I have a Lite-On LDW 851S DVD R/W. I have had the computer for more than 4 years and never had the occasion to use the burner. I do use it to watch DVD's all the time with no problems. I am now trying to use it as a burner and it doesn't seem to work properly. I have Nero 9, and ImgBurn. I also have converter programs like FAVC and AviSynth. I have followed all the directions on each and everyone of them. All they seem to do is burn about a 1/4 of an inch from either the inside of the DVD or the outside of the DVD. When I try to view the DVD, no files show up in the drive that the DVD is in. The files are AVI and WMP. I have tried to burn both actual video's that I have taken of my grandbabies and files that I have downloaded from paid websites. I have used both TDK DVD-R and Office Depot DVD+R (Office Depot is made by Verbatum, just a private label for Office Depot). I have gone to the Lite-On website and updated all the firmware and drivers. I think that since the burner is actually buring something on the DVDs that it's not my burner. I don't know if more information is needed for help, but am willing to give what ever is asked. I have been working on a Christmas present for my sister for more than a week now and am so frustrated I could just screem!! ANY help in this would be greatly appreciated!!!!

hi joy, I can understand your frustration. Would you have any friends or relatives nearby that might have sonic record now software packaged with their PC's. I would suggest you try that as I have found it much more user friendly than Nero. I would also suggest uninstalling all the other stuff you tried as there could be some conflicts. A good utility you could use after you uninstall them is regcleaner: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4... to clean up the excess files left over safely. Then you could use CCleaner: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4... to clean out more useless files Have you defragged your HD lately? If not, I would suggest doing that too. Then try sonic record now and see how you make out (that is if you found a copy) Good luck Some HELP in posting on Computing.net plus free progs and instructions Cheers

Joy, I'm 'guessing' that you are mistakenly burning 'data' files instead of creating a DVD format disc. I don't have Nero 9, but if you are using 'Nero StartSmart', select 'Make your own DVD video'. If you don't have that option, it might be that you have a limited version of Nero without 'Nero Vision'. DVDflick is supposed to be a free DVD disc creator. http://www.dvdflick.net/

I don't know anyone that has sonic record now and I have done a defrag and clean disk. I have a full version of Nero and am using Nero Vision. I have tried burning videos, pictures, mp3 and regular data using Nero and Imgburn. Nothing is working. :(

Have you tried any of the diagnostic software that is part of the Nero suite? When you put one of these DVDs you've tried to burn back in the DVD recorder and look at it from Nero, does Nero "see" anything on the disk? Or does Nero just consider it a blank DVD?

Pyrolitic, I hadn't thought of doing that until you suggested it. I took the DVD's that I've tried to burn and used the NeroInfo Tool. Nero sees it as a blank disk :(

I wonder what would happen if you tried to use the DVD again. I know when I have prepared to write a DVD, Nero presents that gauge which shows how much space you have available. If you set up like you were going use one of these previously used DVD disks, does Nero claim you have the full 4.8GB free for files? If you've never been able to successfully write files to a DVD disk with that burner, then it sounds like it might have some kind of hardware defect which isn't detected by the software. I had a Lite-on 451S which just stopped writing or reading DVDs. It still works fine as a CD-RW, but it won't do anything with DVDs. And none of the software detects anything wrong. It just acts like there's nothing in it when a DVD is put in.