I've just aquired some dvds that someone burned for me and I'm having trouble playing them on either of my dvd players. The menus are fine and the features play so I know it's not a compatibility issue. When the dvd is playing it will start skipping or stop playing all together. Any suggestions??

Mods feel free to move if necessary.

Are these DVDs that the person authored himself?

I'm not sure what you mean by "authored". These are not illegally copied dvd's if that's what you mean.

Your friend may have done a bad job of encoding or burning the DVDs. Maybe burned at too high a speed.

Do they work ok on their player?

Ask whether he used DVD-Rs or DVD+Rs (or +RW, -RW for that matter). Check the model #s of your DVD players, and check their compatibility for - and + @ http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers.php

I'm curious as to what the content of these DVDs are? Home video?

What program did your friend used to created and authorize the DVD? What kind of DVD media was used? Brand, speed, and type (DVD+R or DVD-R).