i can burn cdrs but not dvd’s using nero 6 ultra edition.
when using nero recode for dvds it encodes and thats it.
i have a dvd inserted in the drive but both the # of copies and the speed are grayed out
nero shows both of my drives 
im totally lost on this one an help is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to CDF distroyer,
Try using Nero Express, choose your recorder at the top right on the first window and choose that you want to burn DVD-Video Files, on the next pageit will ask you to add files. Find the location of the files from Recode and click on the Video_TS folder then click add. The next page should give you your burn options as long as you have a blank DVD in the drive.
thanks wobble, your suggestion worked 
I wish recode would just go through the whole process but @ least now i know my new drive is not defective. your help is much appreciated
I’m glad it worked. I’ve only played with Recode a few times (I like DVD Shrink) but it seems to me it would do both. Maybe it is not configured properly? 