I have recently purchased the Panasonic DMR ES10 recorder. It works fine, but i have a small problem. After i have recorded a program onto a DVD-RW it plays back fine on my machine, but doesn't work on any other machine. If you finalize the disc first, it will play on other players, but you can't then record on it again. Is there anything i should do on the recorder that could change this, or is it possibly the type of disc? I am using a cheap brand of DVD-RW (Mr DVD). Thanks in advance. Chris
... That is the problem with using DVD-RW as opposed to using DVD+RW ... My LiteOn LVW-5005 will record to either format DVD, but because of the finalization/compatability issues regarding the DVD-RW discs I now only use the DVD+RW for temporary recordings ... Does your Panasonic record to only DVD-RW and DVD-R discs? I know that some of the newer Panasonics will recprd to both ... Maybe you should consider returning yours for a multi-format machine if yours isn't already ... ... Also, cheap media is the source of most recording problems ...
chrissy_b, Chris, DVD-RW's require finalizing, unlike DVD+RWs. BUT!!! DVD-RW's, even though finalized, can be re-initialized and recorded on again. If you place the used disc back in your recorder, it should allow you to initialize and use it again, of course, only after you are done with the content. I do this on my Pioneer recorder all the time. If I know I am going to re-edit the DVD or copy it to another disc, I will use a -RW. I have 2 discs I have been using now for about 4 months and have reuse both many times.
Chris, is there some reason you want to avoid using DVD-R discs, rather than doing all your recording on DVD-RW and mucking about with your machine? Once you've finalized a DVD-R disc, 99% of the time it will play just fine elsewhere. I use DVD-R for things I want to keep or give to friends, and DVD-RW for recording TV shows I'll watch one time.
