Computer Will Not Recognize Disks

[Dr_Rumack]

Have been attempting to backup several DVDs purchased on Ebay. My computer sees nothing in the drive when I insert the disks. The disks play fine on my standalone DVD player.

I became concerned that I had either a hardware problem or a driver conflict. My DVD burner is running the latest firmware. I have been unable to identify any driver conflicts in WinXP SP2. I do not believe I have a hardware problem because my computer is able to read other commercially-manufactured disks.

The titles in question are:

1. Little Mermaid
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Jungle Book

The region code on each label is 'ALL'. I have never seen that region code on commercial DVDs sold in the US. I cleaned the DVDs and examined them for physical damage. They look OK.

I searched other threads and discovered that my kind of read failures are generally linked to poor-quality media. Then I noticed that the labels look a little dull and off-color. There are no menus in Chinese, so I did not immediately think the disks were pirated.

I've decided, however, that the disks probably ARE pirated and that the pirate used cheap media my drive cannot read.

Am curious whether anyone agrees or disagrees with my diagnosis of the problem. If you disagree, can you recommend any other solutions to troubleshoot this issue?

[setarip_old]

Hi!

1) What color are the undersides (the unlabeled sides)?

2) Is your DVD/burner limited to ONLY (one or the other) DVD+R or DVD-R?

[CWR03]

The "play side down" of a burned disk is never plain silver. If yours are of almost any other color than a plain reflective silver they're bootleg. Contact eBay and file a fraud claim.

Edit: After checking a few of my own Disney disks, the play side of some of them is gold. I know of no burning media which is gold on the play side.

[setarip_old]

If yours are of almost any other color than a plain reflective silver they're bootleg.Virtually all D/L commercial, pressed DVDs have gold-colored "play sides"...

[CWR03]

Virtually all D/L commercial, pressed DVDs have gold-colored "play sides"...
I am currently holding and looking at six disks from Netflix which I received today, all of which are DL, and only one of those (From Russia With Love) is gold.

[setarip_old]

I can only speak of my Region 1 purchased DVDs (many hundreds) - and with a VERY small exception, all "play sides" are gold (Many Single-layered, commercial pressed DVDs are silver)...

[Awatef]

I have many DL DVDs that are silver colored, so Gold is not a criteria for DL.

Let's agree that if it isn't silver or gold, it is a burned DVD.

[Dr_Rumack]

All the disks are gold on the underside.

Burner is a Lite-On LDW-811S.

Format compatibility as follows:

DVD write: DVD+R Version 1.3, DVD+R9 Version 1.0 (only for drives that support doublelayer DVD+R writing), DVD-R9 Version 3.0 (only for drives that support dual-layer DVD-R writing), DVD+RW Version 1.3, DVD-R Version 2.1, and DVD-RW Version 1.2, DVD-RAM Version 2.2 (only for drives that support DVD-RAM rewriting)

DVD read: DVD-ROM single/dual layer (PTP, OPT), DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+R9, DVD-R9, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM (only for drives that support DVD-RAM reading)

[setarip_old]

The disks play fine on my standalone DVD player.1) When you initially load one of these problematic discs into your standalone player, does it indicate that it is a "DVD" or something else?

2) Have you tried loading one of these on another PC system? (If you don't have another system available to you, you could try it out at a computer retail store)

[Dr_Rumack]

My DVD player (a new Panasonic F87) says "DVD" on "Little Mermaid" and "Jungle Book". It also says "DVD" on "Beauty and the Beast", but displays a light that says "D.MIX".

Neither of my computers will recognize the problem disks.

[setarip_old]

My DVD player (a new Panasonic F87) says "DVD" on "Little Mermaid" and "Jungle Book". It also says "DVD" on "Beauty and the Beast", but displays a light that says "D.MIX".Well, at least we now know that they are DVDs and not VCD, CVD, or similar. (The "D.MIX" is likely a reference to having to downmix the audio of that particular DVD) Neither of my computers will recognize the problem disks.'Tis a puzzlement ;>}

Just to be sure, what's your definition of "not recognizing" the discs? If, in Explorer, you click on the drive containing one of the discs, does it open the drive and show file information, or do you see a message about the drive not being "ready" or similar?

Other than trying them on some retail store's systems, I'm afraid I have no further ideas/suggestions about these discs...

[Dr_Rumack]

what's your definition of "not recognizing" the discs?
I should have been more specific. When trying to access the disk through Windows Explorer, the drive tries to spin up several times. Then I receive a dialog box asking me to insert a disk.

Neglected to mention that the drive on my other computer is a Samsung TS-L532. Format compatibility on that drive is DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW. Same results.

If the disk is legitimate, I'll bet Disney would like to know what they've done to make it so hard to backup.