Burner Problem

My sister (who dont have a newsfeed) bought a Dell at New Year
According to her, when she tried to burn her very 1st DVD on it, she had
no problems doning so, but when she tried to play it back on the computer
it was "scratchy" as she put it.
So, armed with a spare external DVD burner, and the latest drivers i went
round to try to sort out what exactly was happening.
I installed the drivers i had taken with me, and then set about trying to
find out what worked, and what didnt, with the following findings:
CDs both play and burn fine on both the computer, and any other players she
has whether they be audio, or video CDs
DVDs, however burn fine on both her tower burner and the external one i brought
with me, but play with a distorted audio, and sometimes slightly distorted video
They play fine on standalone DVD player, too... whether burned with tower burner
or external drive
Sounds to me like she has a duff drive (its the bog standard CDR/DVDR combo)
The reason she needs to play the DVDs on computer is they are instructional videos
for her hobby, and are interactive, so she cant really use them via a TV
Can anyone offer any other solution/cause, please?

Me

DVDs, however burn fine on both her tower burner and the external one i brought
with me, but play with a distorted audio, and sometimes slightly distorted video
They play fine on standalone DVD player, too... whether burned with tower burner
or external drive
Sounds to me like she has a duff drive (its the bog standard CDR/DVDR combo)
The reason she needs to play the DVDs on computer is they are instructional videos
for her hobby, and are interactive, so she cant really use them via a TV
Can anyone offer any other solution/cause, please?

Just trying to get my head around this one - the drive burns DVDs that
play on other equipment fine, but won`t play on the PC ?

Its a guess, but if it plays ok on other equipment, the drive itself is
probably OK - what software is she using to play them on the PC ?

I have had a similar problem on my I8600. The DVD burner in the laptop would
burn disks that would play in any other pc or dvd player but not in the
laptop itself. Dell replaced the drive but that didnt fix the problem (the
first thought was that the reading laser in the drive was faulty). But it
turned out to be the brand of disks and the specific combination of burning
in the laptop and reading in the laptop, because i could burn these disks in
another computer and read them in the laptop.

In short I would try another brand of disk.

Hope that helps
Robert

"Colin Wilson" wrote in message
t...
DVDs, however burn fine on both her tower burner and the external one i
brought
with me, but play with a distorted audio, and sometimes slightly
distorted video
They play fine on standalone DVD player, too... whether burned with tower
burner
or external drive
Sounds to me like she has a duff drive (its the bog standard CDR/DVDR
combo)
The reason she needs to play the DVDs on computer is they are
instructional videos
for her hobby, and are interactive, so she cant really use them via a TV
Can anyone offer any other solution/cause, please?

Just trying to get my head around this one - the drive burns DVDs that
play on other equipment fine, but won`t play on the PC ?

Its a guess, but if it plays ok on other equipment, the drive itself is
probably OK - what software is she using to play them on the PC ?

On Sat, 6 May 2006 14:15:16 +0100, "Me"
wrote:

Sounds to me like she has a duff drive (its the bog standard CDR/DVDR combo)

I didn't read your post carefully and I don't know what "duff" and
"bog" mean in yoru sentence above, but on my last desktop I was able
to determine that my DVD RW drive was having a commonly reported
problem for that drive, and was able to get Dell to install the exact
kind that I wanted as a replacement.

YMMV

"journey" wrote in message
...

I didn't read your post carefully and I don't know what "duff" and
"bog" mean in yoru sentence above, but on my last desktop I was able
to determine that my DVD RW drive was having a commonly reported
problem for that drive, and was able to get Dell to install the exact
kind that I wanted as a replacement.

YMMV

Sorry about that, lol..those are "British" phrases
FYI "duff" means broken, or not doing the job/task its supposed to
"bog standard" means "as normally supplied" .....IE the drive that Dell
supplied as standard/no upgaded hardware.
I didnt have time to ascertain exactly what drive is in there, so i have asked her to
look up the order form, and will post back when its to hand
Thanks to you and the others that have replied so far

Me

"Me" wrote in message
...

"journey" wrote in message
...

I didn't read your post carefully and I don't know what "duff" and
"bog" mean in yoru sentence above, but on my last desktop I was able
to determine that my DVD RW drive was having a commonly reported
problem for that drive, and was able to get Dell to install the exact
kind that I wanted as a replacement.

YMMV

Sorry about that, lol..those are "British" phrases
FYI "duff" means broken, or not doing the job/task its supposed to
"bog standard" means "as normally supplied" .....IE the drive that Dell
supplied as standard/no upgaded hardware.
I didnt have time to ascertain exactly what drive is in there, so i have asked her to
look up the order form, and will post back when its to hand
Thanks to you and the others that have replied so far

Me

Turned out to be a software problem in the end
I got her to take it right back to when it was delivered, and hey presto
all was OK
As to *WHAT software it was i neither know, nor care, lol. I know she
downloads a lot of game demos and such, so she will just have to wean
herself off that habit
Anyway, thanks to all those that replied, offering help, and solutions

Me

journey wrote:

On Sat, 6 May 2006 14:15:16 +0100, "Me"
wrote:


Sounds to me like she has a duff drive (its the bog standard CDR/DVDR combo)


I didn't read your post carefully and I don't know what "duff" and
"bog" mean in yoru sentence above,

This has already been answered, but you can think of "bog standard" as
POV (plain old vanilla).