The +/- formats are competition generated like the recent DVD contest which BlueRay won, or even farther back the beta vs VHS conflict. Today most DVD units read and/or write both formats. My most recent reading reported minus was the more prevalent of the two. Personally I do not like any RW to use for permanent storage. I have to at times use copied video, audio and text at work. Several times a year RWs which have been rewritten on several times fail; CD and DVD. Not too often, but they do fail. Without knowing what brand and model of DVD burner along with the software you intend to use, my initial position is as long as the disk is amendable you should be able to continue using it for additional storage. DA

Online videos hanging could well be to do with your connection to your provider. When watching a video that starts to hang just click the pause button for a few seconds to allow the buffer to build. You should see the cache continue to build then click to play again. While it does not correct the DVD problem you might consider an external DVD player/burner. Some listed below to give you a price spread. Did you try anything that Bob suggested above? Is the Time Warner program a full anti virus and anti malware combination or purely anti virus? Here is a link that might be useful: Sampling of external DVD player/burner

Never mind. Please disregard my request. I've since found a few tools that enable me to do this task. Since I need to get this project done fairly quick (within 2 days), I went ahead and purchased the software from Corel: Ulead DVD MovieFactory 6 Plus. Now, I need to learn how to do this quickly.

I'll try to give you some pointers, I have a Panasonic VCR/DVD combo also. Yours is newer so probably a different model. Your machine should take several types of disks. For the DVD-RW, you may have to format the disk before recording. I use DVD+R, which do not need to be formatted, but do need to be finalized after recording. So find your type of disk in the manuel and follow instructions. There should be a section in the manual explaining the types of disks that your machine uses. You will probably push the Functions button on your remote, get a menu and go to Disk Management (that's how I finalize on mine.) ONce you've got the disk ready, it's very easy to record: The record speed (just like on a VCR) has to be set before you start. Push the Mode button and you should get a box on the screen that tells you the recording time on the disk: SP for 2 hours, etc. That's what I use most of the time. If you want to get 4 shows on one disk, you can use the 4 hour mode, the quality will be little worse. Remeber, disks are pretty cheap. Once you have the speed set, and your show is on, just push the Record button. Now, if you're going to record more than one show, you won't be able to finalize the disk until you have everything on it that you want. ONce you finalize that type disk, it's not recordable any more. The exception to this is the RAM disk, which your Panasonic should also use (check manual). You can record, re-record, edit, etc. But they are more expensive. If you aren't saving the shows permanently, you might just buy a few RAM disks and record over them. They don't have to be formatted or finalized. If you want to set the machine to record while you're gone, you have to go through the menus and set it up, just like a VCR. You'll have to read the manual and try going through the menu, can't help you much there. I hope this helps a little, I know that the manual and menus can be confusing, but it's not much different than a VCR once you do it a few times. Good luck.