DVD-R Iincopatability?

Will these disc's play on anything? I assume they play on the LG, but you don't actually say. Also, what format are the recorded files?

I thought you were talking about computer drives. If not, finalizing the disk is probably a good idea.

It's possible to have DVD-R and DVD+R compatibility issues, but its very rare. If you set out to find a non compatible drive on purpose, it would be a difficult task.

Windows is not good for this type of thing. Download and burn a live Linux distro to a DVD. Live means you run the OS directly from your CD/DVD rom drive in your PC. It doesn't alter your computer in any way. When you are done, you remove the disc and reboot the computer, and everything goes back to the way it was. If you go to distrowatch.com, you can find hundreds of live distro choices. Pick one from the list of the top 100 you get to when you scroll down the home page a bit.

Unless you have a very old, first generation DVD drive, the chance of you having a problem with dvd- blanks is highly unlikely. They usually list the formats a drive is compatible with right on the face of the drive itself. If not just do a search for the model you have, and check the specs that way.

If you can now just rip the files somehow, your problem will be solved. Since you're already using Windows, download a free program called MakeMKV. I really don't like to use Windows for stuff like this, but this is pretty straight forward now that we know what you are dealing with.

So, if you can, try MakeMKV and I'm pretty sure you'll be able get your files into a state where you can use them as you wish. Even if it doesn't work, there are other programs you can try, but the one I listed is the easiest.

I don't see why you can't rip the disks and just re-burn them however you like.

"08-07-15: Rsjm80
I did look at some of the specs for the LG players and found that it stated that they won't play on other units because the format is different! Now this sucks big time as I might or will have to search for another unit that will be compatible with what is so precious to me. I just thought that all the DVD layers had universal formats to play everything. Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions."

Your owners manual was printed in 2007. What may have been an odd format back then, may be more popular now. Either way, I don't see any other solution besides a computer. If you want your files back, you're going to have to use one. I know I sound like a broken record, but you did say your DVD's are very valuable to you. I would start off by installing VLC like one of the other posters said. Doing that will get a bunch of new codex's installed on your PC, which may allow the OS to recognize your DVD's. If so, then all you will need to do is transcode to a more suitable format. In the event VLC doesn't work, I can walk you through the process of downloading and using a live Linux distro. Its a fairly simple process.

"08-12-15: Djohnson54
Rsjm80, Frankly I'm baffled. This really should be straightforward. Maybe in the early days of DVD recording you might expect to find some drives that supported either +R or -R but not both but we are far removed from the early days and I've not seen a drive in many years that didn't support both. Best of luck in any case. Dick"

Unfortunately, if you are using component style burners, you can run into all kinds of problems. For example, finalizing isn't always the same thing for all formats. DVD+ auto finalizes as it records. The problem is that even after you finalize a dvd-, there will still be differences because they don't finalize the same way. Then there's the matter of patents. DVD+, DVD-, RW, etc.. Are all held by different companies. Because of that, manufacturers sometimes try to steer consumers into formats and/or equipment they make money on. That's probably the issue here. If we had enough info to follow the money, this would probably all make sense. And if that's not bad enough, I remember that there were marketing issues where companies were naming features DVD+(some feature), or DVD-(some feature), and they were not actually referring to supported formats.

"Except that the manual that was linked above clearly states on page 23 that discs recorded on the unit should be playable on regular DVD machines."

I agree. But that's not what's happening. lol. Also, don't read too much into my last post. When you said you were baffled, and this should be straightforward, I was just listing some of the odd, fine points with regards to the formats were talking about.

I think I did come up with something that I'm pretty sure no one else has mentioned. Dual layer (DL) disc's. They're so common now that support for them on an older player could be easily overlooked.