Panasonic DMR-EX773EB won't format DVD-RW

WelshDragon71

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I have been using my DVR for a while now and successfully recording to DVR-R films sports etc. I recently wanted a temporary recording so I put in a DVD-RW (the manual states it's supported) and everything seemed ok so I copied the files across to the disk via "advanced copy", afterwards it said I needed to create a top menu so I did so. I then couldn't read the disk, or read it in my PC. So I went back to my DVR and formatted the disk, initially it went fine then at the end it came up an error saying it was an unsupported disk and I had to press ok, the DVR turn off then on, then off, then on (with the "please wait" bright and dimmed at intervals)....then it said I had a HDD error and it was recovering...i pressed ok and it went through a slow process of restarting...finally I managed to get the thing back on and working, all files on HDD were fine. I then tried formatting the DVD again and the whole shebang started again. I mean is this for real? It's just a faulty DVD-RW and it throws my Machine into a laborious self diagnostic routine from hell!! I must admit it's an old DVD-RW, do these disks have a life span? I'm almost afraid to try a different DVD-RW now as it's a nightmare getting the thing to respond again.
 
I dared to turn it on this morning and all was ok. I got the offending disk out and put a different RW in and it immediately wanted to format, which went fine. I then recorded what I wanted and created the top menu fine, tested it on PC and seemed fine. Tested the problem Disk on PC and my PC couldn't even format the damn thing...so dodgy disk it was. But why did the software of my Panasonic have such a meltdown over a crappy disk? Surely it should just say it's crap and spit it out rather than have a long process of turning on and off and on and off and saying the HDD was faulty then doing a recovery and making think the whole shebang was going to implode!!
 
Did the machine give the error as 'HDD ERR' or alternately flash 'HARD' then 'ERROR'

I would expect the second in such circumstances. 'Hard' 'Error' means (not very helpfully) a DVD drive hardware error.
 
Thanks for the reply, I'm pretty certain it said hard error and I interpreted that as a hdd error. I still don't quite understand why the system simply didn't eject the disk and request a different disk be inserted!! It's still working fine at the mo, recorded a couple of films to DVD-R, going to record some Ozv8s onto DVD-RW to watch with my father in law this weekend.
 
I use DVD-RW all the time and you have to keep the disc spotless.
If it is scratched the machine will go into meltdown and will turn itself
off and try to recover the disc but i would bin the disc.
It's happened to me loads of times and is normal (unfortunately)
Tesco (own brand) sell them cheap and are pretty good but keep them protected.
 
Thanks for the advice, it is strange how the machine does indeed have a meltdown over a dodgy disk!!
 
You're lucky-at least your machine recovered. I had a similar problem about a year ago with my 773 but it got stuck in an endless loop of 'off,on and please wait'. I was unable to eject the disc and had to scrap the machine but managed to get another on ebay. Can't remember if it was RW or +R. Like hambone says you must be careful of dust or scratches that can send it into meltdown.
 
The secret of dealing with this problem is to touch nothing.

The obvious temptation when the problem arises is to push buttons - particularly eject.
But if you leave the machine completely alone it will cycle through several read attempts and may shut down and go through a self check procedure.
It will do this up to three times but eventually it will go dormant.
Once it has achieved the dormant state , push the eject button ONCE only and wait.

The disk will eject and the machine will be ok after that. Discard the disk. IT is the problem.
 
The secret of dealing with this problem is to touch nothing.

The obvious temptation when the problem arises is to push buttons - particularly eject.
But if you leave the machine completely alone it will cycle through several read attempts and may shut down and go through a self check procedure.
It will do this up to three times but eventually it will go dormant.
Once it has achieved the dormant state , push the eject button ONCE only and wait.

The disk will eject and the machine will be ok after that. Discard the disk. IT is the problem.

Yeah that's what I did with mine, it's not what I'd call a "user friendly" system though. First impressions are it's going bat shit and will never stop! I just sat there shouting at the machine until it eventually came back to normal behaviour! Apart from that though I'm very happy with the machine (apart from lip sync issues at times).
 

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