DVD Recording

Hi all. When I record things on my DVD Recorder I've noticed a real pain depending on where I want to play them back at. For-instance: If I record a show on a DVD, then go to try and play in on my lap-top, or another sort of DVD player, I often times can't fast forward or rewind the DVD. The show then begins to skip, the sound completely gets lost and won't come back and then I'm eventually forced to eject the DVD, then reload and try again. However, if I return the DVD back to where I originally recorded it at, it plays, FF and RW just fine. Other than that, all I can do on other players is just hit play (and watch all the commercials too). I'm thinking this is going to be a format problem, but if that's the case then what do I have to look for in the future to make sure that what I record on is also compatible with what I play on as well. Thanks in advance for any assistance with this.