Dvd Recorder

[LoveEllenSoMuch]

Hi. You all seem computer and maybe dvd savvy so I was hoping someone would be able to help me with this problem I have been having.

I have a dvd recorder that I got for christmas last year and it has been working pretty well generally. Lately it hasn't wanted to format every disc or it has problems and will stop recording after a few seconds. It is really frustrating and I end up returning a lot of dvds. I was wondering if it is my dvd recorder or the dvds?

Also, I don't know if all dvds will be like this but I went to write and even finalize discs I recorded on a couple of months ago-well more like 6 months ago, and it says it cannot write to disc. Is this normal? Will I ever be able to finalize them.

I know this isn't really Ellen related, but I use my recorder mostly to tape Ellen episodes so it is really important to me.

Thank you to anyone who even read this. And thanks even more if anyone can help me!

Rachael

[tcsced]

I'm not really sure if it's your DVR or the DVDs themselves. Have you been using the same DVDs since you got your DVR?

I kinda have the same problem...well, not really yet! I just bought some new DVDs that are different than the ones I have been using for the last two years, and after next week I will start using them. I have been using DVD+RW, but now I will be using DVD+R, and I think I will have to finalize them, which is something I've never had to do with my DVD+RWs...hopefully everything will work out okay! I use my DVDs and DVR to record TEDS five days a week and then any other stuff relating to Ellen! My DVR has been working overtime these last few weeks ever since Ellen's been all over the news about everything! I hope I don't wear my DVR out...OMG, that would be horrible...I don't even want to think about it!

James might have an answer for you. He is very computer savvy and from what I can tell, very DVR savvy too!

[LoveEllenSoMuch]

Thanks. Hmm... I use dvd-rws. It is so confusing. I used to use Memorex but they stopped being as reliable to me so I started using maxell. It is a potluck whether they will work or not...

[tcsced]

I have been using Verbatims and they have always worked great for me! I have 2 left...one I'm using for this week's TEDS and the last one I have left I will be using for next week's TEDS.

My new ones are Maxell DVD+Rs. Maybe I will try them out on Nip/Tuck tomorrow and next week before I try anything with TEDS...I don't want to come home from school and see that her show didn't record because of something I did wrong with my new DVDs! I will experiment with Portia instead...LOL! But I can't mess with my Ellen! lol!

[LoveEllenSoMuch]

"But I can't mess with my Ellen! lol!"

I know what you mean! I make sure I have two copies of each week! One on vhs as backup and one on dvd. (well I use two dvds for each week- to get better quality episodes.)

[2goldenz]

Hey guys - I use Maxell DVD+RW, and have been mostly successful with them. I had a couple of issues, but I think it may have been because it was because I was doing something else at the time it was finalizing why it messed up the recording.

When I first got my recorder it would tape sometimes, and sometimes not, and I went through the entire selection of DVD's (+/- R, +/- RW) and after a couple frustrating weeks, discovered it was the recorder itself and not the dvd's. The 2nd player has been fine, except for a couple of non-recordings, but thought it was the player instead of the disc.

I use our dvd player for mostly the same reason these days, so can understand tcsced about not wanting to mess with what works! Figured that if I tested it out on something, I could just reuse the RW disks, so I just ended up sticking with those. Hope that helps loveellensomuch!

[LoveEllenSoMuch]

Thanks. My player says to use -RW/-R but I have never tried -R bc I think they are for one time recordings and I like recording multiple episodes each day so I need it to be RW. And of course it is good for if I need to redo a show.

[tcsced]

Thanks. My player says to use -RW/-R but I have never tried -R bc I think they are for one time recordings and I like recording multiple episodes each day so I need it to be RW. And of course it is good for if I need to redo a show.

Actually, that is not exactly the case. I thought the same exact thing, and a few weeks ago I asked someone at Best Buy about that and she said that you can record more than one thing on the DVD+R or DVD-R, but once you finalize it, you cannot delete anything off of it and record something else on it.

[LoveEllenSoMuch]

Actually, that is not exactly the case. I thought the same exact thing, and a few weeks ago I asked someone at Best Buy about that and she said that you can record more than one thing on the DVD+R or DVD-R, but once you finalize it, you cannot delete anything off of it and record something else on it.

Ooh! I will have to try that bc even the new dvds I got today don't seem to even want to format...there can't be something wrong with every disc.

[2goldenz]

I think on all of them you can add to them, it's just that the advantage with the RW's is you can re-record over things which makes it handy to re-use, but pointless if they are 'teds'. But with all of them, R's or RW's, once finalized, you can't add or re-record, you have made them for playback use only. Hope that helps!