DVDRW and DVDR incompatibility issues

[Nesta]

I'm a bit bummed out. Have a new Pioneer DVR-A04. I burned some data to a Pioneer DVDRW and it works fine on that computer... but the disk it is not recognized on any other system w/DVD drive.

Also, I created my first DVD using Impressions DVD Pro 2.2 (and the Matrox RT2500). The DVD works fine in a Toshiba stand alone player but not on any of the 3 computers I tried that have software DVD players. I burned the TS_VIDEO directory as it said in the instructions. Should I be using a disk image?

Many thanks in advance,
NK

[Eug]

DVD-RW compatibility is roughly around 2/3rds. ie. Not good enough. DVD-R is really the only compatible (-) standard. You may want to invest $50 in a DVD Multi DVD-ROM drive like the Toshiba SD-M1612 (for your other computers) which will read DVD, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, and DVD-R. (I don't have DVD-RW, but DVD-RAM works great with it.)

If your DVD-R doesn't work in any of the computers you should check to see if the DVD-R is recognized at all. ie. If you can browse the disc with Windows Explorer, but your DVD software won't play it, then it's not DVD-R's fault. It's the fault of the DVD authoring/burning software - the disc was not correctly made. If Windows Explorer doesn't see the disc at all then it may be a DVD-R compatibility issue with your drives.

Also, some DVD software is pickier than others. What software and what versions? Have you tried using Windows Media Player? I find it less picky than PowerDVD 3 for instance.

[pacoreguenga]

Check your other systems' dvd drives's firmware version and date. Update if necesary, as DVDRW media compatibility began just a year ago...