Thanks for all the helpful posts and responses. I have burnt several video dvd-r,-rw's. The problem was nero. I have the latest edition and a new player that supports and i tried four different ways with nero.

Recordnow max is a great program. Thanks for the recs. Simple and flawless. I would recommend it highly. I'm also am happy with sony's new external burner that supports all formats and my +R and +RW's burn and work fine on my standalone player: drx500ulx.

Smartripper>dvd2one>recordnowmax.

Thanks again.