[Bear]

Years ago I converted all of my VHS tapes to DVD.  15 DVD's in all.  All of a sudden NONE of them will load.  I've tried my laptops, PC, DVD players (3) and nothing.  It's like they had an expiration dates and suddenly shut down.  There is no sign of disc rot; all are as smooth and clean as when I first purchased them. 

I've researched this on the internet and have not found an answer to my liking.  Has this happened to anyone else?  Is the content retrievable?

Thanks, Bear

[tommyfighter]

When I upgraded to Win11 from Win10, the VCRs I had converted to DVD only had audio. I use VLC to play any video so if you use something else, my thoughts may not be valid. If you use some player besides VLC, you might want to install it and give it a try.

My reasearch took me to https://www.google.com/search?q=dvd+not+playing+on+vlc&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS1176US1176&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgWGB4yCAgCEAAYFhgeMg0IAxAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMgoIBBAAGKIEGIkFMgoIBRAAGKIEGIkFMgcIBhAAGO8FMgcIBxAAGO8F0gEJMTM0NDlqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&udm=50&fbs=ADc_l-aN0CWEZBOHjofHoaMMDiKpmAsnXCN5UBx17opt8eaTX5MJRoosnbembaWTjeNSquIWoqTqVYLeLmskJ4XAsvtb1qhbL7xOYGzZeteC8VopWxJCqlgZCuFzMR5XW6_pGHIcrUWODZxBuAZuRbgolgWVoLiNpg7ZT9zx02hr4TgBC55OzIL18G7sDIyvyhPDA18SapI_zpmF4bV1Wq4EHonwV76GiA&ved=2ahUKEwiV3JLkjrKSAxWE5ckDHbtNPFkQ0NsOegUI4QEQAA&aep=10&ntc=1&mtid=_Al8adzxK8vLp84Pl6rnOQ&mstk=AUtExfBfXYh5BbnqLmrJKbL-HHwq7ZQHFzkYmsOqelli8Ner2Ag54I06yxQOudCE_AawK02GEuo7OAX6mSrZVPC6zs2rjH8tsRLnaKDIKqBZSoLjvF42snR0N1kzIP70QGtWBjb-61btGX-oZcn_W4D3-rf6mU_zBNwk4ZRh7SA91ILRPwx56VsTMOkDjV6qK2CjZasLvIXmTy9w_aN3oxtzoXpAEs6PYr8IiHSWGR6me0M2gkLW_OkEikhTlhXIBepFjmDYvjDZ2t3URFVLBnuxUVkCNDgva7Dcbv7LAp2orXIcxOx7OUjuhcjSzbRYoOxybGUzV4PL1GpCMw&csuir=1 that gave me great suggestions. For my problem, it was the "Disable Hardware Acceleration: Go to Tools > Preferences > Input / Codecs. Change "Hardware-accelerated decoding" to Disable" that solved it for me.

I hope this link works as well for me as it did for me.

[locked]

That sucks ....  This isn't answering your question but here's happened to me was when things went from VHS tape to DVD's. 

The stuff I ordered from ECNWC on DVD wouldn't play right on anything.  They would stall, flicker , continue for 30 seconds or so and freeze again. Thought my DVD player was may too old so bought a new one and the same thing.  Then tried one on a friends player when I was house sitting their place and same thing.

Contacted ECNWC and they said they had no other reports on it but they sent me replacements on VHS. Mystery was never solved  and  no other DVD's  from  other producers had the issue.

Hope you get it you problem resolved ....

[lumberjack66]

If I remember right there are two primary DVD formats.  I think it was born out of competing companies.  They used to refer to it as a plus format and minus format.  It didn't happen with Professional DVD players, but PC's was common.  I think they settled on one of the formats which blew up the other format.  I'd try out the DVD's on other players (like TV instead of DVD).  If I remember right the formats were like +R -R?  You could try to get an external USB player that supports all formats?

Good luck!

[Horny-Jew]

This doesn't answer your question as don't know why that happened. I'm in the long process of converting all of my VHS tapes to MP4 files (which can be played using VLC as well as others) using elgato video capature. One end (separates into 3 cables - white, red, yellow) goes from the VCR and the other end goes into the USB jack on the computer. The software installs a program and the menu steps you thru the process. Very easy.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/397360652693?_skw=elgato+video+capture&itmmeta=01KG98VG0VZ0MHXCB3T8AG6DWA&hash=item5c848a6195:g:-kQAAeSwfntpM1Bb&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA8O7PUuNWmJ%2B%2BUShgI9tQz%2FrhEhV%2Bnogtimp5M7%2BFj3aXWsNzxpZvAxquj7yGCepBxc4%2FDGHXlgeNfimYI8KFDHeSinVh4Z%2Fnk6OgelaUiTDkP2JUcwcNoc231tdkeOFXlBUoeS1C4AwNlApRp5UW7quRLjQZSqNjx2p4sifNRHVx7DkWd4cPX78W9pWr7oUqeewM0wbwUP1AUlUp8k16vYMxFzAZFmRNCcUqq7eK2bvNewEtQk9rEtyBf3c9EDTuKlv3%2BWqE7aHG9z7cMb1i9C77hyTcMNCP63ju3HGR41jVBgpFBEnYinjOu04RbVo35g%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8iA7qiCZw

You can always convert the MP4 file(s) into a physical DVD that would play on a home DVD player or in a computer disc drive using many software programs including Convert X to DVD

https://www.vso-software.fr/products/convert_x_to_dvd/