DVD-RW Usage Question

Andy C

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Hi Guys,

I have a Panasonic EH60D and I recently burnt a show to a DVD-RW disc for a friend to watch. Obviously I had to finalise the disc so he could play it in his standalone player.

Now, when I do to re-use the disc, the Panny says it cannot be used and there are no formatting options available. I have completely erased the disc using my PC, but the Panny still refuses to touch it now.

Any ideas, or has finalising the disc pretty much buggered it as far as the Panny is concerned?

Many thanks!

A.
 
You should be able to format the disc in the Panny and go again.
From memory, in the Functions button, disc management?
 
You would normally go..

Functions Button -> To Others -> Disc Management

However because the disc has been finalised, even though it's a DVD-RW, the Disc Management option is not available, only Settings.

I just find it really strange that the recorder still sees the disc as non-recordable even though I did a full format using my PC.

A.
 
I have never finalized a RW disk and they have all played in several different dvd players. I have always been under the assumption you do not finalize RW's.
 
The instruction manual says finalise a -rw, then to re-use it, you should format it. Maybe formatting it on the pc has caused the read error. Can you format it on the panny?
 
cahusker said:
I have always been under the assumption you do not finalize RW's.
Hmm, perhaps that is the case. I'll give it a go next time! Thanks, cahusker.
 
marts62 said:
Can you format it on the panny?
No, that's the problem. Due to the disc being finalised ithere are no Disc Management options available on the Panny.
 
The JVC dvd recorders have the option to unfinalise whereas the Panasonics do not.
I have the JVC DRM10 which has this unfinalise option but I have never used it.
I always use DVD-RAM discs in the JVC and my Panasonic machines. Have never used a DVD-RW.
 
Guess your only option is to use a DVD-R (finalised) for your friend. After all - its only about 30p. Either that or get your friend to purchase a Panasonic/JVC/NAD dvd player which will play dvd-ram discs. The Panasonic S29 is approx £47 (pricerunner website).

Incidentally, for those machines without a HDD you can use one of these players to play a DVD-RAM disc which can be recorded to DVD-R by connecting player to dvd recorder.
 
cahusker said:
I have never finalized a RW disk and they have all played in several different dvd players. I have always been under the assumption you do not finalize RW's.
Pioneers record -RW in one of two modes - choose when Initiaising a DVD-RW.

VR Mode does not have to be finalised and is like the HDD for editing; parts of recordings can be deleted and free up space. May or may not playback on other makes, depending on specs.

Video Mode needs finalising to guarantee playback on other makes of machine. Finalised Video mode stops further recording/editing, but 'Unfinalise' is available.
As far as I know, deletion of sections or complete recordings does not free up space.

I think that Initialise effective clears any previous recording. Haven't tried that yet.
 
Andy C said:
I have a Panasonic EH60D and I recently burnt a show to a DVD-RW disc for a friend to watch.
What mode was the -RW originally used in: -VR or -Video?
 
musukebba said:
What mode was the -RW originally used in: -VR or -Video?
The original show was recorded in video mode (XP) on the HDD and then I copied it to the DVD-RW again using XP mode. I don't have VR enabled because apparently it strips out the widescreen switching signals.
 
eddyad said:
Video Mode needs finalising to guarantee playback on other makes of machine. Finalised Video mode stops further recording/editing, but 'Unfinalise' is available.
Hmm, never seen any 'unfinalise' mode on the panasonic, must be just a Pio feature. :/
 
Elsewhere in these forums, a couple of members DO state that the instructions for the panny are fairly rank rotten. So I wouldn't be surprised if they are wildly inaccurate on finalising -rw discs. I'll have a go this evening and see if my finalised -rw can be re-formatted.
 
Andy C said:
The original show was recorded in video mode (XP) on the HDD and then I copied it to the DVD-RW again using XP mode. I don't have VR enabled because apparently it strips out the widescreen switching signals.
Presumably the disc is still in Video mode then, even though erased. Is it possible to prepare the disc for -VR recording in the PC, then take it to the Panasonic? There's a chance that this may re-enable the formatting options.

I have no idea if this will work, btw... :rolleyes:
 
Thanks, marts62. I'm looking forward to your findings! :)

Just to confuse matters though, I've just looked at the actual disc and it's actually a DVD+RW, he just put it in a -RW case.
 
Oh... well there you go. The EH60D won't record to +RW, therefore cannot erase.
 
Andy C said:
I don't have VR enabled because apparently it strips out the widescreen switching signals.
I understand this to work the other way round.

VR mode never affects the widescreen switching but Video mode does not carry it in LP recordings. I've copied from HDD LP to DVD-RW VR LP and back to HDD and widescreen is OK. It disappears from HDD LP to DVD-RW and -R Video LP. But it's OK with HDD LP to DVD-RW and -R Video with a recording 'level' change into an SP level. (Pioneers have 32 manual recording 'levels' MN1 - MN32 and these are in sets for Fine, SP, LP, EP; LP on a 420 is MN7 - MN19.)
The exact break point between LP and SP varies by machine and make. Last year's Pioneers (x20 series) did SP up to 140 mins per disk, Current Pioneers (530, 630) go up to 210 mins if I understand the manual.

(P.S. following earlier post, having looked at the manual I see that DVD-RW VR mode can be finalised, but it's not relevant for me as I don't need -RW disk portability)
 
musukebba said:
Oh... well there you go. The EH60D won't record to +RW, therefore cannot erase.
It will record to +RW, thats how I got the show on there to give him in the first place. :)

The EH60D appears to support +/-R and +/-RW media, even the specs only state -R, -RW and +R
 
So what do you mean when you said you "finalised" it. You can't do this with +RW.

Maybe the disc is booktyped as DVD-ROM by the Panasonic, and thus appears as a DVD-Video from there on. If you have a PC DVD drive which will support bitsetting, you could reset it back to +RW and be able to use it.
 
musukebba said:
So what do you mean when you said you "finalised" it. You can't do this with +RW.
Well that's exactly what I did. I copied the show from the HDD to the DVD+RW and then selected the finalise option which took place the same as it would on +/-R media.

Maybe the disc is booktyped as DVD-ROM by the Panasonic, and thus appears as a DVD-Video from there on. If you have a PC DVD drive which will support bitsetting, you could reset it back to +RW and be able to use it.
You may be right. I've no idea what a bitsetting is or how to reset it though!
 
It's a Plextor PX-708A.

If it's any use Nero disc info is saying the book type is DVD+RW.

Thanks for helping, musukebba... it's much appreciated.
 
OK - the booktyping idea's out the window then.

Looks like it's just idiosyncratic behaviour of the Panasonic with a disc it's not meant to support officially. At least you know what the problems is.

For the future, there is an app called PlexTools which you might be able to use on the 708A to bitset discs (see the long-ish thread here for more details. There's an explanation of bitsetting on the last page, and a link to the PlexTools app on the first.

Basically, you can make a +RW 'look' like a DVD-Video to increase its compatibility with other players. You also may be able to do the same with +Rs or -Rs that you burn, or at least finalise, on the PC drive.
 

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