I try to burn dvds on dvd-r discs but my dvd players won't read them. What should I try?

Well, complicated question. First, let's say you've purchased a DVD and you want to create a backup copy (it's illegal to do this with DVD's you rent).

The easiest way is using AnyDVD & CloneDVD from SlySoft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlySoft

http://www.slysoft.com/en/

CloneDVD will let you make a copy of a DVD, however commercial DVD's are protected. In order to copy them, you need a program to remove the protection (such as AnyDVD). Therefore, to do this you'll need both programs. They are VERY easy to use.

Check your DVD Player's manual. It should say what type of media it reads. Check for DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW. Make sure you are burning to the type of media it will read.

However, if you are talking about burning a DivX or XviD movie to a disk and then playing it on your DVD Player, this requires a completely different method.

My Phillips DVD Player reads DVD+R/DVD+RW media (as long as it's burned in Mastered Format ... it won't read RW media burned in live mode). So, I can just drag and drop DivX and XviD movies onto a disk, plug em into the DVD Player and it'll read/play them. The PS3 just got a patch that works the same way as well (it will play DivX/XviD movies).

Hope that helps!

Not sure which software you have been using to burn DVDs and also did you make the DVDs in the format acceptable to your DVD players.

Each DVD player has their own format but they would accept the VOB format (Video Object), Therefore, all the video you are burning must be converted to this format. To convert, one must use movie makers and one can use Microsoft Movie Maker or the DVD Video Maker in Nero 8

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updat...

http://www.nero.com/eng/downloads-nero8-trial.php

Nero 8 has a burning softwre that one can convert straight away in to DVDs. There are also other movie makers around in the market. Personally, I use Nero 8.

The tutorialsto use the movie makers can be found here

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemake...

http://www.nero.com/ena/show-tutorial.php?tut=MjM=

If you have an older drive, it may only be capable of reading one format or the other. Higher-end drives can sometimes have a firmware patch to allow them to burn DVDs (I would still burn at the lowest speed), but cheaper ones will not. Check for a firmware update, either on the manufacturer's site, or here:

http://forum.rpc1.org/portal.php

http://club.cdfreaks.com/f36/useful-firmware-links...