Thanks for the replies. I've so much recorded on the hdd that I don't want to lose. I'll try the suggestion from Gavtech. Would appreciate exactly what you meant by cleaning - As I said in original post I've tried new br discs straight out the packaging. Are you referring to the discs or to something inside the unit (sleds?). I'm just a novice at this.
He's talking about dismantling the machine and checking/cleaning the area along which the laser assembly moves inside the drive.
This is a picture of the inside of my
PC drive which will be broadly similar.
The highlighted area is the laser slide. The two lasers are on the assembly closest to the centre spindle in this image, and have to move along the highlighted area to track across the width of the disc surface. It is this that Gav is suggesting may be fouled by accumulated dirt.
As to saved content: if any of it is STANDARD DEFINITION (as apposed to High Definition) then you should be able, if all else fails, to copy that directly over your network onto (say) your PC hard drive where you can deal with it by editing, burning to disc, etc.