Panasonic DMR-EZ27EB: how do I record different TV programmes on one disc?

[Eddie Unready]

How do I go about recording a programme (from TV) to sit alongside one previously recorded? For example I recorded the first episode of BBC's Life in Cold Blood then ejected the disc without finalising it as I understand this renders the disc non-recordable. A week later I inserted the same disc and recorded episode 2 after which ep. 1 was nowhere to be seen! I think I could be setting the recording mode wrongly or committing another basic error. The instructions are not very helpful I'm afraid. By the way I'm using DVD-R blanks. At least with video-tape you knew exactly where you were! Any advice is most welcome.

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by Eddie Unready

How do I go about recording a programme (from TV) to sit alongside one previously recorded? For example I recorded the first episode of BBC's Life in Cold Blood then ejected the disc without finalising it as I understand this renders the disc non-recordable. A week later I inserted the same disc and recorded episode 2 after which ep. 1 was nowhere to be seen! I think I could be setting the recording mode wrongly or committing another basic error. The instructions are not very helpful I'm afraid. By the way I'm using DVD-R blanks. At least with video-tape you knew exactly where you were! Any advice is most welcome.

Hi

It is always better to use 'Advanced copy' rather than 'Simple Copy.

Simple copy records then finalises without giving you any choice.

Advanced copy will give you an option to copy and finalise OR copy only if you intend to add material at a later time. [ The option appears when you come to commit the copy ]

Also see this post No 2 - which has related issues which also apply to your machine.
Pan. DMR-EX95 Multi Progs to 1 Disc

[MuksC]

it should have worked the way you tried it, by not finalising the disc then recording something else.

you didn't somehow format the disc before you recorded the second prog did you?

try it out again, put a blank disc in, record a minute or so of footage from anything, stop recording and remove the disc, then re-insert it and try recording again and see if the first recording is still there.

(before a disc is finalised you can still delete the contents, so don't worry, you can remove these 2 test recordings so as not to waste the disc.)

@ Gav, if he had accidentally finalised the disc, then surely it wouldn't have allowed the second episode to have been recorded, would it?

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by MuksC

@ Gav, if he had accidentally finalised the disc, then surely it wouldn't have allowed the second episode to have been recorded, would it?

Indeed not. I think this was simply a case of a recording failing to terminate properly.
The amount of time left on the disc should give a clue as to what exactly has happened.

[Eddie Unready]

Thanks MuksC. No I didn't format or finalise the disc. I'll try what you suggest as an experiment and report back.

[Eddie Unready]

Thanks Gavtech. I didn't know about advanced copy option. I have copied the link you gave and will keep that in mind when trying the MuksC suggestion.

[Adrian_F]

Hi Eddie

I think that you are perhaps trying to record in XP quality mode which would only give you 1 hours recording per disc ie. one episode of "Life In Cold Blood", and so you would be unable to get anything else on the disc. You can alter the record mode by using the button to the right of the REC button on the remote control or on the Timer Recording screen when it is presented to you.

XP gives approx. 1 hour recording
SP gives approx. 2 hours recording
LP gives approx. 4 hours recording
EP gives approx. 8 hours recording

Obviously the longer the recording time then the lower quality you get on the disc.

[Eddie Unready]

Thanks Adrian F; I was already aware of the various recording modes, but it is possible that I may have set the machine to record in XP. Will be running some tests later.

[ROYOLD]

Originally Posted by Eddie Unready

A week later I inserted the same disc and recorded episode 2 after which ep. 1 was nowhere to be seen!

Pressing the Navigator button on the remote will show onscreen thumbnails of what you have recorded on the disc - if anything.

[fernandez]

Why not use DVD-RAM discs - more expensive but they would make so much easier for you.
Just record, take the disc out if you want to, record something else on another disc and weeks later put the first disc back in the machine and simply record something else. No fuss, no hassle, no bother.
If you're treating your DVDR as you would a VCR and just for home use, RAM discs are IMHO the perfect solution.
Unless I'm making a recording that I want to pass to someone else (with a non-RAM capable machine) I use nothing else

[Eddie Unready]

Thanks for your comments about RAM. I have now run some tests with -R and -RW blanks and can now record programmes 'side by side'. However, I seem to be able to record and delete repeatedly using -R as long as I don't finalise, but the same also applies when using -RW discs so what's the advantage in using the -RW? Will I gradually lose quality when using -R....or what? Very confusing!

[Broadz]

Originally Posted by Eddie Unready

Thanks for your comments about RAM. I have now run some tests with -R and -RW blanks and can now record programmes 'side by side'. However, I seem to be able to record and delete repeatedly using -R as long as I don't finalise, but the same also applies when using -RW discs so what's the advantage in using the -RW? Will I gradually lose quality when using -R....or what? Very confusing!

You can delete from a -R - but you don't get the space back. If you delete the final programme from a -RW you get the space back. And of course, with a -RW or a +RW you can completely reinitialise the disc and it becomes blank again. Any recordings put on a -R or a +R are there permanently - even if you can't see them. As in, you don't get the space back to record something else over the top of the deleted programme.

[Gavtech]

Just to add to Broadz explanation...

-R and +R discs are 'Write once' discs.

-RW and +RW are, as the name implies 'Rewrite-able' many times.

RAM discs are the most flexible of all. They behave in exactly the same way as a hard disc. Titles can be edited / deleted / moved etc. all without having to finalise or format.

[Eddie Unready]

Not long after I issued my last post the penny dropped. I took a finalised recording made on a -RW disc to another DVD player, played it then brought it back to the recorder and formatted it...everything erased and back to a blank disc! I think that's it; at least until the next mini crisis. Thanks to Broadz and Gavtech for confirming my 'discovery'.