dvds won't play properly

[joko]

my sister lends me dvds that she has watched perfectly well but about half of them won't play on mine.

i've cleaned the player and the disc - even wiped them over with the cleanber solution, coloured the edges with marker pen, but no change

some won't start at all and i get error messages of no disc etc, or its just appears to be whirring away but nothing happens, other start off and then start to pixelate in quick bursts they get worse and become unwatchable,

she gets them from a mate an they are copies but they play for her fine so surely that can't be the problem.
any ideas
thanks
(incidentally does the markerpen have to be just round the edge or also on the surface of the disc about 2mm in ?)

[ugly_bob]

never heard of colouring in the edges
my DVD player won't play copies or the free dvds you get with the paper sometimes. my Playstation will play almost anything.

[Ethel]

If the discs are dvd r (not dvd rw) they must be finalised in the recorder that made the copies to ensure they play in all dvd players.

That may be the problem.

[joko]

i see what you mean, but these discs all come from the same bloke apparently, who makes loads of copies so probably buys the blanks in bulk, or locally so hasn't a lot of choice in variety, and some work - but, i suppose its possible

but what can i do about it?

[Llamatron]

Just to state the obvious but have you considered just buying the originals or going to the cinema instead?

[joko]

well, thanks llamatron for that everso helpful answer.

however i don't want to buy the originals because i am only watching the films because they are there

and in case you hadn't realised the question was about how to fix my machine, or at least find out what the problem was - not to be told something inane and useless regarding my film watching habits

but thanks again for your valuable contribution

[Llamatron]

It was my pleasure joko. ;-)

[compman]

I think it's answers like the one given by Llamatron that put a lot of people off asking questions on this site.

For all Llamatron knows, joko may be disabled and unable to go to a cinema, or the nearest cinema may be miles away.

As for buying DVDs, why should he when his sister is lending them to him.

As joko says, all he wanted to know was how to fix his machine.

[oligopoly]

i agree, compman

[Llamatron]

Wow, has the heat zapped everyones sense of humour all of a sudden?

[compman]

I'm sorry if I misjudged you Llamatron, and your comments were meant as a joke.

The problem with the written word is, we can't see if you have a twinkle in your eye and a smile spreading across your face as you type.

For all we know you may be Victor Meldrew Mk II.

..lol