burning problem

howdy. I am not sure if this is a software or hardware issue but I shall start here. I am running a Dell Dimension 3000 with P4 and 700 odd mgs of RAM and running XP Pro. I have an LG dvd burner and use dvd shrink and nero to burn with depending on what I am burning. A friend sent me some avi's of a british tv drama. everything burns fine, no errors but every other one I burn doesn't play. On my computer if says the file is damaged or the disc is. On my home dvd unit it sounds like the disc is going to explode and doesn't get read. When I go thru Nero I get a message that the file contains both NTSC and PAL. I get the option of converting to either/or so I choose NTSC. This to only seems to work half the time. If it is an avi file to start with why are there problems with playback occasionally when conversion goes fine. I am assuming that all files have both NTSC and PAL so what gets me is why do only 1/2 work. Any ideas would be appreciated. If it helps I am using Maxell and Sony dvd +r's.

thanks Brent

One of your problems might be with the refectivity of the discs. Try burning them at half the speed you've been using.

.avi files don't have any regional formatting, but their resolutions, frame rates and aspect ratios change from NTSC to PAL. So you could tell from an avi file if its source is NTSC or PAL.

Nero might just have a crappy NTSC encoder. Doing a conversion like that Nero has to do a lot of math, it might just be miscalculating.

Hi Coops,
You might want to try this freeware converter
http://www.vso-software.fr/
It has worked well for me.

b_

I guess the latest version is not freeware...but you can try it!
Sorry

thanks for the ideas guys, will give them both a try. I tried one conversion program (from PAL to NTSC) but I only converted the and not the audio stream. it was out of sync about a minute before 5 minutes viewing had passed.
i've tried a different avi to dvd converter then using dvd shrink. both seem to work intermittently.

thanks for all you help guys but I've decided to go the less painful way and get an S video cable and play them from my laptop. lots of cable but less hassle. :)