Recorded DVD-RW's do not play

[D_Hailsham]

I was recently given a Samsung DVD-R130 DVD recorder so I went out and bought some Maxell DVD-RWs (25 pack spindle). This is connected to a Sky box and a TV.

We also have a SonyDVP-NS330 which is connected to a second Sky box and TV.

Both sky boxes are bog standard - not sky+ or HD.

We thought we would be able to record programs on the Samsung and the play them back on the Sony.

The first attempt went OK

Put new disk in Samsung
Asked if we wanted to initialize it, so we said Yes;
Set the timer
Recorded the programme
Finalized the disk

Put disk in Sony
Disk Played OK

A week later we did the same again (using a different disk)

But when we put the disk in the Sony we got the message "Cannot Play Disk". It plays OK on the Samsung.

I have now tried several disks; some work some do not. I haven't been through all 25 disks as it takes about five minutes to finalize each one, even if you have only recorded a minute.

Does this sound like a faulty batch of disks or could there be an incompatibility between the Samsung and the Sony?

 

[Sam Gangee]

The answer is "yes" because you are asking us to guess without any hard evidence to prove one or the other.

My experience is that rewritable discs are very "iffy" to the extent that I can't be bothered to use them. I use Hard drives instead. A much higher capacity and greater reliability, if not over-used.

 

[Richard C]

Welcome to the world of re-writable & even writable DVD's & their compatibility with stand alone DVD players. Get yourself a hard drive recorder, saves all the hassle.

 

[D_Hailsham]

The answer is "yes" because you are asking us to guess without any hard evidence to prove one or the other.

What type of hard evidence is required?

My experience is that rewritable discs are very "iffy" to the extent that I can't be bothered to use them. I use Hard drives instead. A much higher capacity and greater reliability, if not over-used.

I did some Googling after I posted my question and it would appear that this problem is fairly common between different brands of machine because of the way they record. There are no standards as with VHS tapes, Music CDs or vinyl records etc. Each DVD recorder manufacturer seems to do his own thing. The quality of the disks can also be variable - even for branded products.

However that does not explain why some of the disks I bought recorded OK and others have not.

 

[Mickymoody]

I think you stumbled across the question of copy protection, and have some dodgy leads.

The norm, for copying copy protected disks, is that the screen turns green I think? to indicate that you are illegally copying copyright material. If the scart lead is not the correct spec, and many aren't fully wired, then the copy protection is doing it's job, you can't copy illegally.

It is illegal to copy TV material onto CD. Simples. Otherwise the BBC flogging their material would be out of business. But as we pay the TV license fee..who are they to then sell us a copy?

There are means and ways around this...but what you state is illegal.

 

[Monkeh]

It is illegal to copy TV material onto CD. Simples. Otherwise the BBC flogging their material would be out of business. But as we pay the TV license fee..who are they to then sell us a copy?

There are means and ways around this...but what you state is illegal.

If you bothered to do some research and understand the law, you'd find that timeshifting is legal.

 

[Sam Gangee]

The answer is "yes" because you are asking us to guess without any hard evidence to prove one or the other.

What type of hard evidence is required?

All you've stated is that using discs made by "X" with equipment made by "Y" produces an intermittent problem. It's impossible to say whether this is an equipment fault or a disc fault. To do that we'd need (as a minimum) additional evidence in the form of tests with discs from various other manufacturers and, if that was inconclusive, tests with other makes of DVD recorder.

In my experience, this would be a waste of time and money so I'd advise you to look very closely at the recorder manufacturer's recommendation regarding which discs are compatible.

 

[mikej2005]

I gave up using CD-RWs and DVD-RWs on my PC years ago, as I found them far too unreliable... and that was recording and playing back on the same drive !

 

[mikej2005]

I think you stumbled across the question of copy protection, and have some dodgy leads.

The norm, for copying copy protected disks, is that the screen turns green I think? to indicate that you are illegally copying copyright material. If the scart lead is not the correct spec, and many aren't fully wired, then the copy protection is doing it's job, you can't copy illegally.

It is illegal to copy TV material onto CD. Simples. Otherwise the BBC flogging their material would be out of business. But as we pay the TV license fee..who are they to then sell us a copy?

There are means and ways around this...but what you state is illegal.

I'm not an expert on Sky boxes, but I don't think this problem has anything to do with copy protection - all he's doing is recording from the Sky box, not from a copyrighted disk which would give the problems you describe... unless Sky broadcasts are somehow copyright protected ?

DVD recorders with built-in Freeview tuners are freely available, so recording from the TV onto DVD clearly isn't illegal.

There may be some daft copyright rule which states that you're only allowed to keep the recording for a certain length of time but, as with all these rules, it would be completely unenforceable.

In this case, the recording seems to be working but the disk won't play in another player. This is most likely down to dodgy disks or incompatibility between players, as previously mentioned.

 

[joinerjohn]

I've had this problem, albeit on my computer. Some discs record data/video/photo's etc to them fine, but wont read when re-inserted into the dvd/cd on my computer. Some have played in my dvd player on the tv, but other discs aren't recognised (same type, same brand) I always try to record at the lowest speed for data discs, but still seems to be rather hit and miss with video.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Yea this:

Welcome to the world of re-writable & even writable DVD's & their compatibility with stand alone DVD players. Get yourself a hard drive recorder, saves all the hassle.

Many years of illegally recording rented films and infringing copyright laws has taught me that TDK DVD+R's are by far the most reliable in terms of compatibility increasing my efficiency as a criminal. That said, I may find the system I run more reliable if I had paid for the recording software I use. That reminds me, I must have a word with my my friend who gave me that copy of AutoCAD, I'd quite like Revit on my lappy.

 

[Monkeh]

Many years of theft has taught me how to do it well.

Fixed that for you.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Allow me!

 

[alansj]

you know you have to finalise a dvd rw before it will play anything else, have you checked the options?

 

[ericmark]

I have a problem recording disks to take to my dad's for him to watch. His player will only play one type and I can never remember which. I can use DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW in the recorder and all will play in the 4 players I have. But can't remember if it's the + or the - type will not play on my dad's old player.

Also my recorder has a range of record qualities. For rewind and record onto hard disk they all work but when writing onto DVD the two lowest quality setting are a bit hit and miss.

When transferring from the Sky+ box something we have a problem with sound missing the odd part word. Seems to be related with certain programs UK Gold seems to be a problem but ITV3 never a problem. But if recorded live seems OK.

My problem is I have a load of white backed DVD's and not a clue if + or - so don't know if they will or will not work on dad's machine.

I have also noted the three machines connected to down stairs TV all have some modes they will not play. The Blu-ray will not play VCD's and the DVD which is part of hi-fi will not play MP4 no one player will play all formats. The camcorder with Wifi will only connect to DVD/Hard drive recorder but that has no USB connection. Only the Blu-ray will connect to LAN hard drive and even that will play some formats from a DVD but not from LAN hard drive.

With the recorder I had before it only recorded onto DVD and I found many failures until I started to use only re-recordable disks and the Aldi (Tevion) DVD+RW disks worked well (now no longer done). But once I got a recorder with hard drive built in then I returned to non re-recordable disks. One reason being I can mask adverts before I write to disk now where before I have to mask after writing to disk. Also means I can get more on the Disk I have crammed 8 hours with no adds onto a single disk.