggested). Here are the results:

Media Information
Disc Regions are 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
Media code/Manufacturer ID CMC MAG M01
Media Product Revision Number 00h
UDF Format Type V1.02
UDF Volume Name DVD VR
UDF Application id
UDF Implementation id DVD_RECORDER
UDF Recording Date/Time (mm/dd/yyyy) 11/ 7/2006 6:39:00
Format Capacity 3.48GB(3.74GB)
Book Type DVD-ROM
Media Type DVD+R
Manufacturer Rated Speed 16.0x 22160KBp
Data area starting sector 30000h
Data area end sector 1BDA1Fh
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track
Number of Layers 1

So, the booktype is DVD-ROM. I actually managed to get the movie to play (sort of) on my portable DVD player, and also on my old Apex AD-1200 tabletop player, by doing the following:

Press the GOTO button on the remote, then choose title 02, then press ENTER. On both machines, I cannot advance through the chapters, and the commercials that are supposed to be hidden are not. I have to use the fast forward and fast reverse controls to advance through the movie.

Should I still try burning to a DVD-R, or is something else going on here?

**Update: November 12 - I recorded a show on another DVD+R yesterday, and today I edited it, but didn't add any hidden chapters (previous try, I made the commercials before and during the movie into a hidden chapter). Now, it works on my portable DVD player (but doesn't recognize the chapter marks added on the recorder). Is this normal behaviour for most DVD's recorded on a standalone recorder? I'm thinking that I should record my movies onto a DVD+/-RW, then add the chapters and such on my computer before burning to DVD+R. Is that what most people do?