I've encountered the same problem in the past...

1. You are using cheap programs OR...
2. You are using inferior media (DVDRs)

If you are serious about converting movies, you should invest in a program that is not free. There are two programs available for about $50 that work excellent...

Tsunami MPEG Encoder (TMPGEnc) Plus 2.5
Cinema Craft Encoder (CCE) Basic

You should be able to find trial versions of these products, although there are most likely limitations on encoding.

My recommendations for media are:

Verbatim
Hitachi-Maxell
Taiyo-Yuden
Sony

DVD+R media is more widely recognized by players than DVD-R.

I also support the above recommendation of burning at low speeds. I use 1-16X media and I burn at 4X.

If you follow these recommendations, I am confident that you will solve your problem. For more advice, I would suggest looking into some video forums, i.e. Afterdawn, Doom9, etc.

Good Luck :idea:

Good points muhctekdano...I think it sounds like a hardware issue, possibly the discs like Lotr suggested earlier....
Another good brand is Imation....:rolleyes_2:

thanx for the advice, i have used both sony and verbatim discs and still have the same problem, the program i use is dvd santa which i had to pay for but i will try and find the other programs that you mentioned.

i have tried the other burning programs that you mentioned with the same problem occuring, very confused now. when i back up from disc to disc it is fine it is only when i try and convert avi files??????????????? please help