Can't play homemade DVD copies on player

[poz3614]

My daughter has a GO Video, VR 3845, player attached to her TV. It plays rentals just fine but it won't play DVDs made on a computer's recorder. Most recently I burned a DVD from my camcorder tape using a HP dvd-r. It played just fine on my computer and also my TV attached player, but it won't play on my daughter's player. She told me that she's always had a problem playing homemade DVDs no matter who it's from, not just me. So, I would imagine there may be other formats that it also won't play. Any ideas?

[jagabo]

Buy her a new player.

[usually_quiet]

When the laser in a player wears out, it starts having trouble playing burned media. Plus, this product apparently debuted in 2005, so it is getting old.

GO Video has a poor reputation. When I looked for information on the VR 3845 DVD recorder/VCR combo, one reviewer on Amazon noted the laser was prone to burn out after recording for more than 2 hours at a time. That would indicate a cheap, poorly made drive and/or terrible firmware controlling it.

Good new DVD players can be had for $50 or less. Unfortunately, there aren't many DVD recorder/VCR combos made and none are quality products. If your daughter must have one, Magnavox/Funai, makes a couple that Walmart and a few other stores sell online. Best to buy from a store with a good return policy.

[TimA-C]

Usual recommendations of using good quality disks and lower your burning speed - I never burn 16x rated disks faster than 8x and 8x rated disks faster than 6x.