"Coho, it just seems strange that both of your computers would have this problem at the same time, and since the CDs work ok it just seems to point to the DVDs as the problem. I have found that some of the blank cheaper brands of DVDs do seem to have a higher failure rate when they get older. I no longer store anything that I want to keep only on DVDs, but make sure I have copies on external hard drives." As do I. I would much rather send a DVD to Alaska family than my external drve. Guess will reinstall Windows in about 2 weeks unless someone comes up with a better way. Thanks

Surely as you progress through the instructions there should be an option to change to the external drive to burn? I am not familiar with the Ulead software.

DVD recorders and DVD Burners both create DVDs buy "burning" via a laser to a blank DVD disk. However, A DVD recorder typically refers to a standalone unit that resembles and functions very much like a VCR. All DVD recorders can record from any analog video source (most can also record video from digital camcorders via firewire). Like a VCR, DVD recorders all have AV inputs as well as onboard TV tuner for recording TV shows. DVD Recorders come in several configurations: Standalone, DVD Recorder/VCR Combo, or DVD Recorder/Hard Drive combo units. Might work then you have a pc without a burner, sound like the laser in the DVD recorder mey be bad that's what recognizes the disks

Sounds like maybe the darker color thing mentioned above may also play into it. My 2001 Grand Cherokee ( factory am/fm/cd/casette player) will not recognize burned CDs. i am currently using my laptop with XP and have tried windows player, I-tunes and BurnerXP but haven't noticed any different results from any of that different software. After going thru about 30 cds burning at different speeds and formats, I finally got it to occasionally recognize one I burnt at around 4X using PCM .wav (uncompressed) format but to recognize and play I usually have to fast forward it thru a couple of songs while it is doing the initial read. Once it recognizes and starts playing then will usually play the whole CD but doesn't always work for whatever reason. I may try the label thing or try to find some of the "dark" cds to see if that matters. We have a 98 KIA witn an aftermarket cd player and it will play just about anything burnt to cd no matter format or speed.