DVD-R vs DVD-RW vs DVD+R - which one???

I purchased a Panasonic DVD recorder (DVD-R) a year ago and have not had one issue with DVD's unable to be read on any number of friends and relatives DVD players form several years old to brand new.

We bought a Zenith VCR/DVD Recorder about a month ago. ABout 50% of the DVD -Rs would work. AFter some phone calls, found out there is an existing problem with this format on the Zenith recorder...and they will be sending updates soon. Am now using DVD +R or DVD +RW and having no problems.

-Roger

Last year I bought a pricey Sony DVD player/recorder combined with a vhs player recorder. (RDR-VX500)I wanted to put my old vhs tapes on dvd in the simplest manner, and also wanted to play a variety of dvds from commercial movies to concerts to home recordings. The only dvds that this expensive Sony will recognize are the commercial film tapes. It says it will recognize dvd+ and dvd- but it does not. The error message "This disk is neither playable nor recordable. When I try to record old vhs tapes, I get "loading" and that's it. This is supposed to be a one touch recorder, and I've read and reread the instructions, to no avail. Is there a problem with this modeal--that anyone knows of--or is it just me!

What brand of disks are you using?

The unit itself doesn't get very high marks in cNet user reviews.

After I had had the Sony for a while, I checked the cnet reviews and some forums and found that others had had a similar problem. Too late for me. I did not know about CNET reviews when I bought the machine. Won't make that mistake again. I have mostly used Memorex DVD-R for my own recording, but I also had some Sony DVD disks. I also have tried friends' tdk. Any ideas? Thanks.

A possibility. Your source material is too long. DVDs cannot use the full 4.7 gigs for content. If it tries, the whole disk becomes unuseable.

Looks like it's time for a technical discussion about error rates and DVD/ CD burners. I'm not equipped to explain all, but when you have problems with playback after you've cut a disc, it is often due to errors made during the burn. That's why you make sure the disk is clean and free of dust (blown with compressed air)and centered carefully on the carriage or spindle. Also, make sure your write settings are correct and compatible with what you"re trying to do.

Hope it helps--

When I try to record dvd from a homemade video tape, the result is "No title list found." When I try to play either dvd- or dvd+ from other sources, I get "This disk is neither playable or recordable." These are disks that were recorded on others'computers. They play on my computer.
It is possible that the 8x dvd is the problems, or that the disks have too much. One of you said that you had had similar problems with the same machine. It is just very frustrating, considering what I paid for this machine. Thanks to all of you for trying to help.

Had the same problem with my sony. Then read the small warning lable that was on the memorexdvd package. Said something like this: warning some recorder will not burn 16x at 1x without a firmware upgrade. Seeing that the recorder in real time at 1x i just got some 4x dvd-r's and it worked just fine. Beware doing a firmware upgrade on the recorder it is irreverable.

Ok, so it's gonna take you a few minutes longer, but unless if you wanna create a l arge number of coasters due to a high burn error rate, then it's worth the time.

Too often people try to burn at 16X or 24X or even 40X and expect miracles. It's not gonna happen, regardless of the media you use. You can use the BEST blank DVD media and still create coasters.

Burn SLOW.... It works and it's generally safe. Even if the media says it can handle a faster burn rate, I generally ignore that, knowing full well it will give me a clean burn at a lower speed.

I am using Nero 7 to burn disks. When I get the option for what speed to burn, the lowest speed is not available. Sometimes the selection box shows 12x as the lowest, sometimes 8x, a few times 4x. I would like to burn at 4x or lower, but how can I choose these lowest speeds?

Although the sony products are probably of good construction quality I have had nothing but trouble with them. Most of this I believe stems from the fact that sony is a content company and not an equipment manufacturing company. They seem to be more concerned with copyright protection on content which they market and less with providing a practical functional and flexible product. I have found that they engineer their products in a closed loop philosophy which is good for their bottom line maybe but may not work for me in a practical sense. I bought one of their high end minidisk recorders to record interviews and sound in the field. I ran into their brick wall on copyright infringement over content that I was creating. Their help department were totally useless and misleading. Given the choice I would never buy their products again nor would I ever recommend anyone buying their products which I guess you have just figured out.

Several messages and replies to Sony have left me frustrated and annoyed. The first message was canned and did not address the issue at all. The second explained that the machine could not read or record dvd-r and dvd+r. I quoted to them from the manual, and for help, they then referred me to the pages in the manual that I had quoted. Thanks for your post. It helps me understand some of the philosophy behind the product and why it works (or not) the way it does.

...it's not recording, so I'm taking the opportunity to add another question here. This is a different make to the one you recommend (Inventive DRW2033 multi-region), which I thought would be suitable for recording a collection of PAL and SECAM videos, but although it plays back fine it won't record. Tried several types of blank disk but although it says 'disk loading', nothing else happens. I thought incompatibility, as disks are all 8X speed, whereas the machine supports 4X or 2.4X (both +R and +RW).
Shop says the disks should be compatible and won't take them back. I would be so grateful if somebody could explain this speed business, and whether I should be able to use the 8X disks even if they are recording more slowly (??)

It is true that an 8x disc should work in a 4x recorder. A disc which is rated at 8x should work in any recorder rated up to 8x or slower. It is only the speed of recording which will be limited by the slower of the 2 ratings, the disc speed or the machine speed.

There are some machines which seem to have incompatibility problems with certain brands of discs. This seems to be less frequent as time goes by and the machines become more versatile.

I would focus your troubleshooting efforts on the machine. It would be worthwhile to check the manufacturer's website for troubleshooting information, or take it to the place from which it was purchased and ask them to demonstrate for you how it should work.

Much appreciated your reply and through that and other strings at last understand what's going on
(should have gone to forum before we got the machine). Turns out to be incompatible with our other player, but at least it's recording now. I think it must be old stock as was selling at a reasonable price(though new) on Amazon.

I've bought two of the Emprex DVD Dual Speed 16x Double Layer Internal DVD+-R/RW Drives from Fry's for the low price of $39.95 and they work great. I've flashed the bios on each with the latest software and I'm very happy with them. They also come with Nero software. Maybe I'm just Lucky.

Thanks for the specific recommendation, including price! I'm on my way to Costco.

Karen

That stack of 100 TDK PrintOn disks goes on sale two-for-the-price-of-one starting 1/23 for about a week. Check it out.

DVD-RW has been estimated to have 20x longer life to it due to the special dye that is used. RW is best used if the data will be keep long-term storage - i.e. archived data such as family video collections, etc..

I've not seen that information before. Could you please provide a reference to document this?

This is contrary to anything I heard before. Please site your source of information.
Thanks

seen says -R or +R are best for long term storage. Please cite your source if you have evidence of differing lives.

I use DVD-RW to back up large files, writing over
them several times. At first they work fine but often
after 2 or 3 rewrites they give a sector read error
when validating the disc after burning with Nero.
Of course they all get the little scratches that used
discs do but I have tried polishing them with no
success. And I have used different brands of discs.
I have read that you can rewrite up to 1000
times but if the data is corrupt what good is it?