I dubbed a home video from a tape to a DVD and when I put the DVD into my computer, it comes up blank?

Question

I've tried both DVD-R and DVD+R and I don't know why it is blank as soon as I put it in the computer but when it is in my VCR, it is all there.

Answer 1

There's one thing that you need to know (which you probably forgot...  or didn't bother reading in the manual)...

YOU'LL NEED TO FINALIZE ANY DISC BEFORE ANY DVD-PLAYER OR DVD-ROM DRIVE WILL ACKNOWLEDGE IT AS SUCH!  This also applies to CD's, but CD burner software usually does the finalization once you burn the entire disc.

DVD recorders do not finalize the DVD so you can add or remove stuff (but not recover the space) from the disc as well as playback unfinalized discs.  However, all other DVD-players can't handle unfinalized discs because it doesn't have all the information that's needed.

Pretty much, you'll have to look in your DVD-Recorder's menu for the "Finalize" option.  You will get a warning that you will not be able to record to the disc once finalized (which should be OK as you've likely filled the DVD up).  Once you hit YES, the finalization process will be executed & once completed, it should work in MOST DVD-Players.

Please note that I did not say ALL DVD-Players as there may still be some incompatibility between players & recorders.  There may be a rare occurrence of incompatibility here.

Again, I cannot stress it enough...  FINALIZE, FINALIZE, FINALIZE!!!