My 'Playo" brand DVD +R (was a home video I made)

[hollyr]

All of my other home movies work but this brand (Playo and also Beall) won't play. These disks DID play years ago when I first burned them. They are not scratched.  Is IMGBurn a DVD Decrypter? I have never used IMGBurn before. Do I need an optical unit or could I use my regular DVD drive?

I don't know if my Playos and Bealls are multi-layered discs. The most techie thing I have ever done was make a home movie with editing software. OHHH: I found this link and I will try the DVD Decrypter first..http://www.wikihow.com/Rip-a-DVD-with-DVD-Decrypter  This link says to use my DVD drive but I thought I should purchase an optical drive.  Are they the same thing?

Edited June 28, 2016 by hollyr

[dbminter]

My guess is they are cheap discs and after all these years the layers rotted.  I believe BeAll is a pretty bottom of the barrel manufacturer of DVD recordable media.

 

 

Can you play them on PC?  If they play on PC then they are still playable.  If they're not playable on PC, which is more forgiving of disc abnormalities, then the issue is with the DVD player.  However, I'd be willing to bet the discs are just dead. 

 

 

Try a Read mode in ImgBurn and see if you can read them to an image file.  If you can, then they are still readable.  However, I'd be willing to bet they're not readable anymore.  Or, at least, they're only partially readable.  They may start reading to image files but may not finish.  My guess is they're not readable at all and you won't even be able to start an image read.

 

 

Cheap discs can last anywhere from less than a year to a few years before they rot.

[hollyr]

Dear DBMINTER; Thank you so much for your response! No, unfortunately they don't play on my PC. I will do as you recommend! Do I need an "optical unit/ scanner" or could I just use my PC's DVD drive for reading this cheap DVD?

[dbminter]

I don't know what you mean by an optical unit/scanner.  Your PC's DVD drive should be all that you need.

 

 

Yeah, try the Read mode, but I doubt if it will detect anything is in the drive as I believe the disc is dead.  Especially if it doesn't play in a DVD player on in your PC drive.  You may get a partial read, but I think there's simply nothing there to read at all.