Hello all from a newbie,

I read through the newbie forum, but decided there was not much help for this there, and decided to bring it here as there are far more vague posts than mine here.

I am sure you are inundated with this plea of help, but I attempted to search for this topic with the search utility and what I did find was of no help. In short, I am having extreme difficulty burning dual layer movies that will play on a standalone DVD player. I can burn single layer DVD's just fine using DVDFab, DVDShrink, and Nero (my typical way of doing things for the last few years).

My situation: I have recently attempted dual layer burns, but all 5 (3 standalone and 2 portable) of my DVD players spin out of control during the later chapters of the movies, often getting the "Operation Not Available" message. There is a lot of spinning, whirring, squeaking, and dying, as you might imagine. They oddly enough play just fine in my various computer DVD drives (at least 4 of them).

I have tried three arrangements of software to no avail: DVD Fab-Decrypter/Nero 7, DVDFab-Platinum, and making an ISO or VIDEO_TS folder set and trying to burn with IMGBurn (using the guide step-by-step from its website). Also, when authoring my own DVD's with Nero or Roxio I can not burn to dual layer either (single layer just fine). I have gone through about 30 Dual Layer discs--so I am tossing a few bucks away on each attempt. I briefly tried the Slysoft products and realized I was getting the exact same results and ditched them. I understand that the media I am using is not great (the dreaded Memorex) and I should be using Verbatim, but the law of averages says if it were the media I would have at least ONE success by now, right?

I am using a pretty decent Plextor drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827249006) with updated firmware--I have never created a coaster (remarkable but it is true) with this drive until attempting dual layer movies. The dual layer data discs I have burned have worked on any PC I have come across.

I have looked at the website videohelp.com, but could not find anything that addressed my particular problem.

My question is, do you know what I am doing wrong, or possess knowledge of a highly successful process or software?

Before anyone jumps on me, I BOUGHT DVD Fab platinum and Nero and my motivation is to make copies of movies for my kids when we go on trips (we travel a lot). I bought Shrek twice and now will never do so again.

Thanks for your time and consideration,